The Child They Hid (2025 Lifetime Movie)
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Cast: Grace Patterson, Jonathan Stoddard, Joe Burns
Director: Peter Foldy
Writer(s): Peter Foldy, Jelena Woehr
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DonateDonate monthlyDonate yearlySynopsis (via Lifetime)
After a young woman gifts DNA test kits to her family, she discovers she is at the heart of a family secret that leads to murder. Grace Patterson, Jonathan Stoddard and Joe Burns star. (2025)
Recap/Wine Thoughts
The movie starts at a Christmas party, where Marci gives everyone DNA tests as a holiday gift. Her mother is disturbed by the gift, Her Aunt has a lot of options about her roadie boyfriend Tommy, and her father is dead.
Marci just wants to get out of Florida, and a long-lost actress cousin, Helen, in New York could be the ticket out. They get in touch, and the cousin agrees to meet Marci. Only Cousin Helen, who claims to have been Bernadette Peters’ understudy, doesn’t make it because someone attacks her in her NYC apartment.
Tommy turns out to be a jerk and books a world tour, leaving Marci alone for the holidays. She has to stay in Florida and look after her mother and the store. Marci’s mom hasn’t recovered from her depression since her husband died. Then, Tommy suddenly appears and didn’t go on tour? Can he make up his mind?
Uncle Walt helps Marci with her taxes for the store because the timeline in this movie is flying, from Christmas to tax season in a matter of minutes. There is also an account named DeeDee who doesn’t quite nail the saying “Family, can’t live with them. Can’t STRANGLE them?” That isn’t the house, it goes.
Marci and her friend Tamera go out for drinks and flirt with the bartender. Unbeknownst to them, a hot man is trailing them. His name is Nick, and he is a private detective investigating Cousin Helen’s attack. Cousin Helen is in a coma, and things aren’t looking good. Nick asks Marci questions about her DNA test and the text messages she sent to Cousin Helen. Marci should be concerned because whoever the intruder is has her phone number.
Uncle Walt doesn’t get the memo and is catfished into meeting Cousin Helen for a coffee date, but is killed by someone in the backseat. The killer has a list and is crossing it off. Uncle Walt was listed as “The Balloon Man.” Cousin Helen was listed as “The Dancer.”
Local police don’t take kindly to Nick investigating and question him. They subject him to a DNA test, and he asks for privacy.
Marci regrets taking the DNA test and worries that all her family members will die and leave her. Her mother isn’t handling the family drama well and is hiding a dark family secret. (They are allergic to coconuts?)
The bartender turns out to be a long-lost brother who was kidnapped on the fourth of July when Caroline went into labor and was rushed to the ER. She left Daniel at the park and asked her Cousin Helen to find him. Daniel was locked in a room with a photograph of his relatives and plotted against them.
Daniel, the bartender, has been getting revenge and identifies Marci as a relative because they are both allergic to coconuts. It is a shared family trait. He kidnaps Marci and her mom, but they are quickly rescued by the police and not the hot detective.
Marci decides to NEVER do a DNA test again! Good for her!
STRAY Thought
Who still takes DNA tests in 2025?
Overall rating
Number of Kills: 🔪🔪 (2 knives)
Lifetime Tropes: DNA Test, Dead Parent, Long-lost relative, Car Killing
Enjoyment Level (1-5 scale)
🍷🍷 (2 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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*Photo Credit: © 2025 A&E Television Networks, LLC
Let me know what you thought of the movie in the comments below or @lifetimeuncorked
The movie was good but the ending made me mad his mom or the family including his father too did not looked for him and they were standing there as he was getting kidnapped and lied about going to the cops they basically acted liked he didn’t exist and they didn’t even tell Maci about her own brother
Wtf. The movie was pretty good but why the hell didnt the mom and/or aunt ever tell Marci about Daniel? I thought maybe the mom had given daniel away and was ashamed. But Why would a kidnapping be a secret? Especially when people were getting murdered around this DNA issue. It makes no sense. Once again , watching an lmn movie always makes me question what happened, usually the ending makes no sense. I kept hoping they’d explain why it was a secret but never did. So annoying
Dear god this was terrible! Not the good kind! The PI who was made to look suspicious but essentially just an extra. The loser boyfriend who she gets back with. What happened all those years while he was kidnapped and why!