Don’t Trust the Couple Upstairs (2026 Lifetime Movie)
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Cast: Alex Mitchell, Denise Culbreth, Rob LaColla Jr.
Director: Brittany Goodwin
Writer(s): Steve Turner
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Synopsis (via Lifetime)
Newlyweds Maria and Joe rent out part of their house to Vicki and Clay, a friendly but enigmatic couple. Living together starts well, but when Vicki is killed, Maria uncovers secrets that make her realize Joe isn’t the man she married.
Recap/Wine Thoughts
Newlyweds/Influcers, Maria and Joe, move into a fixer-upper. It is a REAL mess, the door handle even falls off. A guy named Phil wanted to buy the house, but the couple outbid him. He harbors some ill will, which makes for an awkward encounter at the local grocery store.
They put out a post for a couple to move in and help with renovations for a social media channel. Enter artists, Vicky and Clay, who love the idea of a project outside of the city. Maria and Joe shared that they were excited to get out of the city, too. Maria and Vicky bond over their dead parents. The men bond over working on the farm. Since no one else responded, Clay and Viki move in!
It doesn’t take long for Vicky to sketch Joe like one of her French girls and for Clay and Maria to bond over chess. It is giving swingers! The couple intermingles, and Maria gets a bad feeling from Clay. He is a former military, has rage issues, and isn’t kind to Vicky.
Vicky goes off alone to paint in nature by the lake, while Maria paints her room mint green. After finishing painting, Maria joins Vicky, but finds her floating in the water, and not on her back. RIP!
A detective searches the home and finds Vicky’s bags packed. Clay is also MIA with his phone disconnected. Maria plays a chess game on an app with Clay and messages him there to see if he will respond. The detective can’t find anyone by their names and concludes that Clay and Vicky were using fake names.
The townfolk shut Maria and Joe out after the murder, and Phil even offers to buy them out of their mortgage since there was a murder on the property. Joe gets offended and almost fights the man in the street. (Which isn’t a good look, with a wanted killer on the loose.)
The detective talks with Maria after a stalking incident and asks how well she knows Joe. Maria did marry Joe on a whim. While most Lifetime movie detectives steer us in the wrong direction, I feel like this one might be onto something. Maria asks her friend, Brooke, about Joe, and they admit he was a serial dater before he married her. (Brooke and Joe dated briefly.) But does serial date equal serial killer?
Maria gets a USB and a note mailed to her that reads, “HE KNEW HER, HE KILLED HER.” The USB contains photos of Joe and Vicky posing as a happy couple. Maria demands answers from Joe, but he doesn’t answer; instead, he angrily chops potatoes. When Maria asks Joe point-blank if he killed Vicky, he responds, “I would Never Hurt you!” (Which isn’t exactly a denial.) Maria kicks him out while sobbing hysterically.)
Joe goes MIA, and Maria becomes worried. She should be worried because he is kidnapped, gagged, and tied to a bed. Maria and her friends look into the pictures and ask around town. They learn that Vicky’s real name is Emma Spears, Britney Spears sister? They also learn that Clay’s real name is Connor and message him on the chess app, again. Connor agrees to meet and makes a move in the Chess game! (This chess metaphor is played out.)
After ANOTHER break-in, Maria invites Brooke to stay with her until the detective can figure out what is going on. Brooke helps Maria search the house for clues, and they learn that the photos were faked with AI. (RIP bad photoshopped photos on Lifetime, I guess.) They find a key that Clay lost while doing laundry, and it could be the KEY to unlocking this murder mystery.
Clay grabs Maria outside her house and, before telling her anything, asks for a snack. He demands his key back, but Maria isn’t giving it to him without answers. Vicky/Emma asked Clay to pretend to be a couple to get into the house. The key is to a safe-deposit box containing jewels and cash. Maria isn’t satisfied with his story and swings a bat at him. They struggle until the police pull up, and Clay makes a run for it. The detective catches him before he can get away.
Maria remembers a picture of Brooke with the initials “ES”-Emma Spear. Brooke knew Emma and hired her to break Maria and Joe up because Brooke was jealous. Maria confronts Brooke, and Brooke admits that she kidnapped Joe and has him tied up in her bedroom.
Brooke inadvertently killed Vicky/Emma during an argument when Emma tried to back out of the plan. Brooke has been covering up everything and trying to pin the blame on Clay.
Maria saves her husband, and Joe apologizes for being a womanizer, promising he has changed since meeting Maria. They kiss as the police pull up.
Six months later, Maria and Joe paint the mint-green room yellow because they are expecting a baby!
STRAY Thought
This detective was out there doing the work! Most competent detective I’ve seen in a while, and maybe Maria’s only true friend.
Overall rating
Number of Kills: 🔪 ( 1 knife)
Enjoyment Level (1-5 scale)
🍷🍷🍷 (3 Glasses of Wine)
Lifetime Tropes: Creepy Neighbor, Dead parents, Newlyweds, Bad BFF
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: © 2026 A&E Television Networks, LLC
Let me know what you thought of the movie in the comments below or @lifetimeuncorked
Ughh…I wrote an entire comment that had an error message when I went to post it. Long story short, which this movie was not. I knew what was going on 1/2 way through. How could she possibly think that her friend was okay with her whirlwind relationship. Even if she said she was okay. It is never okay. A lot of silly decisions were made from grown folks. A newly married couple should/would never invite a strange couple to live with them to jeopardize their new marriage. Constantly wanting to do things alone instead of working with the police, who were actually trying to help. The heroine made it hard to root for her, because from her decision to marry, she just went down the rabbit hole of dumb decisions. For the long, drawn-out convoluted way of getting to the answer, this was a put a cork in it.
I always write in notes app and then copy paste!