Top 10 Lifetime Villainesses of 2021 (Part II: The Top 5)

As I stated while devising the first half of this top 10 list, picking them out from a very impressive crop of Lifetime film villainesses from this year was very difficult. Despite this, however, I had my top 5 cemented quickly. These five female baddies showed out the most in 2021, making it easy for me to feature them in this list. They are as follows:

5. Kristin (Brutal Bridesmaids): I remember being so excited for Brutal Bridesmaids, because the title alone guaranteed the appearance of a villainess. In the case of this film, which aired on February 26, the hidden villainess was Kristin, played by Jamie Fritz in her Lifetime film debut, and she was introduced as a friend and business partner of main protagonist Jessica Curtis, who was engaged to her boyfriend Michael. As the wedding day drew closer, various mishaps began to befall Jessica and her bridesmaids, as well as Michael, who was attacked by a hooded figure--who later pursued Binky (one of the bridesmaids) as well.

Jessica and her bridesmaids suspected the former's cousin, Sloan, due to her past bad experience involving a bridesmaid stealing her fiance, but as Jessica would find out when she was abducted by that same figure, the true villainess was Kristin, who committed her evil actions due to the fact that she was actually in love with Michael, and felt that Jessica stole him from her. Kristin admitted to Jessica that she had darkness in her and was set on killing Jessica before being saved by Sloan, and in all regards, this was a truly twisted villainess; Kristin was deranged and maniacal, and Jamie Fritz played her well. I hope we see Jamie Fritz in more Lifetime films in the future; her performance as Kristin in this film truly shows how amazing she is as an actress.

For Kristin's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki, click here, and click here for my review on the character.

4. Amanda Dillon (Killer Cheer Mom): You can imagine my reaction when I saw the preview for this year's "Fear the Cheer" batch of movies, and Denise Richards was revealed to be playing a main villainess in one of the films! The film, Killer Cheer Mom, aired on August 28 of this year, and featured Richards as Amanda Dillon, the stepmother of budding cheerleader Riley Dillon, and we see Amanda resort to immoral and villainous methods to make sure that Riley joined the squad. Now, upon seeing this in the synopsis, I figured it was a slightly inverted version of the typical evil stepmother, because they usually try to destroy the stepdaughter's goals--Amanda was trying to uplift them. As it turned out, her motive for that wasn't so genial.

As the film's progression revealed, Amanda was a deranged adulteress and murderess; she was in a relationship with a married man, and attempted to kill his wife by tampering with her car so they could be together, only for her lover to end up behind the wheel and killed instead. After meeting and marrying James Dillon, Amanda moved James and Riley to another town to avoid being arrested, and that's the reason why she was set on helping Riley make the team: to keep them in her new home and avoid facing the consequences with a move back to Chicago. Among Amanda's crimes was an attempt to kill head cheerleader Chloe, but once Riley and her boyfriend, Cooper, found out about Amanda's past, the villainess abducted Riley and attempted to kill her, only for Riley to fight back against Amanda, who ended up arrested.

Denise Richards had participated in another cheerleader movie, The Secret Lives of Cheerleaders, in 2019, and since then, I had wanted Richards to portray a Lifetime villainess, and she truly delivered with this role! Richards' performance as the maniacal Amanda Dillon was immensely brilliant, and as I said in my review, Amanda Dillon deserves the Albert Beck treatment--a number of sequels featuring Amanda doing her worst in her psychotic mission. With a big name like Denise Richards playing her, this can definitely be done!

For Amanda Dillon's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki, click here.

3. Kristen Cargill (Dangerous Snow Day): When I learned about this film, read the synopsis, and found out that Lifetime movie regular Kate Watson was in this, I was excited, because I had a huge gut feeling that this would be Watson's first villainous Lifetime movie role! Dangerous Snow Day aired on December 11, and featured Watson as Kristen Cargill, the wife of wealthy businessman Frederick Cargill. The film's protagonist, Maggie Ford, served as a nanny for the couple's two children, but when Maggie announced that she had plans to leave and focus on her education, it was met with shock from the couple--and an attempted and forceful seduction from Frederick, who was quickly rebuffed.

What followed was Maggie being blackballed by Frederick, while Kristen served as a means of concern to Maggie, who was also on the receiving end of murder attempts. It was believed that Frederick was behind everything, including the murder of their past nanny, Ashley Coleman, and the attempt to run down Maggie's friend Hannah, and the climax saw Frederick angrily confront Maggie, only to be knocked out with a shovel by Kristen. Maggie assumed that Kristen saved her, but afterwards, Kristen turned heel on Maggie by knocking her out with the same shovel, and she later revealed that she killed Ashley due to the fact that she was her husband's mistress. She was also behind the attempts on Maggie and Hannah as well, and it was during her rant that she killed Frederick and made another attempt on Maggie, who knocked out the villainess.

It's been a few weeks and I'm still so elated that Kate Watson finally played a villainess in a Lifetime film, because I knew that if she had the chance to do so, she would show out, and she certainly did. Kristen was a scorned and psychotic villainess, one of my favorite types, and as we saw in the film, Watson played all of Kristen's traits to absolute perfection. It was days after watching this film that I watched Watson as a villainess again in the holiday film, Most Wanted Santa, but in regards to Lifetime films, I said it in my review, and I'll say it again: give us more evil Kate Watson on Lifetime!

For Kristen Cargill's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki, click here.

2. Alison (Secrets of an Escort): November 4 gave us Secrets of an Escort (aka The Other Me), which centered on Connie Anderson, waitress by day, escort (under the name Veronica) by night. Connie was reacquainted with her former sorority sister, Alison, a recent hire who was mourning the loss of her husband, and the film's progression saw Connie confronted by her ex-husband, Jason, while also searching for her teenage daughter, Christine, who had been abducted. Connie suspected that one of her clients, William, was involved due to his infatuation with her, and it was at William's house that her suspicions increased, as Connie found Christine's bracelet.

William suddenly keeled over and fatally collapsed after drinking his glass of wine, and to Connie's shock, Alison appeared and expressed her grief over William's death. Alison turned heel afterwards by revealing that she poisoned the wine in an attempt to kill Connie, while also revealing that William was actually her husband and that she had found out that he was seeing Connie, after which Alison enacted her revenge by abducting Christine and sending Connie to Jason, as well as the aforementioned attempted poisoning. The villainess attempted to attack and kill both Connie and Christine, but she would end up arrested even after attempting to finger Connie as William's killer.

The main reason why I was so excited for this movie was because Pauline Egan (of Sanctuary fame) was playing the villainess, Alison. I had watched Egan earlier this year in Lifetime's Designed for Death, as a heroic character, and I was hoping that she would turn heel for her next LT movie role, and she delivered big time. I absolutely loved Alison; she was maniacal, vengeful, and psychotic, and Pauline Egan gave a brilliant performance while playing every facet of Alison's personality, especially her reveal, which I've watched many times since the film aired. I chose that particular photo because it captures Alison's heel persona perfectly; she literally seethes as she reveals that she was planning to kill Connie.

For Alison's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki, click here, and click here for my review on the character.

1. Stacey (Secrets of Sorority Row): I loved every villainess featured on my top 10 list, but with all honesty, the best Lifetime villainess of 2021 was none other than Secrets of Sorority Row's overall main villainess, Stacey, played wonderfully by Lauren Buglioli. I had said in my review about Stacey that I had wanted Buglioli to finally play a Lifetime villainess; she had done two LT films earlier in the year, and on May 15, 2021, the third time was definitely the charm. Stacey was one of a group of former sorority sisters (with main protagonist Michelle Walker being among them) who was being threatened with revelations regarding the death of another sister, Kelly Oberman, 24 years prior.

In what was supposed to be a public moment to reveal the entire truth, Stacey denounced Kelly as a reckless girl who drank herself to death; but after Kelly's daughter, Lucy, was revealed as Michelle's stalker, Stacey knocked out Lucy and revealed the real truth: Stacey had killed Kelly in response to Kelly's threat to go public with the sorority's hazing. The truth was hidden for 24 years, but in the film's events, Stacey turned heel once again and started appearing to Michelle in her house, where she tripped Michelle as she walked down the stairs, and even caused fellow sister Gretchen to be killed when she placed a bottle of wine on Kelly's grave to trigger her alcoholism, leading to Gretchen's fatal drunk driving crash.

I loved everything about Stacey; she was immensely ruthless in her sinister quest, and her attire in the flashbacks definitely fit Stacey's heel persona. This was a fabulous performance from Lauren Buglioli; she acted out Stacey's self-serving personality very well, and did an amazing job in her character's reveal, as well as her cold demeanor as a villainess in the flashback scenes. I've watched Stacey's reveal over and over since the film's airdate; it's that good!

For Stacey's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki, click here.

Thank you for reading my list! Click the heart if you liked it, and click subscribe if you want more of my stories! Tips and pledges are also welcomed, but only if you want to do so!