Devil On Campus: The Larry Ray Story (2024 Lifetime)
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Cast: Billy Zane, Tedra Rogers,
Director: Elisabeth Röhm
Writer(s): Waneta Storms
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DonateDonate monthlyDonate yearlySynopsis (via Lifetime)
When ex-convict Larry Ray (Billy Zane) unexpectedly moves into his daughter’s dorm, he enthralls her friends with conversations and promises to help them with personal transformations by preying on their insecurities and fears. Under Ray’s influence, the students uncover false memories of childhood trauma that Ray uses to further alienate them from their families. As the students continue to fall under Ray’s control, he begins to target their friends and family, extending his reach of emotional, financial, sexual abuse and mental manipulation. As the students get pulled deeper into the cult, Ray’s control moves from emotional and mental to sexual as well, creating a web of lies and deceit. Tedra Rogers, Frankie Warren, Alexis Sides, Erin Walsh, and Elizabeth Röhm co-star. (2024)
Recap/Wine Thoughts
The movie starts with Larry Ray screaming and putting a bag over a college-aged girl’s head.
Cut to Seven years earlier, Thalia’s father, Larry Ray, is getting out of jail, and his first stop is her college housing. He brings a bag full of cash and claims to be fraudulently put into jail by a scheme between his wife and FBI agent, Bernie Kernik. The Sarah Lawrence college students are fascinated! (Except for Claudia, who thinks Larry is a liar.)
Larry spends the night psychoanalyzing the college students later in the evening. When they don’t tell him stories that are traumatic enough, he forces them to come up with more. Santos is the first to go, and Larry renamed him “Bitch Santos.” Larry also spends the night in Izzy’s room after he hears her crying in the middle of the night. They start calling each other “Honey Boy” and “Honey Girl.” (I loved Claudia asking Larry when he was leaving. Haha!)
Claudia and her mother complain to the dean of campus housing. There isn’t much they can do since all the students are adults. Claudia wants Larry out but feels like she is losing all her friends over this. Thalia also has reservations after her father continues to sleep with Izzy and chokes out her roommates. (They were just playing!) He uses therapy speak and takes Claudia out to dinner, implanting childhood trauma into her memories. Claudia buys into Larry’s BS and even tells her parents that he is her BEST FRIEND!
They all move into an apartment in Queens, and Larry Ray continues his late-night “therapy” and adds morning boot camp. He controls every aspect of their lives and uses what they tell him in therapy against him. When Dan has a breakdown, he outs him as questioning his sexuality and demands that Claudia have sex with him. (while he coaches them?)
Santos moves his sister, Felicia, to live with them. She sleeps in Larry’s room, and Izzy sleeps in there, too. Felicia is positioning herself to be Larry’s main girl. Felicia sees her brother get his kneecaps hit out with a hammer and is unphased.
Larry’s control over the college students helps him keep the whole thing going. When they need to pay for repairs or rent, he sends Claudia to get them a BJ discount. When that isn’t enough, he tells them to get money from their parents. Larry again coaches them along, teaching them “life lessons.”
Larry’s stepfather shows up, and he is going through a divorce from Larry’s mom. It sends him into a freakout, and he cries on the floor while the college students watch. Larry Ray has a plan to take everyone to North Carolina to work on a family home that could be lost in the divorce.
Felicia and Claudia go to work on the house, but they are not contractors and could be better. Felicia has to sleep on the porch, and Claudia continues to argue with Larry. Claudia thinks Larry is being abusive, but Izzy doesn’t see it.
When the work is done, they all return to Santos in the apartment and are surprised to learn that Dan has gone home. Larry blames Claudia and asks his daughter to keep an eye on her. Thalia takes Claudia out for drinks but comes home puking. Larry thinks Claudia did something to her. He interrogates her all night and tells her that she owes him 100K. The other college students watch as Claudia is coerced into a recorded confession of plotting to work against him.
Larry takes Claudia to see her parents and asks for more money. They don’t believe Larry’s lies and tell Claudia to just stay home with them, even though they are getting a divorce. Once they see Larry’s control over their daughter, they plead with Claudia, who is unmoved. When Claudia gets back to the apartment, she overdoses and is hospitalized. Claudia signs a do not admit for her parents.
Once Claudia is better, Larry suggests that Claudia get into sex work, specifically BDSM, to make money and pay back Larry. Claudia is resistant but somehow convinced to go shopping with Izzy for clothes and sex toys. Then, they book clients back to back. One of the clients, David, wants to be dominated by Claudia. The next day, a police officer shows up for a wellness check and gives her a card. Claudia spends a lot of time with David, and Larry gets jealous. He threatens to dox David and release Claudia’s confessions. When that doesn’t work, Larry and Izzy torture her. Later, David tells Claudia that she is being sex trafficked.
A story about Larry, called Devil in the Dorms, describes the Sarah Lawrence students’ ordeal from Dan’s perspective. The FBI want to talk to Claudia next because she can provide many details, and she has taken in over two million dollars for Larry Ray.
Claudia’s parents convince her that she is the victim and Larry Ray took advantage of her. Claudia works with the FBI to take Larry down. Larry Ray is now serving 60 years in jail.
Side Note/Stray Thoughts
Billy Zane is really going for it here! That accent!
Read about the True Story and see where Larry Ray is now Here.
Overall rating
Number of Kills: N/A (0 knives)
Enjoyment Level (1-5 scale)
🍷🍷🍷 (3 Glasses of Wine)
Should you watch it?
Pour it up! (Give it a shot)
Put a Cork in It (Skip It)
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*Photo Credit: © 2024 Lifetime® | A+E Networks®
It’s disgusting that anyone even thought it was remotely acceptable to make this awful sensationalized rot, propping up an evil man and using the harm done to the victims for your own selfish gain with no regard for their trauma or how your horrible ‘reenactment’ of the torture they suffered will affect them. The people who thought to use someone’s suffering to make profit are horrible, but the actors are even worse because they didn’t even try to do justice to the true story of the tragedy.