Psycho Daughter (also called The Wrong Daughter and Love Me or Else) is a 2018 Lifetime Movie of the Week Thriller directed by Ben Meyerson, from a screenplay by Carlee Malemute and Jesenia Ruiz.
18-year-old Samantha Brown (Sydney Sweeney) 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 (April Bowlby). 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.
Despite the alternate title, it's not officially part of The Wrong series.note
Psycho Daughter contains examples of:
- Alpha Bitch: 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.
- Arc Words: "Don't say things if you don't mean them" for Samantha, demonstrating her deep issues with trust and fear of abandonment.
- Beauty Is Bad: Samantha is the villain, and she's played by Sydney Sweeney—'nuff said. However, the movie interestingly avoids the expected route of making Samantha a Fille Fatale (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.
- Becoming the Mask: The final scene suggests Samantha now genuinely thinks she's Danica.
- Bribing the Homeless: 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.
- Chekhov's Gun: The box with the necklace that "Danica" gives Kate pops up again when Samantha plants it to frame Melissa, then in her old room at the group home, signaling that she's abducted Danica.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: 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.
- Convenient Miscarriage: Kate suffers one at the start of the story.
- Deadpan Snarker: When she's by herself or with people she hates, Samantha is extremely sarcastic and snide.
- Death by Falling Over: Samantha kills Melissa's husband Ivan by pushing him down the stairs, and impulsively trips Joseph to prevent him from seeing the video of Samantha destroying Kate's garden, but he survives.
- Evil Is Hammy: Sydney Sweeney mostly plays Samantha as a snarky Cold Ham, but puts the character on full throttle for her final scenes.
- Evil Is Petty: 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.
- Frame-Up: Samantha frames Melissa for stealing Kate's necklace and killing her husband Ivan.
- Groupie: The film opens with Samantha in bed with a rock musician, who she begs to take her along on tour with him.
- Happily Married: Kate and Joseph, which has the side effect of making Samantha want to be part of the family even more.
- Hates Being Nicknamed: Samantha constantly calls Danica "Nic-Nac", which Danica hates.
- Ironic Echo: In the scene where Samantha has the homeless woman pose as Ms. Hanson on the phone with Kate.Homeless Woman: (responding to Samantha knocking her for not sounding convincing) Do I look like a professional actor to you?
Samantha: (refusing to pay the woman extra money) Do I look like a welfare agent to you? - Improvised Weapon: 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.
- Manipulative Bitch: Samantha easily switches from sincere flattery to laying guilt trips on Kate; either way, she gets Kate to do what she wants.
- No Medication for Me: Samantha throws her schizophrenia meds out when she's kicked out of the group home.
- Teens Are Monsters: Samantha just turned 18, and she engages in devious schemes, resorting to outright assault at times, to get what she wants.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: It's not clear if Samantha killed the guitarist at the start of the film.
