Lifetime Review: 'Psycho Prom Queen'

After a year of recovering from alcoholism, divorced teacher Julie Taylor (Zoe McLellan) moves with her daughter Miya (Nia Roam) to a new town where Julie is taking the place of a private school's math teacher, who has been believed to commit suicide. Soon after arriving, Julie noticing Miya has been taken under the wing of Amy Turner (Allie MacDonald), the school's residential "Mean Girl" and driven nominee for the title of Prom Queen.

While Miya attempts to reassure her mother that Amy isn't as bad as she seems, Julie soon discovers a darker side to Amy when she reveals to her that her failing math grade will prevent her from attending Prom. Beneath her blonde hair and perky smile, Amy is shown to be a highly manipulative and ruthless girl—and Julie and Miya might find themselves caught in the crosshairs of Amy's intense desire to be crowned Prom Queen, as the lengths Amy is willing to go to prove to be far more malevolent than anyone could imagine.

Sometimes, when one comes to Lifetime, they just want some pure and unadulterated drama. Anyone looking for that can look no further than Incendo's Psycho Prom Queen, where an ultimately meaningless high school accolade is treated by the film's villain as the be-all, end-all of her entire existence. Like many of Incendo's Lifetime features, Psycho Prom Queen knows how to keep the drama and suspense pumping throughout the plot, not taking things too far too fast while also not slowing things down to the point of boredom. It all culminates in a crescendo of a climax, with all the built-up drama coming to a grand finale of drama.

All of this is definitely aided by the strong cast, particularly Allie MacDonald throwing herself completely into Amy's character. In her hands, Amy's shifts from standard Queen Bee bully to calculating manipulator to full-scale unhinged psychopath come off as effortless and allow for Amy to become a truly fearsome villain that you can't help but love. Zoe McLellan is equal in her devotion to playing Julie, working with her tragic backstory and struggles to make Julie a strong and sympathetic character. But despite this, Julie is shown to be an effective protagonist, as she makes it clear from her first interactions with Amy that she sees behind Allie's perky and upstanding facade and won't allow her to manipulate her or cave in to her demands. McLellan's chemistry with Nia Roam is also strong, with their mother-daughter relationship coming off as a deeply authentic one that you want to see survive Amy's machinations. On her own, while Miya's blindness to Amy's true colors can come off as frustrating to some, Roam plays Amy in a realistic way that avoids going down the standard Bratty Teenage Daughter route that has tended to annoy viewers like myself (*cough cough*).

Overall, Psycho Prom Queen is a near perfect mixture of the various Lifetime aesthetics, with a surprisingly efficient balance of idealism and cynicism in regards to the high school scene (something almost unseen in most teen films). The ultimate selling point, however, is the sheer drama of the whole set-up, which allows the movie to be thrilling, at times dark, and above all entertaining without going too far or hitting a rut. Allie MacDonald's manic portrayal of Amy Turner keeps the audience on their toes, and the protagonists' chemistry with her giving a balance to her character's over-the-top performance. If you're a fan of Lifetime's delvings into the teenage mind, Psycho Prom Queen is definitely a film that will pique your interest.

Score: 10 out of 10 childhood clubhouses of horror.