The title might be inaccurate, because if you’re anything like me then the more terrible the movie, the more I love it…when it comes to Lifetime Movies. Give me a bad soundtrack, overacting and horrible cinematography and I’m a happy camper. In other words, give me a Lifetime original movie.
Truthfully, though, many of these movies have redeeming qualities. I can’t quite remember what they are, but I’m certain they have them. In fact, most Lifetime Original Movies have a moral to the story…some wisdom to impart on the masses…so we can all learn and grow as people while we watch snippets of movies between ads for Target and Benefiber. Without further ado, here are the top ten worst Lifetime Movies:
10. Cyber Seduction: His Secret Life
He was a good kid who had it all…until he discovered adult movies. Or did they discover him? Either way, after the adult films he wasn’t such a good kid anymore. He became secretive and soon it became an addiction. Lucky for him his unsavory travels led him right to the hot but fast girl at his school (that’s one heck of a social networking story, folks) who intends to deflower him. Does he get deflowered? Does he disappoint his worried mother (played by Kelly Lynch, who has played some pretty sexy roles herself)? Do you really care?
9. Imaginary Playmate
See a clip from the movie. Dina Meyer (pretty Dizzy from Starship Troopers and of the Saw movies) marries a perfect hunky guy with an adorable little daughter. Her ideal view of life is shattered when she realizes that not only do her husband and little stepdaughter love their deceased wife/mother more than her, but that the aforementioned wife/mother is haunting them! Hunky husband man doesn’t believe her, even when the ghost lady makes her miscarry. Hunky but disheveled man friend believes her, and maybe (maybe, because we’re never told) THEY live happily ever after, since after the ghost lady tries to kill her daughter she presumably kills her husband, leaving stepmommy and daughter to…what? Be haunted by both of them? Move on with their lives? I guess it leaves it up to you, the viewer, to decide.
8. Baby For Sale
OK. Really bad title. The premise is interesting. The Johnsons are unable to conceive a child. Mrs. Johnson (Dana Delany) doesn’t feel great about the adoption process so she looks into buying a baby. Illegal? Yes. But (according to the movie) only a misdemeanor. They hook up with a Hungarian lawyer who finds them a little Hungarian baby and they are all ready to sign the bill of lading or whatever when all of the sudden…the price goes up! What? All of the sudden the Johnsons are stuck in an all-out bidding war for this black market Hungarian baby. On second thought, maybe this should have been number one…
7. A Face To Kill For
Come with me on this, because you’re going to be confused when you read the first part of number six. Allison (played by Crystal Bernard) is a horse (trainer? rider? jockey?) with a disfigured face. She has a creepy husband who frames her for a crime and she gets sent to prison for it. In prison she meets a friend who tells her to stand up for herself. She gets out of prison, gets all empowered and gets plastic surgery. Then she sets out to get even with the bad guy. As a side note, stay tuned for the upcoming list Top Ten Worst TV/Movie Crimes Committed By Stars of the Show Wings.
6. A Face To Die For
It should be a sequel, right? Nope. Emily is a poor disfigured-faced girl whose rat friends set her up for robbery. She goes to prison, and somehow manages to get some plastic surgery making her into the beautiful Emily, hell-bent on revenge and played by none other than Yasmine Bleeth. Costarring Robin Givens. Maybe based on the same book as A Face To Kill For. Certainly just as crappy.
5. A Killing Secret
High school sweethearts Nicole and Greg have a great and wholesome relationship…except for the fact that Greg meets up with a poor girl from the wrong side of the tracks for sex. Sex! In an abandoned shack, no less. Old Greg thinks he has it good until he meets his hovel ho for a romp and she tells him she’s (gasp!) pregnant! Oh no! That won’t do! The pregnant girl (played by Punky Brewster herself, Soliel Moon Frye) tells Greg she wants to keep the baby. Greg then does the only thing he can do. He kills her, wraps her body in plastic, and dumps it. Nice girl that she is, Greg’s girlfriend Nicole gets worried when she finds out a poor girl from school’s gone missing. She finds out Greg’s secret, and he tries to kill her before breaking down and having a big sissy crying fit.
4. I Do, But I Don’t
Denise Richards. Need we say more? OK. Denise Richards in a total ripoff of The Wedding Planner. Still need more? Denise Richards as a wedding planner’s assistant whose every move and thought is narrated by voice-over. Denise Richards as a wedding planner’s assistant who falls for who she thinks is the client’s GROOM (and still flirts with him anyway, even though she’s divorced from a mean husband and presumably really, really values the commitment of marriage) but it turns out that the guy (played by Dean Cain) is really the groom’s BROTHER. Totally predictable except for the characters hop in the sack at the first possible opportunity, and then have an excruciatingly drawn out sex scene to the tune of “The Way You Look Tonight” and grin maniacally at each other the whole time. Good times.
3. More Of Me
Oh please no. Molly Shannon and Stephen Weber (of Wings and Single White Female fame) star in this crapulent piece of work about an overworked mom who wishes incarnations of herself into being. The result is a Multiplicity (remember that movie with Michael Keaton? Yeah. Us either.) type romp with the other Molly Shannons wrecking even more havoc on her already out-of-control life. I read somewhere that Stephen Weber looked embarrassed to be in this movie, and then I remembered that he was willing to die from a stiletto heel in the eye, and as long as you’re known as the “death-by-stiletto” guy, you really shouldn’t be sanctimonious like that.
2. My Stepson, My Lover
Tell us you don’t really need to know more about this movie. What’s in a name? The basic plot: nice nurse falls in love with mean, mustached husband’s son. Mean mustached husband is played by Terry O’Quinn (Locke on Lost) and the hunky, lusty stepson is played by Joshua Morrow of Young and The Restless Fame. The nice nurse is played by British actress Rachel Ward (of the Thornbirds) who attempts a North Carolina accent with Mr. Higgins’ marbles presumably still in her mouth. Nursey is acquitted of her husband’s untimely demise, only to find out that loverboy killed his dad to have Nursey all to himself. Gee. That plotline sounds kind of familiar. Nursey finds out her boy toy is a murderous patriciding fiend and he, in a fit of rage, falls of a cliff. Thus Nursey is a rich widow with a poor invalid stepson who fill finally consent to buttoning his shirt all the way up. Fantastic.
1. Maternal Instincts
The funniest thing about this flick is that I didn’t know (and after some internet research realize that others had the same question) whether this was supposed to be real or a spoof. Tracy Horton, a woman desperate to have a baby. Turns out that she has cancer, and the only way to save her life is to give her a hysterectomy. She is, sadly, not awake for this decision so her husband and best friend make it for her. A shrieking and overacting Delta Burke plays Tracy who goes for vengeance, killing her husband, breaking pencils, and chasing her pregnant doctor around a boiler room with an enormous wrench. Bottom line is that Delta puts the “hysteria” into hysterectomy, and even though it ranked worst, it is the first Lifetime Original Movie I would recommend. So there.
51 Comments
Prison imaginary
I’ve never seen “Maternal Instincts,” but if it’s true that there’s pencil breaking in there…well, count me out! I’d prefer not to pollute my mind with that level of malice and destruction…
I am so glad that My Stepson, My Lover was ranked as #2. I mean…the title ALONE was TRULY RIDICULOUS and the movie itself was EVEN WORSE. Also, check this out…back in the day, I once read somewhere that (behind the scenes and during the filming of the movie) Joshua Morrow and Rachel Ward had trouble getting along with each other. According to Joshua, Rachel kept trying to undermine him, kept hogging the spotlight during filming and acted like such a total BITCH/DIVA during the duration of filming. To me, the BEST thing about that crappy TV-movie was actor Terry O’ Quinn. I am such a huge fan of Mr. O’Quinn that I will watch ANYTHING that he stars or appears in. He is such a brilliant actor!!!!! One final thing: Good or bad (or possibly BOTH), Lifetime Movies remind me of any other movie…it is meant to be viewed/watched as entertainment and it should be viewed/watched…with an open mind. Period.
His Secret Life was on this afternoon. I didn’t get to watch it (and as such have not seen it), but I don’t think anyone should discount the notion that p0rn addiction is real, whatever your feelings about the quality of the Lifetime movie. Studies have shown that the chemistry of the brain changes with psychological addictions in much the same way as it does with physical substance addictions such as alcohol or cocaine. Basically the person becomes addicted to the behavior that causes the pleasure hormones (endorphins) to over-activate. P0rnography is addictive and as such is negative. To paint it as simply that any hormonally-charged teenage boy would just love to “get into it” with the high school camwhore, and that parents are overreacting, completely ignores the seriousness of what basically amounts to possession of child p0rnography and a real chemical addiction.
It’s too bad we allow sex to be protected under the First Amendment and don’t allow for an exception which would make ALL p0rnography illegal and declare anyone who produces it a felon deserving life in prison or the death penalty. P0rn is exploitative and perverse, and both producers, distributors AND “performers” should be punished to the fullest extent of ANY law.
Great list, but how could you forget to include “Carnal Innocence”? That one is so bad, it’s almost good!
This list is strange because these are the same movies that repeatedly play all the time!
Oooh I got one…
I think it had Valerie bertineli in it and it was set in the 80’s, I can’t remember for sure but I think it was called dancer in the dark, typical battered yuppie housewife told she’s crazy, typical overly evil husband everyone adores cause he’s perfect and loving to his poor wife, and the defacto over eventuated prescription drugging.
There’s even a awesome scene involving a firehose.
I am gonna make a bumper sticker that says “Pro-Life but Anti-Lifetime”
There was an awesomely stupid one where a dumba** woman hits a kid on a bike and drives away so she can finish getting her house ready for a PTA party or something. Then she spends the whole movie wondering what she should have done differently.
that movie was called “hit and run”. in the same situation i’d like to think that as the cop was telling me to keep driving, move along, I would have told him that I was the one responsible for the accident. no way would I have panicked and not said anything.
How about the recent Lifetime movie called Walking The Halls? In that movie, the bad guy is a cop who moonlights as a sadistic pimp. Yeah, that is a real common phenomenon! How often do you see that happening!? For dramatic value, I give Lifetime movies an F minus. For comedic value, I give them an A plus.
why doesn’t this person do a list on the the Christmas Lifetime movies? There are certainly more than 10, and it would be funny!
While I will point out that some of these (particularly #s 1, 5, 8, and 10) are actually premises that have happened in real life and are not supposed to be funny or horrible, the fact that Lifetime has replaced both USA and Cinamax for what is J-W-list movies with A-G list stars who seem to excel at overacting in them warrants more than ten for this list. Other than that, a very good top ten.
There is a forum called rememberthatmovie.net whose users find any movie you are looking for and don´t recall the title by describing a scene or the characters!
Haha. I freaking love Lifetime flicks. I love “A Face to Die For,” ‘Cyber Seduction,” “The Killing Secret” & “Maternal Instincts.” I own all three and many more. TKS was actually based on a true story. I could you not like “Maternal Instincts”? That is a pure guilty pleasure. : )
I could you not include “The Invisible Child”?! Pure hot garbage, and what makes it even worse is the filmmakers actually want us to root for these people! The message. Mental illness is not a big deal, and we’re supposed enable our mentally ill family members, not get them the help they need. There are more bad ones, but I cannot think of them at the moment.
I meant “How could you not like said film.”
Awww com’mon I thought all these movies rocked -.- ok so what I’m addicted to lifetime movie channel
A Killing Secret is a definite rip off of the 1951 Elizabeth Taylor / Montgomery Cliff movie A Place in the Sun.
But don’t get me wrong: I LOVE Lifetime movies. They’re so addicting!
TKS was based on a true story.
I never thought about the similiarities between those two movies but you’re right. I love em both!
I just wanna say that the premise behind Baby for Sale in this article is wrong. The couple were looking to adopt and found a website. When she received an email about a baby up for adoption, the couple had their adoption lawyer look into it. When the adoption lawyer couldn’t find anything wrong, they went to New York City (they were from Minneapolis) to look at the baby. When the adoption fee suddenly went up, the couple felt that something was wrong and went to the FBI in Minnesota. They wound up working with police to send the guy to prison and wound up being able to adopt the baby.
Ok. So I have been looking to find the title of this horrible Lifetime movie for a while. My mom was watching it and I was howling with laughter. It is a Christmas movie and it is about a woman who bears a dead baby (which is sad and not funny) and then her son/ husband proceeds to carve the creepiest wooden baby ever to put in her arms while she is dying ( which was absolutely hilarious) …. Im kind of fuzzy on the details.
Please if anyone knows the name of this movie please help a sister out and let me know it!
thanks
I think Bastard out of Carolina should of made the worst ten list very sad and sick
Also based on true story. That happens in real life, so why ignore it?
Don’t revoke my girl’s club card, but I hate Lifetime. More melodrama than I can stand.
can anyone tell me how to purchase the lifetime movie Men don’t tell w/Judith light…This movie is fantastic…why don’t they show great movies like this one mentioned instead of the movies where u can tell the actress or actor has no experience.
Might I nominate “She’s Too Young”, in which a character manages to give syphilis to more than 20 people?
OOOOH. Good one. Mayhap there will be a Part 2 list sometime in the future….
Sounds like a winner to me, or is that a loser?
The sad thing is I've seen some of these. I particularly remember My Stepson, My Lover. Is there an article here for Sci-Fi/Syfy Original movies? Cause if not, that needs to be done!
what?…of the 5,328 movies that Meredith Baxter-Birney has appeared in on lifetime..not a single one made the list?..tisk tisk
This article was worth reading just to see the words 'black market Hungarian baby' in a sentence.
lol
Prom Night Dumpster Baby!
Rachel Ward is Australian
I guess you couldn't really put all of them up there could you?
what was the movie on LMN that the minister and his mistress that worked as a secretary kill his wife and then she hires a hit man to kill her husband. The state policeman solves the case and does not believe it was an accident? Please help>>>
the name of that movie was “murder ordained” with keith carradine and jobeth williams.
omg I LOVE Lifetime movies they are sooo terrible they're funny! Theres so many I've seen I would recommend them for the list but I saw them a few years ago and the titles were not memorable! But I did see # 10 and # 3 the main character in #10 played Peter Pan in the newest remake that came out a few years ago it was so weird to see him in this movie being all pervy and obsessed with porn you can actually watch the movie on youtube!
It's to bad it's only a Top 10 list…there many others that could have made this list.
Looks like #4 didn't just rip off "The Wedding Planner," but also "The Sweetest Thing" (which was also pretty crappy)
Pretty sure I read that as a book a few years ago….I remember the book being a lot better.
I can't believe you left out the sensational, "Invisible Child." It's about a lot of people indulging crazy mom's belief that she has 3 children instead of 2. Fan-freakin-tastic!
Don’t get me started on that one!
Come on! How can you forget gems like "Stalking Laura" or "Mother, May I Sleep with Danger"? Those are two that belong on this list.
Actually.. Not “Stalking Laura” for two reasons.
One, it was originally a CBS movie of the week, and two, it was based on a very tragic true story of what happened to Laura Black when Richard Farley began his obsessive unwanted pursuit of her. With the exception of a few characters combined, the real life events happened pretty much word for word and event for event.
The Killing Game isn’t a Lifetime movie, either. It was originally aired on NBC. Same with A Face To Die For.
I know this, and I apologize for not mentioning them. Rather I was indicting the idea that ones that are based on real life are “horrible” movies. That was the thrust of what I was saying, and I am glad you mentioned those.
#1 reminds me of one of my bumper stickers….
"I'm outta estrogen and I have a gun"
Too funny!
Lifetime Channel puts out the best worst movies ever.
No the worst movies are put out by the SyFy channel, but Lifetime does rank a close second. Maternal Instinct was the bottom of the barrel though. Not to mention sexist with all male victims.