We all have our own guilty pleasures, and for many, that guilty pleasure is Lifetime movies. They’re dark, they’re sexy, they’re dramatic and sometimes they’re way over the top. They’re also incredibly entertaining, perfect for a movie night with your mom or a trashy girls’ night with your girlfriends.
Lifetime offers plenty of iconic tales, whether they involve teenage girls having unprotected sex and being bullied or women who are involved with dangerous men. So, we decided to round up some of the best Lifetime movies that are on an entirely different level of drama. Here are 16 that you have got to rewatch ASAP!
15. The Pregnancy Pact
This movie is just as ridiculous as the title suggests, but that’s why you have to rewatch it. The Pregnancy Pact is exactly what you think it’s about. In fact, it was allegedly inspired by a true story, crazily enough. The flick follows a group of high school teens who all agree to get pregnant at the same time. Being so young, these girls don’t really think about the consequences. Instead, they fantasize about how their babies will all be the same age and can play together. Obviously, reality hits them hard, and the parents are so not happy when they announce they’re knocked up one by one.
14. Fifteen and Pregnant
Move over, 16 and Pregnant! Before MTV was following the stories of girls pregnant at 16, Kirsten Dunst was starring as a young, 15-year-old pregnant teen on ’90s Lifetime. This is also based on a true story, so at least it’s a little more realistic than Lifetime usually is! Abandoned by her boyfriend, Kirsten’s character Tina decided to turn to her religious mother to help her through her pregnancy. Although the pregnancy ruined her relationship with the baby’s father, it does reunite her family in an unconventional way, so there’s a little happy ending there.
13. She’s Too Young
Come to think of it, many of these Lifetime movies surrounding very young teenage girls dealt with some pretty mature material. And remembering back to when we first watched them, we’re not sure if we totally understood everything that was going on! She’s Too Young is a Lifetime movie that tackles an STD outbreak among young teens at a high school. Not only does the film deal with pressure to engage in oral sex, it also covers attempted rape. The movie may be very dated now, but it’s definitely worth watching again to remember the importance of getting tested.
12. Girl, Positive
Yet another movie that was too serious for us to fully understand the first time around! That’s why Girl, Positive is worth the rewatch all these years later. It stars Andrea Bowen, a young high school girl who sleeps with a boy that is HIV positive. Her perfect life comes crashing down, terrified by the fact that she may be infected with AIDS. She confides in a substitute teacher, played by Jennie Garth, who has been living silently with the disease for years. Rumors fly, but eventually, many students at the school begin to realize that they may not be as “clean” as they think they are.
11. Sexting in Suburbia
With a ridiculous title like that, you’ve got to watch this one more than once! Sexting in Suburbia actually takes a very interesting route for a Lifetime movie. It tells the story of a mom who starts looking for answers after her popular, beautiful daughter commits suicide. The film is told through flashbacks, showing how she went from a popular field hockey player to the social pariah of the school. How? Well, after a night with her boyfriend, Dina changes her mind about wanting to have sex with him. Since the night ended on a bad note, she texts him a few naked pictures of herself. When she comes to school the next day, she discovers that the pictures have been spread. The pre-Snapchat aspects of it definitely date the movie, but who doesn’t love something that feels vintage?!
10. Stalked at 17
Some of these movie titles are so ridiculous, but that’s why Lifetime is so great. Stalked at 17 is about a teen gets pregnant from her abusive boyfriend, who then threatens to kill his girlfriend if she leaves him and takes away the baby. The situation escalates quite fast, and she must go to extreme measures to keep her and her baby safe. While it sounds like a cheesy movie (at and times, it kind of is), the “at 17” movies are also highly entertaining. We definitely recommend watching this one again when looking back at all the at ’17’ Lifetime originals.
9. Odd Girl Out
When it comes to remembering iconic Lifetime movies, Odd Girl Out definitely deserves a moment of your time. Lifetime certainly loves dealing with young teenage girl issues, and tbh, we’re here for it! They weren’t always the most realistic, but they did bring problematic issues to light and offer ways to deal with them (though albeit in some overdramatic ways). This one stars Alexa Vega as a sweet little high school girl who doesn’t quite fit with the in-crowd anymore. She’s bullied by her former friends, and her situation only becomes worse when she discovers that she has a crush on the same boy the most popular girl in school does. Oh, the drama!
8. Cyber Seduction: His Secret Life
Does this title seduce you to watch this movie again? Cyber Seduction: His Secret Life is an iconic Lifetime movie that’s so bad, it’s good. It tells the story of a high school boy that develops an addiction to internet porn so bad it begins to ruin his life and tear his family apart. Yes, really. So ridiculous, but even more entertaining! He becomes obsessed with the images of these online women that it also puts his relationship with his friends and his girlfriend at great risk. We don’t know how often this happens to high school sophomores, but we’ll just rewatch this film and forget how silly it is.
7. Mom at Sixteen
Did anyone else have to watch this movie in freshman year health class? No? Well, it definitely did a good job at advocating for different options involving teenage pregnancies. Danielle Panabaker and Jane Krakowski star in this film about a teen who gets pregnant too young. Her mom, who means well, has her daughter keep her pregnancy a secret so she can raise the baby as her own. She just wanted to help her daughter live a “relatively normal” life in high school and be able to graduate, but since it’s Lifetime, that obviously doesn’t go so smoothly.
6. Speak
Whether you read the book or watched movie, Speak is definitely an iconic story that you should experience again, especially in today’s climate. Starring a young Kristen Stewart, this Lifetime movie features a girl entering high school as a selective mute due to a traumatic event that occurred over the summer. Melinda (Stewart) struggles with her dark past as she deals with school, friends and family, and she eventually finds the courage to tell the story of what happened to her. It’s not an easy watch, but Kristen Stewart does a phenomenal job with the role. Not all Lifetime movies are cheesy romance films.
5. Blue Lagoon: The Awakening
Nothing will ever beat the performance of Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins in The Blue Lagoon, but this Lifetime movie gave it a good go as a modern retelling. It stars Indiana Evans and Brenton Thwaites as two teenagers marooned on an island. But rather than growing up on that actual island, they were raised in society, so these two want to get off the island ASAP! However, as time passes by, the two begin to grow feelings for each other (of course). It’s the classic good-girl-falls-in-love-with-a-troubled-boy story, just this time, they’re trapped on an island. How romantic! Plus, Christopher Atkins makes a cameo, so that’s a fun little easter egg.
4. Too Young to Marry
TBH, this movie stressed us out, and if it didn’t convince you not to get married in high school, we don’t know what will. The Lifetime movie Too Young to Marry stars Nina Dobvrev and Dillon Casey as two high schoolers who feel like sex is not enough to be close, so, they choose to get married. What a great idea! But as you can probably tell, college happens, and their marriage derails quite a few things. They leave the honeymoon stage pretty fast, and it results in a ton of arguments. Glad we’re not in their shoes! Instead, we can just rewatch and relive all the uncomfortable events that follow their marriage.
3. The Craigslist Killer
Lifetime loves their romance and teen dramas, but they also love the ~spooky~ murder sh*t as well. The Craigslist Killer is definitely a movie to rewatch when you’re looking for something a little more dangerous. Based on the book A Date with Death: The Secret Life of the Accused “Craigslist Killer” written by Michele McPhee, the film follows the story of a man with a secret life. He’s a promising med school student with a bright future, loved by his fiancée, friends, fellow peers, and professors. However, as the title suggests, this man’s secret life is anything but promising.
2. Mother, May I Sleep With Danger?
Seriously, who comes up with these titles? The 2016 Lifetime movie Mother, May I Sleep With Danger? stars Emily Meade and Leila George, with Meade playing a college girl who introduces her mother to her girlfriend (George). But, there’s one catch. Her girlfriend just so happens to be a vampire, and suddenly, the title makes a lot of sense. If you haven’t watched it since its premiere, it may be worth another watch. You know, if you want to get back into your vampire-obsessed phase. Plus, the movie also stars Tori Spelling, a Lifetime movie ~queen~.
1. Accused at 17
And here we have another “at 17” movie that’s too good (and bad) not to rewatch. Accused at 17 tells the story of a teenager who is accused of murdering her classmate. However, she claims that she was framed, and in typical Lifetime movie fashion, her mom swoops in like a detective to get to the bottom of this mess. These films are basically worth the rewatch to remember that sometimes life sucks, but at least your life doesn’t suck like these people’s lives. Plus, they offer a good dose of drama when we’re feeling in the mood for something saucy.