Lifetime Review: 'Strike Her Dead'

Jenna Simms (Cece Kelly) has had to move around a lot for her mother's work, but this latest move has proven to be harder than the rest. It's Jenna's first move without her father now that he and her mother Sally (René Ashton) are separated. While Sally starts her new job managing a local hotel, Jenna's first day at Fairmont Park High gets off to a bumpy start. While she's quickly integrated into the school's soccer team, she's given the cold shoulder by some of her new teammates.

The reception turns even icier when tragedies strike the school not long after Jenna's arrival. With the incidents putting the team on edge and turning them against each other, Jenna realizes that everything ties back to Lilly Washington--a soccer player who disappeared last year. As she digs deeper into what happened, Jenna will discover a web of secrets and lies within the Fairmont soccer team. A web that someone is willing to kill to keep hidden...

So many comparisons can be made between Strike Her Dead and Nobody Will Believe You. They're both Reel One Entertainment properties directed by Damián Romay, they share many of the same producers, and both are about a teenage girl getting dragged into a dark conspiracy at her new school. Even the movies' posters on the Reel One Entertainment website have similar designs! In addition to all that, Strike Her Dead takes after the previously released teen thriller in terms of quality. It has the same consistent pacing and acting that made Nobody Will Believe You an enjoyable watch, with Strike Me Dead's mystery element giving it a bit of an edge over the film that came before it.

It doesn't take long for tension to start brewing at Fairmont. The opening scene alludes to the plot-inciting secrets, and we're not even past the first commercial break when the cracks in the soccer team's supposed solidarity begin to show. Things only escalate as more incidents befall the team, and soon, almost every soccer meet is ending with a fight. The drama keeps flowing at a slow but steady rate and the actors portraying the soccer team members play their roles well. Cece Kelly's Jenna Simms is in good company with Emily Topper's Hannah Baxter when it comes to likability. She has bouts of teenage angst, but Jenna's anger is understandable between the unwanted move and her parents' deteriorating marriage. Ultimately, Jenna is a troubled girl whose anguish is compounded by the violent scheme she uncovers at her new school. Kelly keeps Jenna's harsher moments under control so that you don't lose sympathy for her as things go from bad to worse.

As for the other players, the fractured team dynamic is especially well-carried by Cristina Nuñez and N'Dia Lamar. Nuñez will have you feeling for the exasperated and fearful Maria while Lamar dives into Stacy's bitter rage against everyone--particularly Jenna and Maria. Nicole Wheeler gives a little charm to the underexposed Grace while Grace Lawell gives a much better performance here than she did in Nobody Will Believe You. You believe that Alicia has the confidence to be a team captain and the level head to weather her team's collapse. Lastly, we have Coach Ritchie as played by Marc Herrmann, who brings his usual charisma to Ritchie's laidback scenes and authoritative strength to the scenes when the coach works to take charge of his dysfunctional team.

WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW

Lawell and Herrmann are at their best, though, when Alicia and Ritchie's true colors come out in the final act. Throughout the first two acts, Lawell effortlessly masks Alicia's villainous secret. In stark contrast to her stiff pre-reveal acting from Nobody Will Believe You, Lawell makes Alicia's frightened façade believable. She gives the same palpable emotion to Alicia's breakdown once Ritchie is prepared to murder Jenna, which might make you feel a little bad for her when Ritchie shows how he's willing to kill her too if it means covering his tracks. Speaking of, Herrmann does a stellar job with his first Lifetime villain role, reveling in Ritchie's smug arrogance as he boasts about his cold-blooded plans. Not even a kick to the jaw is enough to knock the smirk off Ritchie's face. It all definitely puts the villainous reveal from Nobody Will Believe You to shame.

Spoilers Over

The other adults in Jenna's life also have compelling actors behind them. While her character is mostly a standard concerned Lifetime mother, René Ashton gets a few moments to shine when Sally Simms isn't sitting around worrying about her daughter. She's charming when Sally is striking a friendship with her new boss and sympathetic when she's dealing with her less-than-considerate ex-husband. Greg Corbett is just as charming as said boss Dan Rocklin, striking chemistry with Ashton as Dan and Sally instantly hit it off. That makes it especially frustrating when Dan is sidelined in favor of Joe Simms. Chip Lane gives a good performance and, for all his flaws, Joe makes it clear that he really does love Jenna. But his slightly disconcerting attitude towards the divorce (one which Sally seems all too ready to finalize) makes it hard to root for Joe's efforts to "win Sally back." This subplot doesn't even get a proper wrap-up, so we're left with no clue as to how that conflict got resolved. Let's just hope Dan Rocklin found someone who'll appreciate his warm smile and complimentary iced tea.

B-Story stumbles aside, Strike Her Dead makes for an engaging Lifetime thriller with a mystery that keeps you on your toes for a bit. The suspense starts picking up speed before the title screen even pops up and the subsequent story doesn't slow it down too much. Cece Kelly will have you in Jenna's corner from beginning to end and she's joined by a group of co-stars who also know how to keep their heads in the game. If you enjoyed Nobody Will Believe You, Strike Her Dead will provide you with everything that made that movie good while adding some touch-ups of its own. Just be ready to trade in your sheet music for soccer cleats.

Score: 7.5 out of 10 Delifresh meals.