Ever since I saw Switched At Birth starring Bonnie Bedelia when I was a preteen, I have enjoyed the cinematic works of art known as Lifetime Original Movies (aka LOMs.) I know many of you feel the same way so I figured a discussion of our favorite LOMs would ignite more passion in our bloglationship. Today I am sharing with you my Top Ten Favorite Lifetime Original Movies with a surprise giveaway at the end! (the blog equivalent to me coming out in a black negligee.) With the hundreds of Lifetime movies out there, you would think it would be impossible to narrow them down to a measly ten, but I did it! Most of my favorites are from the nineties, since I have been sadly underwhelmed by many of the recent ones. The Craigslist Killer was terrible! Amish Grace? Horrible! However there are a couple of newer ones that put a ‘lil sparkle in my eye…SHALL WE BEGIN?
The Nora Roberts movies
These four movies, based on stories from romance novelist Nora Roberts, played for a month sometime in 2009. I was lucky (anti-social) enough to catch Tribute (RIP Brittany) and Midnight Bayou and enjoyed the mix of romance , suspense, and the supernatural. I still have to watch the other two but surely I won’t be disappointed. Also FYI the one with Leann Rimes and that hot dimples dude is how they started having an IRL affair! Not like anyone cares or anything.
Sins of the Mind
I am pretty sure nobody besides me saw Sins of The Mind. I couldn’t even find a better picture of it than the one above, that’s how obscure this is. This movie has seriously fucked me up for the past ten years. It’s about a girl who gets into a car accident and suffers trauma to the brain, particularly the nerve that controls impulses. Basically she becomes what many of us only dream to be: a big ol’ whore. She can’t resist any of her urges, which of course are mostly sexual. During a trip to London in 2002, I was walking across the Thames River and told Shaun I was afraid my impulse gland was broken like in Sins Of The Mind and I might jump into the water. I’m sure that paranoia was triggered by exhaustion and jetlag and not by me being cray.
She’s Too Young
This is another newer one I enjoyed because it’s about a bunch of teenagers getting syphilis. Sluts! What is there more to say? Marcia Gay Harden is very angry in this movie.
Twisted Desire
There was a time in the 90′s when all of our favorite goody-two-shoes sitcom stars were in Lifetime movies. This one had Clarissa Explains It All’s Melissa Joan Hart seducing Jeremy “Right Kind of Love” Jordan into murdering her parents! What a bitch.
Friends Til The End
Shannen Doherty stars as a girl in a band who becomes the victim of a single white female. This was basically an extra-long episode of 90210. A memorable scene was when the band shot their music video in the desert. Lots of 90′s camera angles.
Mother May I Sleep With Danger?
First of all, this wins the award for best title of a movie ever made. Donna Martin, sporting an extreme bob, is romanced by butt-chinned 90′s hunk Ivan Sergei. In no time, his affection turns into obsession and he traps her in a log cabin. The Wikipedia description says all you need to know: “Laurel (Spelling) discovers that her new boyfriend Kevin (Sergei) is a serial killer, and must escape the mountain cabin in which he is holding her captive by paddling down a river in a canoe at dusk.”
No One Would Tell
Another one starring a couple of our favorite child actors, Kevin Arnold aka my first love, Fred Savage, is a possessive asshole who beats up and eventually murders his girlfriend played by D.J. Tanner! UGH SO GOOD. What would you do if I sang outta tune?
She Fought Alone
Do you guys remember when Brian Austin Green (BAG) and Tiffani-Amber Thiessen (TAT) were in hyphen-named puppy love? Tiffani even got a green heart tattooed on her back during this time. Anyway, she plays a bad girl who gets raped by the friend of BAG’s character and nobody believes her.
A Killer Among Friends
Another LOM starring Tiffani Amber, I liked this one so much I had taped it on VHS. TAT plays a cute popular girl who gets murdered down by the river by her jealous friends. I remember the murder scene looked super fake because they used what looked like a blow-up doll. The ringleader of the friends actually moves into TAT’s mom’s (played by Patty Duke!) house after the murder like a creepy ass bitch. Years pass until one of the friends confesses. Still not sure why I liked watching this one over and over. I must be the real creep!
And finally…the #1 LOM: Death of a Cheerleader!
Was this too obvious!? There are countless elements that make this LOM #1 on my list. Kellie Martin plays Angela, a nice high school girl who wants nothing more to be perfect and popular. She watches in envy as queen bee Stacy Lockwood (perfect bitch name) one-ups her in all teen territories, from having the coolest skiing outfit to making the cheerleading squad. Even though Angela is smart, well-liked and part of the Larks (a sorority-type clique at the school), she still can’t accept Stacy Lockwood always being one step ahead of her. One fateful day, Stacy calls Angela a weirdo and Angela stabs her! At first the murder is blamed on the class goth and Angela begins to reap the benefits of being Miss Popular… until her Catholic guilt takes over and she confesses to the murder.
Let me write you a list of why Death of A Cheerleader is my favorite Lifetime movie ever.
- Donna Martin is a snotty ass bitch!
- The fashion mostly consists of chambray, knotted pearls, and gold Jesus crosses.
- There is a strong Catholic theme throughout the whole movie. SO MUCH GUILT
- There is a “taking odd jobs to make enough money to go to the ski trip” montage of Angela – you know how I love montages!
- Cameos include: Valerie Harper as the mom, JOHN LOCKE as the principal, and Uncle Phil Banks from Fresh Prince!
I hate you Stacy Lockwood!!
And now for my revealing negligee…
I AM GIVING AWAY A COPY OF DEATH OF A CHEERLEADER! Not the one above since that was my Netflix copy but I have a brand new one for you all the way from Ebay! Let’s hope it’s not bootleg. Actually if it is, it will make this whole thing even better! To enter, make up your own Lifetime Original Movie and leave it as a comment below. I want a sweet title, a short plot summary and throw in some actors too if you want! Make me laugh, make me gasp, make me shed a tear! The most original and entertaining idea wins!
PS. I will be uploading more LOM screencaps to my Tumblr, including another favorite aspect of them…the shitty looking opening title sequences!
62 comments
Omg, when I was a freshman in highschool they totally rolled in the big old tv on a cart and showed us a VHS of “No One Would Tell” to make us kids more aware about abuse! But I couldn’t wrap my mind around Kevin Arnold being a crazy girlfriend beater so the message didn’t sink in until I saw DJ floating to the bottom of the lake! So scandalous…
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marie Reply:
February 10th, 2011 at 2:40 pm
I’m so jealous! My high school didn’t do dat!
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I can’t believe how many of these I’ve actually seen! How did that happen?!
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marie Reply:
February 10th, 2011 at 2:54 pm
GURL, when I made this list I couldn’t believe it either.
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Love the concept of the post, Marie. Guess I’ll get the ball rolling with the synopses…
My movie’s called ‘Daddy’s Deadly Dancer’ and it’s about Verity (played by Gabrielle Anwar), an aspiring ballerina who lives in a small town in the North East. Verity has had the love and attention of her over-protective millionaire father (played by William Petersen) to herself her whole life after her mother, a famous ballerina (a young Julianna Moore), was murdered during a car-jacking while bringing baby Verity home from the hospital. One day, Verity’s father tells her he’ll be getting re-married and who should it be but Verity’s idol, NYC Ballet’s former principal Alethea (Jaclyn Smith). Verity is initially happy at the news and allows Alethea to guide her as a dancer, even going on a dangerous diet to please her stepmother. But when she discovers Alethea’s gold-digging nature, infidelity with her father’s best friend and cruelty to the family’s Mexican housekeeper, Bonita, Verity is heart-broken and her tears soon give way to murderous rage when plotting Alethea’s downfall….
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jesi Reply:
February 3rd, 2011 at 2:23 am
dang that is awesome!
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marie Reply:
February 10th, 2011 at 2:53 pm
BONITA!!! So fucking good girl.
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Kelly Reply:
November 1st, 2012 at 8:39 pm
Omg I think I seen this movie. But when I look it up on google I can’t find it!
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Marie Madeline, Karl Fundenberger. Karl Fundenberger said: RT @agentlover: new post: TOP TEN LIFETIME MOVIES http://www.agentlover.com/blog/2011/02/02/obsess-with-me-top-ten-lifetime-original-mov … [...]
BEST POST EVAR.
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marie Reply:
February 10th, 2011 at 3:09 pm
YOU ARE MY LOMs SISTER 4 LIFE
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What is this masterpiece, this magical plat du jour I see before me? Is this the best fucking thing you have ever written? ME THINKS IT IS YOUR MOST OUTSTANDING ACCOMPLISHMENT TO DATE. I know you’ve been brewing over this LOM post for quite sometime, but I had no idea it was going to be your magnum opus. I hate you so hard right now.
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marie Reply:
February 10th, 2011 at 3:09 pm
LUVIN EWE
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no one would tell was my #1 favorite!
we watched it during guidance period in school like twice a year haha.
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marie Reply:
February 10th, 2011 at 2:51 pm
someone else said the same thing!! that’s awesome!
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God, Marie, I can’t breathe I’m so happy with this post.
YESSSS MOTHER MAY I SLEEP WITH DANGER. And so many more. (God I’ve seen more of these than I realized! And have so many to catch up on!)
“The Dead Will Rise Again!” is about a young deep Southern cheerleader who is murdered and her body washes up in the Bayou. Her small Louisiana town is abuzz. Was it her young black football star boyfriend? Her quiet backwoods, country best friend? The lone basketball player who hates her for being progressive and being in an interracial couple?
Cast: Hayden Pantierre as the cheerleader, Usher as the football player, because hi, he’s awesome. Awkward bff by Kristen Stewart. YEAHHH.
Because, really, I’m in the South. It should take place here, underneath Spanish moss, fog, and humidity that Tennessee Williams & a Lifetime movie can do justice to.
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Meaghan Reply:
February 3rd, 2011 at 3:31 pm
Loves!
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marie Reply:
February 10th, 2011 at 2:51 pm
I love this one Ashe but I hate Hayden Pantierre SO MUCH!!!!!! Love me some Usher cameos though!!!
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Kelly Reply:
November 1st, 2012 at 8:41 pm
LOVEDDDDDD this movie!
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Can I just that I LOVE LOVE LOVE you for doing this post! You have all the good ones!!
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marie Reply:
February 10th, 2011 at 2:54 pm
THANK YOU ERICA!!!
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Okay, the name of my movie is “Because I Loved You”. A story about Bryce Fairwood (played by early Rebecca Gayheart) a super mega-popular high school senior. All the boys want to date her but she keeps holding out in order to make them want her more. A nerdy sophmore Sarah Brown (played by Melissa Joan Hart) idolizes the very ground Bryce walks on. Nerdy yet handsome Robert Michaels (played by young Antonio Sabato Jr.) has a crush on Sarah. Sarah, on the other hand, has a major crush on Bryce’s on again, off again man, Taylor Peiris (David Charvet, yum!) and takes no notice of Robert. Bryce finds out about Sarah’s crush on her man and befriends Sarah. Sarah, of course, is overjoyed at this, and doesn’t notice that Bryce is only doing it in order to bring Sarah into her circle so that she may flaunt her relationship with Taylor. The one who does notice is Robert, who begins to pursue Sarah even more in order to distract her from Bryce’s evil plan. All hell breaks loose when Taylor takes things too far and nearly rapes Sarah at Bryce’s mega-awesome birthday party. Robert arrives just in time to retrieve Sarah from the party and take her back to his house. Of course, no one is home, and Robert confesses his love for her. Sarah is disgusted and leaves his house and returns to the party. She arrives just in time as Bryce is telling everyone how ridiculous Sarah is and how she had a childish crush on her awesome man. Sarah remains silent; all the while tears are running down her face. No one sees her standing at the front door as they are too focused on Bryce and laughing at Sarah. Bryce then starts cutting into the birthday cake and that’s when Sarah runs in and snatches the knife away from her and stabs her in the gut, all the while screaming and crying hysterically, “I LOVED YOU AND YOU NEVER LOVED ME BACK. I WOULD HAVE DONE ANYTHING FOR YOU.” We cut to the future when Sarah is in the mental institution, she’s gently rocking herself in the corner of her padded cell with her straight jacket securely tied on her, whispering “It’s because I loved you.” Fin
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marie Reply:
February 10th, 2011 at 2:50 pm
I LOVE ANTONIO AND DAVID CHARVET! This one is SO GODDAMN GOOD love it. BTW did you ever watch Antonio’s dating show? I should never have because he’s so boring!
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MR Reply:
September 25th, 2011 at 4:38 pm
Does this movie truly exist? I looked it up and could not find ANYTHING on it!
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Carol Reply:
September 25th, 2011 at 11:44 pm
No, I made this up in order to win the giveaway. But I didnt win:(
That’s a compliment to my cheesy imagination!
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My god. Everything on this page is full of awesome, from the post to the comments.
Also, does Nora Roberts have a problem with shirts?
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marie Reply:
February 10th, 2011 at 2:55 pm
thanks boo! I know I love my people here they fucking kill me with these entries and comments!
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I love it! I wanna watch these ALL!!
xox
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I liked this one I have faint memories of seeing one on TV while we were on vacation (we didn’t have TV at home, lol). It was about a girl who starts dating a pimp while he assures her he doesnt sleep with any of his hoes. Eventually she becomes a hoe and her mother has to save her. I feel like it was called “Fighting for my Daughter”.
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carol Reply:
February 4th, 2011 at 10:50 am
i read a book like that! girl runs away from her home and winds up in nyc, a pimp picks her up and she falls in love with him but then he says if you loved me you would prostitute yourself for me, lots of drama with his other girls, but in the end he gets arrested and she goes back home. awesome.
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marie Reply:
February 10th, 2011 at 3:10 pm
omg googlin’ now
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MR Reply:
September 25th, 2011 at 4:39 pm
Is this the one with Antonio Sabato Jr,
‘Why my Daughter?’
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Title: Mother, May I Have My Tubes Tied?
Synopsis: Judith Light (Who’s the Boss) stars as Dr. Beverly Wyatt, a high-powered fertility specialist harboring a dark secret. Despite her years of groundbreaking work in helping infertile couples conceive children, her only daughter Tamela (played by Tracey Gold) is not actually a child she birthed. In a flashback, we learn that Beverly secretly won Tamela in a high-stakes poker match featuring Lynda Carter, Donna Mills, and the lady who played the receptionist on Moonlighting.
Dr. Wyatt is ecstatic when she learns of Tamela’s pending nuptials to the handsome Brock (Lorezno Lamas) and is even more excited by the prospect of becoming a grandmother. Tamela has other plans when she learns that Brock is not only emotionally abusive but also over-possessive of his hair care products, so she schedules an appointment at a low-cost Family Planning Center because she has no health insurance.
When Tamela arrives for her appointment, who should be her attending physician but her secretly adoptive mother Dr. Wyatt logging some community service time for an unexplained shoplifting conviction.
Will Dr. Wyatt ties Tamela’s tubes?
Tune into to this Lifetime Original Movie to find out….
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marie Reply:
February 10th, 2011 at 2:48 pm
YOU KILL ME WITH JUDITH LIGHT and of course my the Renegade of my heart…LORENZO LAMAS!
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I have to say off the bat I read your blog on the regular and think you are hilarious! My good friend lives in Japan right now and we often send each other your posts like Whaaa? This is so amazing! So we really wanted to come correct for you on this one. Your research and commentary for this post did not go unappreciated. A true delight. Winning “Death of a Cheerleader” would make my winter! Ok here’s what we got for you:
“Can You Hear Me Now?” with a cell-phone product tie-in. Luke Perry is the beleaguered working single father of a sweet and nerdy tomboy played by Noah Cyrus. She gets a wrong-number call from a man (played by Fast and the Furious” star Paul Walker) who says he’s a teenager, but actually he’s a middle aged drifter. She starts meeting him for rendezvouses, and Luke doesn’t know the truth and when he finds out and bugs, Walker convinces Cyrus they should kill her dad together. Luke is a single father and never seems to have time for Cyrus or to listen to her teenage woes so in an act of defiance she agrees. And I mean she’s IN LOVE. So she puts her nerd skills to use and they plan to kill her father by planting a cartridge of deadly gas in his cel to go off when she calls. When the plan is being executed she throws in the title line “can you hear me now?” as her father is being poisoned and falls to his death. She shows one twinge of regret as she hears the phone go dead and looks over at Walker looking shady, but of course sexy.
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marie Reply:
February 10th, 2011 at 2:46 pm
JENNY YOU HAVE MADE MY DAY!!! Love you and your friend in Japan (jealouz of her btw)
LOVE Luke Perry as the single father!!
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You get so much of this I’d really like to be original and say your blog sucks, but I just can’t. This blog is the absolute dog’s bollocks, so seriously hilarious. Even when you talk about flick I’m waaay to snob a bitch to ever consider watching (let alone admitting publicly I enjoyed), you still tickle all my girly bells. DUDE you rock.
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marie Reply:
February 10th, 2011 at 2:43 pm
Thank you so much Eliza!!!! Seriously means a lot when people let me know they like what I’m doing here when I think I’m just talkin about cray shit!! But yes, allow me to embarrass myself for the both of us. (o)(o)
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Mine is called “Thou Shall Not Kill”. Mine is about a group of devout teenage Christians, who will do whatever it takes to make sure their classmates stay celibate. Even kill. It would have been filmed in in the mid 90s and would star Emily Schulman (aka Harriet from “Small Wonder”) as Sandy Fuller, the Christian girl gone psycho; Cherie Johnson as her partner in crime, Katrina Thomas; and Maureen Flannigan as her slutty arch rival, Samantha Radomski. She’ll sleep w/ anyone to tick “Sandy” off. Including Sandy’s boyfriend, Ronnie Santucci, played by Michael Cade (of “California Dreams”). Watch what happens when lust is stronger than the bible.
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aunt john Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 7:00 pm
I would watch any movie with Harriet from Small Wonder, provide she is rocking that bowl-cut/pig-tail combo.
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marie Reply:
February 10th, 2011 at 2:42 pm
The biggest bangs the world has ever known!
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marie Reply:
February 10th, 2011 at 2:43 pm
I CAN’T WITH U JOE
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HOW WILL I DECIIIIIIIIIDE. I will have to call upon on my LOMs council of Elders
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carol Reply:
February 10th, 2011 at 12:04 pm
you must decide! it is your cross to bear as owner of an awesome blog! oh marie, you put the rest of us to shame.
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marie Reply:
February 10th, 2011 at 2:41 pm
IT IS SO HARD!! But yes I am posting right now!
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OMG! The memories!! Oh, I loved little Kelly Martin!
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marie Reply:
February 10th, 2011 at 2:42 pm
ME TOO! Life Goes On!
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It’s called Dream House.
A woman is obsessed with a house that is bought by a wealthy doctor and his family. She has loved this house her whole life so when the family moves in she decided to infiltrate their lives. She eventually kills the wife, marries the dad and moves into her rightful position as owner of the house.
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marie Reply:
February 10th, 2011 at 2:42 pm
I love this one!! Who would you have play the woman and dad???
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[...] Obsess With Me: Top Ten Lifetime Original Movies And Giveaway! [...]
This list is bullshit. Where is Secret Between Friends: A Moment of Truth Movie?
Bulimia! Modeling! Secrets! Volleyball!
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MR Reply:
September 25th, 2011 at 4:44 pm
This is my favorite Lifetime Movie!
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I remember getting so excited when a new LOM debuted. Did you know alot of these movies were based on true stories from the 1980s? I think it was a pre-requiste if you were a teen star during the 90s you had to appear in a Lifetime movie. I love when Lifetime reruns them all on a Saturday.
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What an amazing movie…AND a great ending to one of the best franchises ever made!
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Holy crap! I love that you put Friends Til the End on this list. I often feel like I’m the only person in the world who knows that this move exists! SUCH a ’90s movie, and that’s exactly what I love about it. The acting isn’t great, the storyline is a bit cliche and Shannen Doherty should NOT be singing, but there’s just something about this movie that makes me love it so!
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where can i watch Sins of the Mind for free online?
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Dude there’s also that great one with Tori Spelling and BAG where they have, like, a one night stand (or the 90s tv version), she gets pregs and keeps the kid, stays with her mom, he falls in and out of the picture and then gets money and tries to get custody..something like that. Though I know this much of the plot, I don’t know the name but watched it thoroughly during childhood.
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Seriously.
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Can anyone remember this movie? It was a Mother who beat her kids and kills her youngest but the time it happened forinsics couldnt proof it and in the future the other siblings want her taken to trial and they dig up the babys body and get her convicted?
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it’s funny cause no would tell was on lifetime today.
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What is the name of the movie about the star basketball player for his high school and his dad wants him to take over the family farm after he graduates but he refuses and his dad is abusive and the boy falls for the girl that his family doesnt like and the girl get s pregnant and at the end of the movie everyone is sitting in the house and his dad is holding the baby
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Wow you listed all of my favorite movies from lifetime. Back then they played the best movies! I would sit home and watch movies all day. One of my favorite movies was called Lisa. (they actually have it on Netflix). This movie was about a 14 years old girl (I believe) who seen this man who looks like he’s in his late 20s early 30s and becomes infactuated with him. She starts following him and calling him. But then he ends up being a serial killer! Loved this movie!
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What is the name of the movie where this one girl is obsessed with terrorizing this girl who she thinks wants her boyfriend. She gets the help of another girl who is love with her and the guy to murder the girl while the girls mother is falsely called to work.
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