You’re Not Safe Here (2021 Lifetime)
Cast: Nicky Whelan, Haskiri Velazquez, Cleo Anthony, Austin Weyant
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Synopsis (via Lifetime)
Pregnant and feeling trapped, Ava escapes her abusive boyfriend one stormy night to take refuge at her estranged sister’s house. On the way, she swerves off the road and wakes to find herself in the home of Valerie and William. The friendly, affluent, and childless couple live a secluded life in the woods. With nowhere else to turn, Ava’s trust becomes her downfall when she realizes this mysterious couple has sinister intentions for her unborn child. Haskiri Velazquez, Cleo Anthony, Nicky Whelan star. (2021)
Thoughts
The movie begins with a pregnant woman named Ava sneaking out in the middle of the night. She has a flashback to getting into grad school (For theatre. Eyeroll.) at an expensive college and hiding the letter from her abusive boyfriend, Shane. Shane shames Ava and beats her while she is pregnant. (Which is TERRIBLE)
Ava gets out with the help of her friend, Kyle. He gives her a car and sends her off alone in the night. At night, Ava drives through a storm in a Lifetime movie while on her cellphone, leaving a voicemail for her sister, Lila. Of course, she gets into an accident in the woods.
William and Valerie are by Ava’s bedside when she wakes up. They tell her they saved her from the crash and that the roads are still flooded, so they will have to take care of her in their strange-looking house. Ava tells Valerie that she is in an abusive relationship, and then they bond over architecture.
Shane tracks down Kyle and beats him into telling him where Ava went. When Kyle stands up for himself and Ava, Shane freaks out and stabs Kyle with a screwdriver.
Meanwhile, even though she is alone and isolated, Ava isn’t concerned about being locked in William and Valerie’s home. She casually talks about her baby and wonders if the phones will ever start working. Ava takes a walk around the grounds and finds a stairway to hell… or a mother-in-law suite.
At dinner, Ava talks about her estranged relationship with her parents and family. They don’t even know that she is pregnant. Then the topic moves towards baby names. Ava is waiting to meet her baby before naming her.
Convinces she heard William on the phone, Ava begins to doubt her caretaker’s stories and snoops around the house in the middle of the night. She finds the phone lines have been cut, her cellphone is hidden in an office, and some pills and files on a young boy named William.
Lila, Ava’s sister, gets a voicemail that Ava left and grows concerned when her sister never shows up. She treks out to find Ava and is followed by Shane.
Ava spends the rest of the movie trying to sneak out of the house. First, William catches her as he gets out of the shower. Ava kisses him while he is in a towel. Honestly, I would have done the same thing. Then she tries to steal their car and is caught by the couple and taken back to bed while having contractions brought on by stress. (Understandably.)
Oh dang, Ava really is going into labor and screams, “What the hell is that?!” as she is being sedated. It is the most honest reaction I’ve seen in a Lifetime movie until Ava learns the baby was stillborn. Haskiri Velazquez is an excellent actress. Too good for Lifetime, honestly.
Lila finds Ava’s abandoned car, cellphone, and, unfortunately, her abusive/jerk boyfriend, Shane. Shane emotionally manipulates Lila into helping him find Ava. (Shane also brings along his screwdriver.) Shane can’t hide his abusive behavior and yells at Lila. She doesn’t ignore the red flags.
William and Valerie continue to manipulate Ava and convince her that they are there to help, not hurt, her. William even opens up about his and Valerie’s trouble to conceive and promises to help Ava on her path to her new life. It almost works until Ava hears a baby cry.
William chloroforms Ava, and she wakes up restrained to the bed. Valerie tells Ava that she will be a better mother and says that Ava can’t even take care of herself. Valerie forces Ava to take drugs to keep her sedated until they figure out what to do with her. (Probably kill her?)
Ava recovers quickly, and she uses her feet to pick up a scalpel and try to free herself. (Which is a neat trick.) She tries to reason with William, who blames himself. He was addicted to drugs, which ruined his medical practice when he killed a child operating on drugs. He feels that he owes Val for ruining their chances at adoption… (Ummm, yeah. They probably shouldn’t have a baby.) Ava sweet-talks William into loosening her restraints. Then she cuts herself free slowly with her foot scalpel. Then she crushes pills with a glass while Val and William have sex. Ava times the pill grinding to the sex sounds. (Which is such a weird detail, but instantly ICONIC.)
The following day, Ava receives breakfast in bed and asks William to share a drink with her. Little does he know she slipped the crushed-up pills into his glass. William loses up and talks about wanting to be a rock star when he was a teenager. Then he passes out, and Ava rushes to find her baby.
Valerie isn’t going to let that happen and confronts Ava with a gun. Ava is so badass and isn’t afraid of Valerie at all. She says the best line of the movie:
“Last time we sat here. I didn’t realize how much of a bitch you were.
The cutting dialogue is cut short when Lila and Shane show up asking questions. They hear Ava shout out for help and bumrush the door. Shane stabs Willliam a bunch with his screwdriver while Lila recuses her sister. They take the baby and run into the woods. Valerie shoots at them wildly and chases the sister through the woods, which are foggy for some reason.
Ava throws the baby at Val, and she drops the gun to catch the baby. It turns out to just be a blanket, and Ava grabs the gun. Val isn’t going down that easy and grabs a rock, but rock is no match for a gun, and Ava shoots her dead.
The sisters hug, and it seems like the movie is over until Shane comes running up with a gun, demanding to see the baby. Lila tackles Shane catching him off guard and giving Ava a chance to get away with the baby.
In the kitchen, Ava grabs a knife to defend herself from her verbally and physically abusive boyfriend. William jumps up and stabs Shane with his screwdriver, giving Ava a second chance. Both men die on the floor together.
Ava takes her bloody baby out of the house and leaves with her sister, who has suffered a bullet wound but doesn’t seem to care. Ava names the baby Hope. Ava goes on to direct theatre, which was her dream.
Side Note
Minority Report: Ava, William,
Also Known As: The Girl in the Window
📺. Stream/Watch the Movie (Ad): N/A
➡️ Check out our Youtube Channel: Lifetime Uncorked: Lifetime Movie Reviews
🎧 Listen to the Lifetime Uncorked Podcast: https://anchor.fm/lifetime-uncorked
🍷 Support the show with a $3 tip: https://ko-fi.com/patrickserrano
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*** I’ve updated the rating system moving forward start 7/26/2021. Knives represent # of kills. Wine is over enjoyment (NOT a value judgment) on a 1-5 scale.
I will use the following tags for those who want to know watch or skip: Pour it Up (Would Recommend) or Put A Cork In It (Would Not Recommend)
Overall rating
Number of Kills: 🔪🔪🔪🔪 (4 Knives)
Enjoyment Level: 🍷🍷🍷🍷 (4 glasses of wine)
*Photo Credit: © 2021 Lifetime® | A+E Networks®
Live tweet along with @LifetimeUncork using the hashtag #YoureNotSafeHere
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