Villainess Review: Julie Cameron (A Mother's Fury)

I learned about this movie this past summer when it was originally titled, Snatched From Mommy, and I was elated when I saw that it would finally see its Lifetime exposure under their manufactured title, A Mother's Fury. Lifetime film vet Chelsea Hobbs was back at it again, this time as main protagonist Elizabeth Daley, a famed crime writer, as well as a married mother of an infant son, Evan. She also has a pair of good friends alongside her, Julie Cameron and Kate Winters (the former expecting a child of her own), and they celebrated their friend's continued success as not only a writer, but a blogger as well.

However, all is not well in Elizabeth's world, as unbeknownst to our heroine, a villainess has her sights set on terrorizing Elizabeth and everything she holds dear. This even included Elizabeth's eggs, which were destroyed by the culprit, who also killed the doctor in charge, Dr. Merkel. Elizabeth and her husband, Jeff Daley, are stunned to learn about the act of vandalism, but if that isn't enough, Elizabeth found herself as a target of a mysterious online troll known as "Mommy Says No No," who hurls various insulting comments on Elizabeth's blog. The culprit also goes all out to defame Elizabeth, including taking photos of Elizabeth and Kate toasting at a restaurant, and even running over Elizabeth's car keys to prevent her from getting Evan out of her locked car.

Elizabeth was wrecked by these occurrences, but the sinister turn came when Jeff was run off the road, resulting in a crash that left Jeff badly injured. Elizabeth informed Kate and Julie that she would be taking her family to New York City, as well as shutting down her blog, but after finding a comment mentioning the places that the trio of women had frequented, Elizabeth suddenly suspects that Kate was behind everything. Her suspicions increase when Kate and baby Evan suddenly disappear, but after seeing messages from a fan named Janet Carling, with one of the mentioning Janet lose a baby, Elizabeth suspects her fan of being the culprit, which leads to Elizabeth breaking into Janet's home in a frantic search for Evan.

Elizabeth left a message for Julie beforehand, and it was later on that Julie learns about Elizabeth's arrest. The scene later sees Julie enter her bedroom and tend to Evan, which is followed by Julie approaching Kate--who is tied up and gagged. So it was Julie all along, and she had more nefarious plans for Elizabeth, who visited her house regarding her latest ordeal. Julie fixes a drugged cup of tea for Elizabeth, and once she feels the effects, Julie later reveals her bitterness towards Elizabeth. We also receive more revelations, which included a big one: Julie wasn't pregnant. She was told she was by Dr. Merkel, but that turned out to be an error, and that sent her over the edge.

Feeling abandoned by Elizabeth, as well as her already immense jealousy of her, Julie went on her villainous quest, and revealed her plan to kill Jeff and Kate and set it up as a pair of murders committed by Elizabeth, who would commit suicide. The result of Julie's deranged plan was Evan, as she would have the baby she felt she deserved, and it was during the climax that the villainess abducted Evan and went to the Daley place, only to later head to her cabin--with plans to take Evan to Canada. Once Elizabeth tracked Julie, she stated that she would have helped her if anything was wrong. In response, Julie accused Elizabeth of being self-absorbed, and later revealed that she was "Mommy Says No No," stating that she created the profile to force Elizabeth to "take a look at herself." However, Elizabeth successfully ended Julie's plans with a knockout punch to end their brawl, and it was followed by Julie's arrest.

A Mother's Fury aired on Lifetime Movie Network on November 13, 2021, and featured Stephanie Cleough as the film's hidden main villainess, Julie Cameron. Julie was the definition of one of my favorite tropes: Bitch in Sheep's Clothing. She served as an apparent friend for Elizabeth, only suddenly unleash her evil side and mentally torture and target her friend out of jealousy and insanity. Cleough acted out Julie's feigned support for Elizabeth very well, but Julie's reveal saw Cleough perform brilliantly when it came to Julie's psychotic demeanor. In all, Julie Cameron was a very maniacal and unhinged villainess, and Cleough portrayed her magnificently.

For Stephanie Cleough, this was her first Lifetime film, as well as her first villainous Lifetime film role--let's hope it's not her last in either regard. She has also appeared in episodes of DC's Legends of Tomorrow, The Originals, and NCIS.

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Click here for Julie Cameron's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!