Villainess Review: Bonnie Mason (Nightmare Neighborhood Moms)

I had been anticipating this film, Nightmare Neighborhood Moms, for a few months, and the wait was definitely worth it. So the film wastes very little time establishing its main villainess, it's Bonnie Mason, who is shown in the opening scene of the film confronting her husband's mistress, Kira, with a gun. What follows is a wave of misogynistic rants directed at Kira, right before she shoots her rival to death. A few months pass, and Bonnie sees some new neighbors in the form of Charlotte Porter and her teenage daughter, Jordan. Of course, it takes all of two seconds for Bonnie not to like them, so she attempts to get some info from them directly.

So Bonnie learns that Charlotte's divorced, and she works as a sales rep for Elaville--the same position that Bonnie has. So of course, Bonnie sees Charlotte as a direct threat to...well...everything; even her marriage to Christian, despite the fact that it has less life than the Atlanta Falcons did in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl 51. Her ultimate chance is a sales competition against Charlotte, but in that regard, we see Bonnie really turn up the sabotage: going to her school superintendent cousin and attempt to ruin Jordan's chances at a grant, and attempting to shut down Charlotte's electricity to ruin her chances at winning the competition.

As for Christian, the film sees him and Bonnie hurl verbal shots at each other for the most part. I'm just going to be blunt, I hated Christian. Yes, he cheated, but quite honestly, Bonnie's massive insanity drove him away. What I find more deplorable than the adultery is the fact that Christian is so damned spineless. Despite knowing full well what a deranged woman his wife is (and pretty much figuring out that Bonnie killed Kira), Christian puts up with her and hurls softball potshots at Bonnie and acts like he's getting the best of her; all so he can cover his own backside because he has some criminal secrets of his own. Seriously, the jellyfish on Spongebob Squarepants have more of a backbone than Christian Mason.

So anyway, in spite of Bonnie's sabotage, Charlotte wins the competition, bring Bonnie's rage from 100 to 1000. She rants about this to Angela, who reveals that not only did she know that Bonnie killed Kira, she lied to the police and covered for her, and voiced her refusal to have anything to do with whatever Bonnie has planned for Charlotte. Bonnie's plan is clear: Charlotte has to be eliminated, and she works on her plan by pouring bleach in Charlotte's new car that she won. However, there's a snag: Angela had to use the car because she couldn't get a ride to get to her daughter, Sabrina, after her peanut allergy acted up. and when Angela drove, the car stopped, and an oncoming truck crashed into Angela and killed her.

With that misfire, Bonnie resorts to plan B: remembering Angela's rented lot, Bonnie lures Charlotte there while posing as a potential customer named Rebecca Black, and after Charlotte takes the bait, she ends up locked in a shed by Bonnie, who did so to attend a big Elaville event on her own. As Bonnie is denigrating Charlotte, Jordan (who figured out that Bonnie ruined her chances at the grant) and Christian managed to rescue Charlotte, and all three confront Bonnie, who denied imprisoning Charlotte and accused Christian of having an affair with her. It's at this point that Christian finally grows some semblance of a backbone and details all of Bonnie's crimes to her, adding that he's willing to go down himself for his own misdeeds if it meant that Bonnie would be exposed and she would be locked up as well. Bonnie attacks Christian with a knife, and then attempts to kill Charlotte, but she ends up knocked out by Jordan.

Nightmare Neighborhood Moms aired on Lifetime Movie Network on April 8, 2022, and featured Gina Simms as the villainous Bonnie Mason. Less than a year prior, Gina Simms appeared as Madelyn Ramos, the mother of main protagonist Nicole Ramos, in another Lifetime film, Do You Trust Your Boyfriend?, so it was nice to see Simms return to the network as a villainess, and what a first villainous role for Simms! Bonnie was insanely evil; her proverbial black cloud was hovering over the entire neighborhood, and she would strike basically everyone and anyone near her if it meant that she would have what she wanted. She not only had a stranglehold over Christian, but she clearly had one over Angela as well, as it was clear that it was the only reason that Angela would even consider covering for Bonnie after she killed Kira. And don't get me started on the delusion; Bonnie truly believed that she was the victim of anything and everything. Overall, Bonnie was a very twisted villainess, and Simms' performance in regards to Bonnie's insanity, delusions, and ruthless nature was absolute perfection.

Of course, I have to mention this: Gina Simms' heel turn in the world of Lifetime films just happens to include a scene where she dons the "hoodie of evil." I happen to love the "hoodie of evil" on women in these films, and it was very awesome to see Bonnie donning the disguise as she sneaks into Charlotte's home. Nightmare Neighborhood Moms is only Simms' second Lifetime film overall, and while it was very awesome that it only took her second film for her to play a villainess, I would love to see Gina Simms in more Lifetime films. She could do well as a main protagonist, and this film proves that she could play a villainess very well. Either way, Gina Simms is just amazing, and it would be an absolute treat to see her in more Lifetime films.

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Check out Bonnie Mason's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!