The Girl Who Survived: The Alina Thompson Story (2025 Lifetime Movie)
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Cast: Brielle Robillard, Steve Byers and Sam Trammell
Director: Michelle Ouellet
Writer(s): Christine Conradt
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DonateDonate monthlyDonate yearlySynopsis (via Lifetime)
Based on a true story. 15-year-old Alina Thompson is an aspiring model in Los Angeles during the ‘80s, who gets caught in the dangerous web of a serial killer.
Recap/Wine Thoughts
Based on a true story.
The movie starts in a bar where we meet a guy who is down and out, but is shooting his shot at young college girls.
“Are you a model?” is a terrible line. He tells a young blonde that he is a photographer and has a camera in his car, if she wants to do some test shots… his equipment is in the trunk, and soon this young blonde will be too.
They full-on do a photoshoot in an alley, and William tells her to imagine they are on a date. He asks her to go with her to a secondary location, and she declines. The blonde starts to get creeped out and goes back inside, but before she does, William asks for her number to let her know when the photos are developed. Then he makes his move. Killer moves.
Ohhhh, we are in the 80s. A Lifetime period piece. Great.
Cut to a teenage girl, Alina, who loves the mall and fashion, and her overprotective father, Carl. He makes sure she has her keychain mace and tells her to stay away from boys. Alina doesn’t and hangs out with a boy named Nick and her Nathalie.
Nathalie and Alina go to a modeling call that seems legit. The guy who runs the contest for best new face tells the teens that if anyone tells them to take their tops off, tell him, and they will be kicked out. Will they kick out serial killers? Alina is overwhelmed with photographers trying to get her picture, and her black friends are just pushed to the side. William is there, of course, and tries to get her address, but she says no.
Alina wins the new faces contest, and has a new boyfriend who is 17. And it’s just nice. She betrends a crying girl in the mall named Tracy. Her parents don’t show her the same kindness when they found out about the contest. They are not supportive. Later, they have a change of heart once they hear about a $500 prize that could go to a college fund.
Meanwhile, William is still trying to talk any female with a pulse into taking test photos with him. (They certainly don’t have a pulse when they are done shooting with him.) He still can’t get Alina out of his mind.
At the next photo shoot, Carl, Alina’s dad, joins her. He hears about a missing bartender who didn’t come home after going to do a test photoshoot. William overhears them and tries to act casual. Carl is concerned for his daughter’s safety.
Remember that girl from the mall, Tracy? Well, she lives next door to William, and that is unfortunate for her. She sees William drop a photo of the bartender and brings it to his house. William knows he will have to do a test shoot/kill with her soon. When Tracy doesn’t come home, her mother asks William if he has seen her. William ignores her.
Alina also wonders where Tracy went after she didn’t show up to their date at the mall and saw a missing persons flyer instead. Police question William because he was the last person to see her. The cops are interested in the photos of women lying around his house, and William explains that he is a photographer. The cops aren’t buying it.
The town holds a search party, and Tracy’s being missing really gets to Alina.
The police question William and seem to have enough evidence to book him in my opinion, but William is cool as a cucumber. Then he goes to the 24-hour photo and chews some incriminating negatives of Tracy to destroy them. It doesn’t matter because the cops are onto William.
Things start falling apart for Alina. Her friendship with Nathalie is on the rocks, Nick breaks up with her, and at another photoshoot, William approaches Alina and sneaks her away from her dad to take pictures by a barn. Carl gets worried and ruins the shoot, scaring off William.
More models come forward and speak out against William, but he has his sights on Alina. Camping outside her house and following her as she rides her bike.
Detectives find Tracy’s body and are close to making an arrest.
Then the movie cuts to 2006?!?!?!?
An article in the new paper gets the attention of Alina’s parents, and you think she is one of his victims. Still, William was arrested on the day he was supposed to do a photoshoot with Alina.
The detective on the case starts piecing together models who went missing and linking them to the predator photographer. He was linked to 26 cases and sentenced to life in prison, and died before his execution was scheduled.
STRAY Thoughts
The 80s-inspired music in this movie was so cringe. We couldn’t afford some actual music from the era?
No is a complete sentence. Carl invented that!
Overall rating
Number of Kills: 🔪🔪🔪 (3 knives)
Lifetime Tropes: Where’s my daughter, Revenge, Bith
Enjoyment Level (1-5 scale)
🍷🍷🍷 (Glass of Wine)
Should you watch it?
Pour It Up (Check it out! )
What are your thoughts on the mo ie? I’d love to hear from you. Share your comments or connect with me on social media at @LifetimeUncorked and @patrickmiguel. Your perspective is valuable.
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*Photo Credit: © 2025 A&E Television Networks, LLC
Let me know what you thought of the movie in the comments below or @lifetimeuncorked
OMG. I was so shocked when the guy who was holding the event for photographers was talking to alina’s dad/bodyguard (hes awesome. Probably saved her life) about the missing bartender and said “she’s probably just drunk somewhere or went home with someone who gave her a good tip, after all, that’s how those women are. I was actually speechless. It was so despicable. And unfortunately, some people still feel that way in 2025. And I’m afraid we will be going backwards now since some people in power are misogynists.
Well said!