Homecoming Revenge (also known as Deadly Queen and Dying for the Crown—no relation to Dying For A Crown, but they're both Lifetime movies with similar premises) is a 2018 Lifetime Movie of the Week Thriller directed by Sam Irvin and written by Lindsay Hartley and Jason-Shane Scott (two frequent Lifetime movie actors).
In 1998, Isabelle and Rob were crowned Homecoming Queen and King in their senior year at Fern Creek High School, but Andrea accused them of rigging the vote, leading to a confrontation between the two girls that ended with Isabelle throwing Andrea off the stage in self-defense. Twenty years later, Isabelle (April Bowlby) is married to Rob (Mike Faiola), has a high school-aged daughter named Sierra (Abbie Gayle), and owns a successful flower shop. Andrea (Kim Director), however, is unable to have children because of her injuries after being pushed off the stage. When her husband asks for a divorce, she kills him, but when she gets an invitation to her 20-year high school reunion, she starts fixating on Isabelle and blames her for ruining her life. Starting by reconnecting with Isabelle at the reunion, Andrea launches a vicious vendetta against Isabelle, roping Sierra and Rob into it as well.
Homecoming Revenge contains examples of:
- Beauty Is Bad: Andrea, a striking (and curvy) brunette, is the villain.
- Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Andrea is the brunette, and she antagonizes blondes Isabelle, Sierra and Molly, plus redhead Jasmine.
- Bookends:
- The opening and the climax both take place at the Fern Creek Homecoming dance, with Principal Lewis presiding over both of them (he's greyed a bit over 20 years) and Andrea attacks Isabelle both times, leading to Isabelle pushing Andrea off the stage.
- Also toward the beginning and the end, Andrea kills a man with an Improvised Weapon.
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: While Sierra appears to have a close relationship to Isabelle at first, it's clear that she views her mother as a bit self-absorbed, a situation Andrea exploits to befriend Sierra. Sierra finally gets mouthy after learning that Isabelle is pregnant ("I guess it turns out I'm not all you and Dad need to be happy").
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Andrea has dark hair and noticeably light skin, giving her this vibe.
- Floral Theme Naming: Jasmine, who works at a flower shop.
- George Jetson Job Security: Susie, the mayor's assistant (played by Lifetime regular Gina Hiraizumi), is immediately told "you're fired!" after the dead flowers (killed by Andrea) are delivered to the party.
- Gold Digger: It's implied that Christopher is really rich (he's shown swimming in a fancy backyard pool) and Andrea only married him for money, which with her sense of entitlement is totally in character.
- Improvised Weapon: Andrea fatally bludgeons Christopher with a conch shell, and in the final scene kills the prison guard with the makeshift crown she'd made.
- Karma Houdini: Andrea's accomplice Jack is never shown facing any consequences for aiding her in her schemes.
- Killed Offscreen: We see Andrea knock Isabelle's assistant Jasmine out with a stun gun, and her body is later discovered, but never learn exactly how Andrea murdered her.
- Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Devious, vengeful brunette Andrea targets the blonde and more girly Isabelle and Sierra.
- Live-Action Cartoon: While the movie has a solid and grounded plot, Andrea's schemes sometimes wander over into Bugs Bunny territory, with fake voices on phone calls, gifts used as booby traps, and disguises all figuring into them at times.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: Andrea reports Christopher's death to 911 as an accident, and stages her murder of Molly to look like a suicide.
- Manipulative Bitch: Andrea gains Isabelle's trust through a combination of sob stories, outight lies and "I've changed" posturing, then exploits the subtle tension between Isabelle and Sierra to gain Sierra's trust and turn her against her mother.
- Most Writers Are Writers: Isabelle's husband Rob is a successful author.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Andrea kills her husband Christopher after he asks for a divorce, then later offs Molly, the woman Christopher was going to leave her for, after Molly confronts Isabelle.
- Plot Allergy: The opening scene establishes that Rob is allergic to dahlias, which becomes a Chekhov's Gun.
- Plot Hole:
- It's never really explained why Rob and Isabelle are cool with Isabelle working as a florist despite Rob having a severe allergy to a common type of flower.
- And where did Andrea get the limo and the chauffeur uniform when she kidnapped Rob?
- Serial Killer: Andrea racks up a body count of four by the time the movie finishes.
- Time Skip: The movie opens with the events of twenty years earlier, when Isabelle was crowned Queen over Andrea's protests, before jumping to the present day, with Time-Shifted Actor portrayals of Isabelle (Oksana Chester), Andrea (KateLynn E. Newberry) and Rob (Jared Isaac).
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Mayor's assistant Susie innocently praises Andrea's skills to Isabelle, leading Isabelle to hire her, a decision that, among other horrible consequences, ultimately leads to the deaths of Jasmine and Molly.
- Victoria's Secret Compartment: The voluptuous Andrea likes to use her cleavage as a small purse, keeping petty cash in there, plus the bug she plants in Isabelle's shop.
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: Rob is constantly off on book tours, with Isabelle and especially Sierra frustrated that he never seems to have time for his daughter.
