l to r: Hannah, Charlotte, Melissa, Abbie
Surviving the Sleepover is a 2024 Lifetime Made-for-TV Movie Teen Drama/Thriller, directed by Patricia Frontain and written by Richard Pierce.
High schooler Hannah (Sloan Mannino) has just moved with her mother Jessica (Dawn Marie) back to the small town where Jessica grew up, but they're forced to live in a motel while Jessica is having her house renovated. Hannah catches the eye of school baseball star Cameron (Joshua Bertell), but draws negative attention from Melissa (Jenna Hogan), the school's Alpha Bitch, and Cameron's stepsister. But one member of Melissa's girl posse, Abbie (Sage Moore) befriends Hannah. When Melissa invites Hannah to a sleepover at her house, along with Abbie and Beta Bitch Charlotte (Abigail Villanueva), it first seems like it was just an excuse for Melissa to play pranks on Hannah, but as the night goes on, things truly start to get dangerous for Hannah and the other girls.
Surviving the Sleepover contains examples of:
- Alpha Bitch: Melissa, a petty, conceited glam girl, takes on this role at school.
- Beauty Is Bad: Melissa, an attractive blonde, is the movie's villain.
- Beta Bitch: Charlotte is mainly a yes-girl for Melissa, kissing up to her and joining in when Melissa bullies Hannah. She even gets called out on this by Abbie.Abbie: You're such a follower.
Charlotte: How am I a follower?
Abbie: You do whatever Queen Bee says. It's pathetic. - Big Fancy House: The sleepover is held at Melissa's (and Cameron's) house, a mansion that features a backyard pool with a slide.
- Disappeared Dad: Hannah's dad died in a house fire when he was home alone, while Hannah was with her friends and her mom Jessica was with Hannah's aunt Tracy, and they both feel Survivor Guilt over it.
- Embarrassing Relative Teacher: Hannah's aunt Tracy is her Spanish teacher, and has no trouble bringing up the subject of her estrangement from Hannah's mom at school.
- Extremely Short Timespan: The majority of the movie takes place over the span of about eight hours.
- Fille Fatale: Besides being Flirty Stepsiblings with him, Melissa draws Cameron into her scheme by using her wiles to have him help her take the injured Abbie and Charlotte away to Hannah's unfinished house.
- Flirty Stepsiblings: As the movie opens, Melissa flirts with her stepbrother Cameron, then makes out with him, then, as implied in later dialogue between the two, they had sex, but Cameron seemingly regrets it almost immediately, sternly telling her that they're not lovers.
- Hidden Depths: Abbie likes Classical Music and can play the clarinet.
- Innocent Beta Bitch: Abbie is part of Melissa's posse, but defends Hannah and eventually befriends her.
- Malicious Misnaming: Melissa insists on calling Hannah "Motel Girl" and "New Girl", though it doesn't do anything except make her look more petty.
- Naïve Everygirl: Hannah, in classic Lifetime Teen Drama fashion, as the somewhat shy new girl in town trying to find friends.
- Parlor Games: Melissa leads the girls in a game of "Never Have I Ever", initially as an excuse to taunt Hannah about living in a motel, but when "Never have I ever wanted to get with my stepbrother" shows up on a slip of paper, Melissa loses it and accuses Hannah of trying to humiliate her. It's later revealed that Charlotte, weirded out by Melissa's attitude toward Cameron, wrote the prompt.
- Slumber Party: The majority of the movie takes place at one hosted by Melissa, and it's even noted that the girls are a bit too old to be having one.
- Teens Are Monsters: Melissa (backed up by Charlotte) flat-out threatens to kill Hannah because she "broke the vow" by allegedly bringing up the subject of Melissa's feelings for Cameron. Then after stabbing Abbie and rendering Charlotte unconscious, she tries to murder them plus Hannah and Hannah's mom and aunt.
- Unexplained Recovery: It looks for all the world like Charlotte died from Melissa's attempt to suffocate her, but she's up and breathing and standing on the stairs with the others watching Hannah and Melissa have their final confrontation.
- Very Loosely Based on a True Story: It has an "inspired by true events" tag. In an interview
, director Patricia Frontain says that Hannah's plight was inspired by her own experience of moving from New York to Texas in her youth. - Vlog Series: In-Universe, Hannah hosts one called Healing with Hannah, sharing her feelings about life. It's revealed that Cameron is a regular viewer.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: At the conclusion we don't find out what happened to Melissa, besides the obvious assumption that she faced arrest and incarceration.
- Yandere: Melissa is noted as being "protective" of Cameron, but it turns out she has this attitude toward her stepbrother instead.
