Lexi, most likely brainstorming her next devious prank
My Daughter's Psycho Friend is a 2020 Lifetime Movie of the Week Teen Drama Thriller, written and directed by Michael Feifer. It's part of their Psycho series of movies.
Sierra (Taylor Blackwell) moves with her family from Colorado to Southern California. The shy high school student befriends two neighborhood girls, Lexi (Avery Kristen Pohl) and Kaitlyn (Lauryn Speights). Popular cheerleaders, Lexi and Kaitlyn quickly get Sierra accepted into the in-crowd at school, where Lexi is the queen bee, hosting parties and deciding who's cool and who's not. But Sierra doesn't know there's a much darker side to Lexi. She's narcissistic, vindictive, and loves playing cruel pranks. When a classmate dies at ones of Lexi's parties as a result of a Lexi prank, she tries her hardest to evade responsibility, and hatches a plan to frame Sierra. With help from hunky Lance (Skyler Seymour), Sierra tries to clear her name.
My Daughter's Psycho Friend contains examples of:
- Alcoholic Parent: Lexi's mom Jackie is a aging party girl trainwreck who nearly comes off as bad as her daughter.
- Alpha Bitch: Lexi plays this role at school, with Kaitlyn as her Beta Bitch.
- Batter Up!: At their late night meeting, Lexi knocks Sierra out with a baseball bat.
- Beauty Is Bad: Lexi is the best-looking girl in her clique, and she's downright evil, with one case of manslaughter, one murder, and three attempted murders on her rap sheet by the time the movie wraps up.
- Berserk Button:
- Don't dare cross Lexi, which in her eyes basically means not doing exactly what she wants you to do.
- Don't call Sierra "new girl".
- Black Comedy: As with most Lifetime movies, this plays a rather wacky, outlandish scenario completely straight, but there are little moments that are actually intentionally funny, like Lexi backtracking in her swatting prank when the 911 operator tells her to stay on the line, Jackie's Alcoholic Parent antics, Lexi's smug smirk when the cops tell Jackie that she can get charged because Lexi served beer at her party, and Kaitlyn hurriedly popping out of sight when Sierra catches her spying on her and Lance through the window.
- Blame Game: Lexi tells both Kaitlyn and Sierra that they share blame for Jake's death because they didn't try to stop her from spiking his drink.
- Bland-Name Product: Sierra meets Lance at Burger King...errr, actually Burger Inn, which otherwise looks identical to Burger King.
- Childhood Friends: Lexi and Kaitlyn discuss having been friends since they were at least six.
- Date Rape: Lexi gives Jake the "date rape drug" GHB, with the apparent motive of incapacitating him so Kaitlyn can sexually assault him.
- Deadly Prank: The film opens with Lexi swatting a neighbor's family, in revenge for something their son did. Then at the party she plies an outcast kid with drugs, which leads to his death.
- Death by Falling Over: After an argument, Lexi fatally pushes her mom down the stairs, then tries to do the same to Kaitlyn on the school stairs before she's interrupted. In the climax, Sierra pushes Lexi from her bedroom window, but Lexi survives.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": Sorry, you have to earn the right to call Lexi "Lexi". Otherwise, you call her Alexis.
- Evil Is Petty: Lexi holds huge grudges against classmates over perceived slights, and spikes Jake's drink at the party simply because he's a dorky outcast who makes an easy target.
- Faux Affably Evil: Lexi is nice to Sierra at first, but her negative traits start coming out.
- Foreshadowing:
- The story Lexi tells the 911 operator in her swatting prank at the start of the film is exactly what will happen to Sierra at the climax—trapped in her bedroom while an intruder terrorizes her family with a gun, only Lexi turns out to be the intruder. The 911 operator tells her to hide in the closet, which is what Sierra will do. And the address Lexi gives is for the house she'll eventually terrorize.
- The Reveal that Sierra got in trouble in Colorado for pushing a girl down sets up the end of the film, when she does the same thing to Lexi.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Lexi's role as "the queen of the school" is largely because she's a beautiful, rich cheerleader, but people only hang out with her because of Seniority, Proximity and Control. She's so intimidating, people dare not cross her. Lampshaded when Lance tells her that nobody actually likes her.
- Freudian Excuse: Lexi's mom is just awful; she's out partying and sleeping around most of the time, and her only parenting modes with Lexi are neglect and threats. It's also established that Lexi's dad wants nothing to do with her. The film largely averts this trope, though, making it clear that, whatever issues she has, Lexi's horrible behavior is ultimately her own fault.
- Girls Behind Bars: The final scene takes place in prison where the others eagerly greet the arrival of "new girl" Lexi.
- Hollywood Drowning: Averted with Jake's death. He just walks into the swimming pool, wades to the deep end, and is basically too zonked out to notice where he's at.
- Never Trust a Title: It's a stretch to call Sierra and Lexi "friends". In fact, they're basically sworn enemies after their fight in the school hallway.
- New Transfer Student: Sierra's move to a new school in a new state sets up the story.
- Noodle Incident: It's revealed that Sierra's family left Colorado after an incident where she pushed another girl down and cracked her skull, but the particulars of what happened are never explained.
- Police Are Useless: The cops investigating Jake's death aren't too bad, but they still seem hesitant to investigate Obviously Evil Lexi, and start suspecting Sierra after a while.
- Shout-Out: Lexi giving the Clique Tour to Sierra at the party is a clear nod to Mean Girls. The whole movie is more-or-less "what if Regina George was a psychopath?"
- Slipping a Mickey: Jake, an outcast classmate who's invited to the party, has his beer spiked by Lexi. Comments by Lance suggest that she's done this before to other guys at earlier parties.
- Smug Snake: Lexi thinks she's untouchable and smarter than everyone else.
- The Sociopath: Lexi is identified as a psychopath in the title, but her behavior certainly fits all the parameters for a Sociopath.
- Suddenly Shouting: A major Lexi trait when she loses her composure.
- Teens Are Monsters: Lexi is still in high school and is a thoroughly repugnant human being.
- Toxic Friend Influence: Kaitlyn seems like a decent person who keeps getting dragged into mischief by Lexi.
- Trapped in a Sinking Car: Lexi tries to kill Sierra this way, making it appear to be a suicide. The car doesn't sink all the way and Sierra survives.
- Wild Teen Party: Lexi gives these, complete with alcohol and drugs, until one of them turns deadly.
