l to r: Michelle, Quinn, Stacey, Lucy
Secrets on Sorority Row is a 2021 Lifetime Movie of the Week Thriller, directed by Dylan Vox and written by Scotty Mullen.
Epsilon Theta is an elite sorority with a rather troubled past. In 1997, a pledge named Kelly drank an entire bottle of vodka during hazing and suffered a deadly fall in the house's basement. The sisters, including Kelly's best friend Michelle (Kristi McKamie) and bitchy sorority leader Stacey (Lauren Buglioli) promise to keep the secret of how Kelly really died. In 2019, Michelle (now a professor at the college) has mixed feelings when her daughter Quinn (Kate Edmonds) decides to pledge Epsilon Theta, though she's happy to see Quinn making friends with another pledge, Lucy (Taylor Hanks). But when the now-grown sisters start getting threatening letters about the death of Kelly, and someone seems to be targeting Quinn, Michelle fears her life may be in danger.
Not to be confused with any number of other Lifetime Sinister Sorority Sisters movies with similar titles, especially Secrets on Greek Row or Sorority Secrets.
Secrets on Sorority Row contains examples of:
- The Alcoholic:
- Gretchen, one of Michelle and Stacey's old sorority sisters, has gone to rehab multiple times and blames the stress of her Theta Epsilon memories for her relapses.
- Stacey also falsely paints Kelly as one in her eulogy at the belated memorial service.
- Alpha Bitch: Stacey, all smiles and Sugary Malice, was this for Epsilon Theta in 1997, and Daisy seems to be taking on the role currently.
- Anachronism Stew: While the flashbacks take place in 1997, the fashions and hairstyles seem more like The '70s or The '80s.
- Batman Gambit: Suspecting that Kelly's old boyfriend Lucas might be behind the letters, the former sisters hold a belated memorial service for Kelly at the campus chapel just to draw him out of the woodwork. It works.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Quinn earns Daisy's ire for making out with her ex-boyfriend.
- Creator Cameo: The film's director Dylan Vox plays the
One-Scene Wonder professor of the history class where Quinn and Lucy meet. - Deadly Hazing: Kelly died from a fall in the basement after drinking a dangerous amount of alcohol during Hell Night, and the other sisters covered up the reason why she was drunk. But the final scene reveals this wasn't the case after all: Stacey, who hated Kelly, actually exploited her drunken state and pushed her down the stairs.
- Gambit Pileup: The ending reveals that Lucy is actually Miranda Lucinda Walsh, the grown daughter of Kelly that Michelle didn't know about, and she befriended Quinn, joined Epsilon Theta, and sent out the threatening letters to avenge her mother's death. But then we also learn that, rather than die from a drunken accident, Stacey killed Kelly in 1997, and had also been targeting her fellow former sisters to prevent the truth from being revealed. The plots collide when when Stacey attacks Lucy.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: At first it appears Lucy is just a cool friend of Quinn's, but she's revealed to be the one sending out the letters, and she drugs the other sisters at the climax, but after Stacey is revealed as the Hidden Villain, Lucy is welcomed back to Epsilon Theta two years later in the epilogue.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Daisy may be Epsilon Theta's Alpha Bitch, but it's hard to argue against her calling Michelle crazy after she barges into the sorority and starts hurling rambling accusations against her daughter and everyone else.
- Lucky Charms Title: The opening credits insert a bunch of Greek letters into the names, especially Lambdas for A, Epsilons for E and Phis for O.
- My Beloved Smother: Michelle spends the entire movie stressing out over everything Quinn does, even showing up to a sorority meeting unannounced to try and take Quinn away.
- Never My Fault: Michelle initially has this attitude in regards to her role in the cover-up surrounding Kelly's death, claiming her sorority sisters pressured her into it. Myra immediately calls her out on it, and later, the trope is averted when Michelle admits she was just as complicit in the cover-up as everyone else.
- Satellite Love Interest: Cody serves no significant purpose in the story beyond being Quinn's love interest.
- Sinister Sorority Sisters: The basic concept, as the dark rituals of sorority hazing lead to a horrific tragedy that echoes across generations.
- Stepford Smiler: Modern-day Stacey first seems like she outgrew her Alpha Bitch personality from her sorority days, being friendly and cheerful, especially in contrast to high-strung My Beloved Smother Michelle, but when she flat-out lies and calls Kelly an alcoholic at the memorial service, it shows that she's still petty and self-absorbed and maybe a bit disturbed.
- Time Skip: The opening scenes flash back to the events of 1997, but unusually for a Lifetime movie the flashback extends past the pre-credits sequence and takes up the first few minutes after the opening titles as well.
- Trust-Building Blunder: One of the modern sorority's hazing practices is an exercise where the pledges are taken to the woods and blindfolded, and they have to follow the sound of one of the older sisters' voices to get back to the house. Quinn and Lucy follow Daisy, who's implied to have something up her sleeve to humiliate Quinn, but then Daisy gets suddenly attacked by a mystery assailant. It was Stacey.
