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A personal detail about myself: I neither appreciate nor put stock in the opinions of people who deem social media as something that is ‘spoiling society’.” From my perspective, life has been improved greatly with social media since it enables people who would never have met before to connect easily and has streamlined several tasks such as banking and journalism (for the most part but that is an argument for a different venue). Even if Lifetime has built its reputation of having several anti-Internet movies, I do understand now that they have made it clear that it is not technology that is evil; it is certain people who use it that are.
Originally titled Revenge Porn, Break-Up Nightmare infamously depicts a twisted tale of a lifetime movie. The plot revolves around Rachel Light, portrayed by lovely brunette Celesta DeAstis, who happens to be an average high school student living with her mother Barbara, played by Jennifer Dorogi. Due to financial issues, Rachel is unable to leave for college. During one of her idle days, she decides to hang out with her boyfriend Troy (Mark Grossman) who is about to set off for college. He ends up persuading her to take nude pictures in order to save them as keepsakes. Rachel eventually agrees but as the music shifts, it becomes clear that this is a decision that is going to turn against her in the end.
And it does. The minute Rachel moves on from her cheating boyfriend Troy, she is devastated to learn that she has been betrayed and infamously cheated in turn. A website called LifeRuinerz depicts an array of women being ridiculed in every manner imaginable. The person responsible for running this disgraceful venture is none other than Ashton Banks whose exact description is as horrifying as the persona itself. A best-described scenario would be if Margaret White and Brock Turner decided to marry and have children together.
Consequently, Rachel is subjected to relentless harassment and social ostracism. At her workplace, a group of sleazy men stalks her. A bizarre neighbor attempts to flirt with her at the movie theatre. Her estranged father (Joel Berti) comes in after seeing the photographs and uses them as a way to criticize his ex-wife, calling her a bad parent (UGH this dude). Even her local church participates in the hounding, one woman even trying to use the old ‘my purse is sitting here, thank you, trick.
As the harassment escalates and starts to impact Barbara’s life too, with the police positively refusing to help, Rachel and Barbara have no choice but to unite against the bestial bullies who are out for them. And it turns out that, in the process, it might not actually be Troy who uploaded the shocking photographs that everything stemmed from.
Break-Up Nightmare was done by The Asylum, the same people who created the infamous ‘Sharknado’ series, along with a host of SyFy productions and, Lifetime movies that bring in good results. Break-Up Nightmare knows how to keep the plot moving and the dramatic thrills coming. Even better, before the plot goes full-on Lifetime-y melodrama, Break-Up Nightmare delivers a great message on women and sexuality. While she is, multiple times throughout the film, blamed for what befalls her, Rachel never allows herself to become a victim of society’s prejudices. The movie makes it clear that the fault lies solely on Rachel’s virtual humiliator and that nothing Rachel had done was wrong or immoral.
DeAstis and Bourgi are also at their best here giving authentic mother-daughter chemistry playing off each other as two women fighting against a misogynistic culture. The villains featured throughout the film (yes, there are a lot of them) are also quite memorably nasty, with Ashton Banks along with a surprise villain that I won’t reveal here making for memorable (if not a bit exaggerated) portrayals of a sadly common type of person women have to deal with constantly.
Break-Up Nightmare is a well-made movie that stands true to “Television for Women” of Lifetime. There have been, however, great strides to change that, and movies like Break-Up Nightmare help illustrate that misogyny and sexism should not be tolerated by society. It also portrays how to fight against these issues. There’s plenty of drama to keep you glued to the screen, and with such great actors to accompany it all, you’ve got an entertaining film that is sure to keep you engaged. It is also quite thought-provoking.
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