Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Film / PsychoDaughter

Go To

1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/psycho_daughter_new.jpg]]
2
3''Psycho Daughter'' (also called ''The Wrong Daughter'' and ''Love Me or Else'') is a 2018 Creator/{{Lifetime}} [[LifetimeMovieOfTheWeek Movie of the Week]] {{Thriller}} directed by Ben Meyerson, from a screenplay by Carlee Malemute and Jesenia Ruiz.
4
518-year-old Samantha Brown (Creator/SydneySweeney) has spent most of her life bouncing between foster parents, and has also been diagnosed with schizophrenia along the way. Currently living in a group home, she's made life hell for her roommate Danica Tyrrell (Sierra Pond) and the home's director Ms. Hanson (Creator/AprilBowlby). After stealing Danica's laptop and logging onto her social media, Samantha learns that Danica's birth mother Kate Whitman (Cindy Busby), who gave her up for adoption when she was a baby, wants to meet her. Samantha decides to pose as Danica and quickly bonds with Kate and her husband Joseph (Jon Prescott), but finds herself in a competition for Kate's attention with Kate's close friend Melissa (Kelsey Griswold), a competition "Danica" is not about to lose, even if it requires violence.
6
7Despite the alternate title, it's not officially part of ''Film/TheWrong'' series.[[note]]For openers, Creator/VivicaAFox is nowhere to be seen in this.[[/note]]
8
9!! ''Psycho Daughter'' contains examples of:
10
11* AlphaBitch: Samantha's conceited nature, plus her bullying behavior towards Danica, and her later targeting of Melissa, puts her in this category from time to time.
12* ArcWords: "Don't say things if you don't mean them" for Samantha, demonstrating her deep issues with trust and fear of abandonment.
13* BeautyIsBad: Samantha is the villain, and she's played by Creator/SydneySweeney--'nuff said. However, the movie interestingly avoids the expected route of making Samantha a FilleFatale (outside of the opening scene). Even in the scene where she's alone with Ivan she doesn't try to use her wiles on him.
14* BecomingTheMask: The final scene suggests [[spoiler:Samantha now genuinely thinks she's Danica]].
15* BribingTheHomeless: To help extend the ruse that she's Danica, when Kate asks to talk to Ms. Hanson at the group home, Samantha gives her a number, but it's really the number of a burner phone, then Samantha pays a homeless woman to pose as Hanson, but Samantha didn't think she was convincing enough (though it still fooled Kate), so when the woman asks for extra money Samantha turns her down.
16* ChekhovsGun: The box with the necklace that "Danica" gives Kate pops up again [[spoiler:when Samantha plants it to frame Melissa, then in her old room at the group home, signaling that she's abducted Danica]].
17* ClingyJealousGirl: Even though she literally didn't know her until they met, Samantha becomes obsessed with Kate as the mother figure she never had, and is unwilling to share her attention with anyone else.
18* ConvenientMiscarriage: Kate suffers one at the start of the story.
19* DeadpanSnarker: When she's by herself or with people she hates, Samantha is extremely sarcastic and snide.
20* DeathByFallingOver: Samantha kills Melissa's husband Ivan by pushing him down the stairs, and [[spoiler:impulsively trips Joseph to prevent him from seeing the video of Samantha destroying Kate's garden, but he survives]].
21* EvilIsHammy: Creator/SydneySweeney mostly plays Samantha as a snarky ColdHam, but puts the character on full throttle for her final scenes.
22* EvilIsPetty: Samantha launches a harassment campaign against Melissa, a woman about twice her age, simply because she can't stand Kate not giving her full attention.
23* FrameUp: Samantha frames Melissa for stealing Kate's necklace and killing her husband Ivan.
24* {{Groupie}}: The film opens with Samantha in bed with a rock musician, who she begs to take her along on tour with him.
25* HappilyMarried: Kate and Joseph, which has the side effect of making Samantha want to be part of the family even more.
26* HatesBeingNicknamed: Samantha constantly calls Danica "Nic-Nac", which Danica hates.
27* IronicEcho: In the scene where Samantha has the homeless woman pose as Ms. Hanson on the phone with Kate.
28-->'''Homeless Woman''': (''responding to Samantha knocking her for not sounding convincing'') Do I look like a professional actor to you?\
29'''Samantha''': (''refusing to pay the woman extra money'') Do I look like a welfare agent to you?
30* ImprovisedWeapon: Samantha attacks the musician she slept with at the start of the movie with his guitar, then later knocks Danica out at the library by hitting her with books.
31* ManipulativeBitch: Samantha easily switches from sincere flattery to laying guilt trips on Kate; either way, she gets Kate to do what she wants.
32* NoMedicationForMe: Samantha throws her schizophrenia meds out when she's kicked out of the group home.
33* TeensAreMonsters: Samantha just turned 18, and she engages in devious schemes, resorting to outright assault at times, to get what she wants.

Top