A Predator Returns (2021 Lifetime)
Cast: Hannah Jane McMurray, Matthew Crawley, Houston Stevenson, Leigha Sinnott
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Synopsis (via Lifetime)
Killer and shark-obsessive Bruce Kane is in hiding, masquerading as a shark researcher in the isolated lighthouse where high school student Courtney and her friends have decided to go swimming. After a fling, Courtney can’t shake Bruce from her life and has to take matters into her own hands when his obsession turns deadly.
Thoughts
Bruce is back, baby, and he has brought his shark friends with him. (REAL sharks this time!) Bruce is sitting by a lighthouse feeding some sharks. Typical for him.
Cut to a beautiful redheaded mother named Erica, who hounds her daughter Courtney to write her college essay. Courtney, of course, blows off writing to hand with her shirtless teen friends on their boat. There is Ryan, a goof, hunk Pete, and her BFF/Lesbian Kat. They sneak out to the lighthouse at night and tell ghost stories. (Which is too scary for me, gurl!) I’m getting an “I Know What You Did Last Summer” Vibe here. (Can someone call SMG or JLH for a cameo, please?)
Sharks show up in the water and surround Courtney. The CGI sharks are back and in full force, knocking Courtney around and leaving her helpless. Bruce is watching from close by and is ready to save another pre-arranged damsel in distress. He takes the teens back to the lighthouse and gives them warm blankets. Bruce literally gives Courtney the shirt off his back, showing off his strong arms. He renames himself David but is still obsessed with Alison. Courtney gives him her number because she wants a summer internship… Erin would be proud. (She actually isn’t and grounds Courtney.)
The following day, Bruce is cooking while whistling. He is still hot but def cray. He goes all Norman Bates and brings breakfast to his mother in bed. (I’m betting that the mother is a dead woman because the bed is draped in sheets, and we never see her.) While he is feeding the sharks, Bruce hears a cellphone ring. It is Courtney’s; he answers it offers to meet up to give her the phone. Before returning the phone, Bruce downloads all the info on the phone before returning it.
Courtney invites Bruce to a nighttime volleyball game. Her ex-boyfriend Travis shows up, and Bruce is sure to spike the ball at Travis’ head. Courtney is impressed and kisses Bruce/David to stop him from talking about sharks all the time. They begin to spend a lot more time together “for the internship.”
Bruce shows her the ropes. They learn how to make chum (which is just putting fish in a blender). Baby great white sharks are born 5 feet long. Then they watch the sunset. Bruce gives Alison, I mean Courtney, a necklace. Then they have sex in the lighthouse. (Cue some shirtless Huston Stevenson, but this time he isn’t sexy because he is hacking into her phone and tracking her whereabouts at all times. Not cute.)
Courtney invites Bruce to dinner, and he accepts the invitation. Before dinner, he practices with water buoys. The fake dinner goes well; the real dinner does not. Courtney’s father thinks David/Bruce is a liar and doesn’t trust him. They have a tense conversation where Bruce accidentally calls Courtney Alison by mistake. They kick him out of their house and call the coast guard.
David/Bruce stalks Courtney. (See watching her sleep/sending roses all the time.) Then he is approached by the coast guard about living in the lighthouse. Bruce ties the guard to some weights, harpoons him, and feeds him to the sharks.
Courtney ends up pregnant, and Bruce is THRILLED. (He overhears on his tracking device.) He mails a baby shark onesie to Courtney in the mail. Courtney thinks Kat is the one who sent it and calls her an asshole, which is out of line!
Bruce mocks Courtney’s dad with photos of Courtney sleeping and selfies. Branden shows up on the island on his boat with a bat. He kicks down the door and finds a serial killer wall/ He takes photos, and Bruce attacks him stabbing him in the stomach during the fight, and then he is fed to the sharks.
During the whole movie, Erica has been mentioning the guy she is online dating named Jack. It turns out to be David/Bruce with a fake beard on. Courtney has to sleep in the same house while her mother sleeps with “Jack.”
Courtney tries to talk to the police, but they don’t believe her. Then she goes to her friends for help. They attempt to prove to Erin that Jack isn’t who he says he is. Kat finds a photo, and Bruce/David/Jack tracks her down and stabs her on stage at the high school theatre. Kat dies onstage dramatically. Courtney is framed for the murder. (What is Bruce’s endgame here?)
Erica calls her husband and finds Branden’s phone in Jack’s pocket. She knows he is lying to her, but Bruce catches her looking in his coat. He ties her up and takes her to the lighthouse.
Bruce gets Courtney out of police questioning by providing an alibi and posing as her father. He drives her home while listening to “You Made Me Love You” by Pasty Cline. (It is a nice touch to the other movies.) Courtney manages to get away and gets Ryan to help her with a boat.
At the lighthouse, Bruce blasts wedding music and puts on his tux. Erica is in the mother’s room with the serial killer wall. Out of nowhere, Ryan breaks out a chainsaw but is no match to Bruce and his gun. Ryan is shot into the shark-infested waters.
Courtney is left to save her mother on her own. She makes her way to the lighthouse and unties her mother. When Bruce comes up the stairs, Courtney hides in the bed, which contains the body of Bruce’s dead mother. There is a struggle, and Bruce is hit in the face with a shard of a broken mirror. Courtney makes a run to the top of the lighthouse with Bruce not far behind.
Bruce continues to call Courtney “Alison.” She tells him that isn’t her name and pushes him off the lighthouse with a stick of dynamite. It explodes Bruce and his shark brothers are blown up unless they managed to swim away. IDK!
The mother and daughter apologize to one another. A lot of people have died, but they forgive one another and promise to stay by one another’s side. Which is all you can ask for!
Side Note
Minority Report: Kat, Jasmine, Police Officer, Pete,
The movie features fewer CGI sharks and more Houston Stevenson, which is a good thing.
Shout out to John Doolan! One of our fav Lifetime writers/cuties.
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Overall rating
🔪🔪🔪 (3 Knives)
🍷🍷🍷 (3 glasses of wine required.)
*Photo Credit: © 2021 Lifetime® | A+E Networks®
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Did anyone notice tge blooper where Bryce was asking to look at her cut hand after he put his shirt around her shoulders. First shirt on her the, then on him, then back on her
I was not a fan of all the deaths in this movie. Couldn’t some of them have lived? Dad? Kat?