Girl in the Cellar (2025 Lifetime Movie)
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Cast: Kyla Pratt, Kelcey Mawema, Kyle Clark
Director: Robert Adetuyi
Writer(s): Eva Gonzalez Szigriszt
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DonateDonate monthlyDonate yearlySynopsis (via Lifetime)
Rebecca (Kyla Pratt) grows increasingly concerned that her daughter Lory (Kelcey Mawema) is not making the right life choices. The final straw comes when Rebecca learns that Lory has a secret boyfriend, and to prevent any further mistakes, she decides to confine Lory in their basement cellar. What Lory doesn’t know is that this is the same cellar where Rebecca was held captive by her abusive father years ago. As Lory battles for survival, the neighbors begin to notice her absence, and Rebecca’s behavior draws suspicion, making her a prime suspect in her daughter’s disappearance. Haunted by her traumatic past, Rebecca grapples with her actions and the conflicting feelings of guilt and justification over what she has done.
Recap/Wine Thoughts
Inspired by Real Stories (Whatever that means!)
Kyla Pratt, who is playing a perfectionist mother named Rebecca, is holding her daughter, Diana, captive in a Cellar. It was supposed to just be till prom, but Rebecca decides her daughter has been so bad that she should be left for dead.
Five and a half months earlier, Lory is on the track team and is busy living a popular girl’s life on the prom committee and flirting with a cute boy named Austin. However, Rebecca’s control is suffocating, as she doesn’t want her daughter to be distracted by boys and focus on getting into a local state college. Her intensity is palpable, and there is no love in this mother/daughter relationship.
Lory opens up to her mother and giddily tells her about Austin asking her to the prom. Rebecca thinks Austin is trailer trash, and she grounds her daughter for keeping secrets. They fight and then Rebecca apologizes, claiming that they are best friends. The emotional whiplash is real, and it is not fair to Lory, who didn’t ask to be in the toxic family relationship.
Rebecca changes her tune abruptly and says that Lory can go to prom with Austin. Rebecca will be a chaperone, and Lory’s curfew will be 11:30 p.m., but she is going! Rebecca even gets Lory a stunning red dress that she wanted to wear.
Lory blows it by sneaking out to a bonfire and making out with Austin. When Lory sneaks in past curfew, Rebecca catches her and takes her phone as punishment. Then Rebecca sees a message from Austin about a hotel for prom night and is like HELL NO!
Rebecca tells Lory that it feels like her best friend has stabbed her in the back and tells her to dress warm and come with her to clean out an old bomb shelter/cellar. It is a ploy to get Lory down so she can lock her in for two days until after prom for lying and sneaking off with Austin. There is apparently plenty of food, water, and even a compostable toilet.
The mother and daughter talk on closed-circuit TV, and Lory begs to be let out. Rebecca’s mother kept her in the same cellar when she was an unruly teen, so all this seems perfectly normal to Rebecca.
Rebecca isn’t just unhinged with her daughter; she goes off on the other PTA moms when one of them compares Rebecca to a single teen mom. Rebecca highly informs the PTA mom that she is a widow whose husband died in a tragic car crash.
Rebecca chaperones the prom and claims her daughter is sick. Hot damn, if Rebecca doesn’t wear Lory’s red dress in her place. Austin isn’t buying it and hasn’t heard from Lory in days. He goes to their house and sneaks in with the garage code, but Lory is nowhere to be found. He calls the police and believes Lory has been abducted. (Which she has, by her own mother.) Austin becomes the number one suspect.
With the police now involved, Rebecca needs to come up with a plan. Lory cries to her mother and asks if she has lost her mind. The daughter promises not to tell anyone what happened, but Rebecca doesn’t believe her. Rebecca does a press appearance and asks for help finding her “missing” daughter. Lory has been missing for ten days.
Austin wants to do more press with Rebecca, and the media attention garners more attention, which Rebecca loves. The town does an exhaustive search, but the case goes cold after a month of #LookingForLory. The police ended the search officially, leaving Lory in the cellar.
Rebecca comes up with the idea for Lory to write a letter to prove she is alive and keep the media’s attention on Rebecca. She is internet famous and gets an invitation to a fancy gala to raise awareness for missing children. Obviously, she can’t go if Lory isn’t still missing and throws more supplies in the cellar and the note away.
Rebecca is also scoping our Austin as he cuts her grass, and he is in excellent shape. She invites the teen in for a glass of water, and he offers to look under her sink to fix some plumbing. (Not a euphemism!) He finds Rebecca’s stash of prepper food, and she makes up an excuse that Lory and she were going camping. The power goes out due to a storm, and Rebecca lights candles. (Is Rebecca going to hook up with this 18-year-old teen? WHO WAS DATING HER DAUGHTER?!? Yes. She does. Disgusting.) Austin practically moves in and repairs the house in exchange for sex and lasagna. (Sign me up, TBH!)
Speaking of Lory, she has been in captivity for five months. Lory installs a fluorescent light with a battery she finds and reads her mother’s teenage journals. Lory uses them to try to explain to Rebecca that she was psychologically abused by her parents. Rebecca thinks Lory is wrong and relies on he church for support because she is doing the Christian thing.
The police detective notices Austin and Rebecca spending time together and starts asking questions. The detective tells Rebecca that she is not giving up on Lory, even if the police have stopped funding her efforts. Rebecca says she has been praying on it and wishes her luck. (Knowing damn well where Lory is.)
Austin sees a video of Lory on Rebecca’s computer and goes to the police. The detective tells Austin that it looks incriminating for him since he is sleeping with Lory’s mother. The detective questions Austin and works with him to find more evidence while pretending to still be into Rebecca. He brings the camping food, and it is circumstantial evidence.
We are back at the beginning of the movie, where Rebecca tells her daughter that she will have to die, so Rebecca can live her new life. Rebecca gives Lory’s soul to God and covers the cellar door with sticks. “Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust!” (Wow!)
Lory has lost all hope and sings “This Little Light of Mine,” while burning her last candle. Meanwhile, Rebecca is arrested as a suspect in the middle of church while also singing “This Little Light of Mine.” The detectives search Rebecca’s digital footprint and interrogate Rebecca, but will she talk?
Detectives talk Rebecca through the criminal charges that she might be facing, but Rebecca isn’t budging. She explains that her daughter was imperfect and had to be discarded. Detectives look into Rebecca’s criminal history and learn that she was found in a cellar when her parents’ farm burned down. It was never proven, but Rebecca intentionally started the fire.
The police rush to the cellar and find Lory dirty and weak. Lory is disoriented and confused, but she is free. She tells the police that her mother kept her captive. Rebecca is charged with false imprisonment and the death of her parents.
Lory talks to the press and thanks the police for saving her life. She says her mom was a victim of abuse, and while that doesn’t excuse what Rebecca did, Lory promises to stop the cycle of abuse. The End!
STRAY Thoughts
I feel like this movie was trying to get REALLY deep about an abusive familial relationship, but it is just SOOOOO extreme.
The movie had the mom and teenage boyfriend hooking up, which was wild, but also typical of Lifetime.
I haven’t seen Kayla Pratt in a while, and she is still amazing. Love her.
Overall rating
Number of Kills: 🔪🔪 (2 knives, if you count her parents.)
Lifetime Tropes: Girl Trapped Somewhere, Mother/Daughter Relationship.
Enjoyment Level (1-5 scale)
🍷🍷🍷🍷 (4 Glasses of Wine)
Should you watch it?
Pour it Up (Give it a shot!)
Put a Cork in It (Skip It!)
What did you think of the movie? Let me know in the comments or on social media at @LifetimeUncorked and @patrickmiguel.
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