Next-Door Nightmare

Year: 2021

Actors: Deanna Jarvis

Duration: 86 min

Two women are arguing. Helen, a grandmother type, calmly argues with a frantic pregnant woman named Kelly. Helen thinks she is the woman's mother. Kelly accuses that Helen killed her husband. The pregnant woman rushes off in her car on a snowy night and crashes her car while looking at her phone. When Helen learns Kelly is dead, Helen attacks the police officers with a knife. She is committed to a mental hospital.Months later, Helen has been released and is living comfortably in the suburbs. Grace is a therapist/social worker who makes a house call to check in on Helen.Sarah and Kyle are welcomed to the neighborhood by Helen, who immediately asks if they are expecting a baby soon. They brush off the question politely and accept Helen's invitation to dinner. Little do they know Helen is lurking around their house and looks through the window while cooing, "My new family... My new beginning!"Kyle heads out of town. He has an inappropriate relationship with his ex-girlfriend/party girl, Angela.Sarah overshares and tells Helen about being an Orphan with her best friend, Jennifer. They were never adopted. Sarah also tells Helen that Kyle had an affair, but they are working on building up trust. Their conversation is cut short by Grace visiting for another check-in. Only Helen isn't home and isn't supposed to be visiting the neighbors.Grace looks around the house and finds a serial killer wall of people she fixated on in the past. Her real daughter killed herself in the past and Helen has been trying to replace her since she died. Grace pleads with Helen to get help and doesn't realize that she is about to be murdered. Helen stabs Grace in the chest and buries her in the snow.Helen throws away the evidence but drops a glove in the snow. Then she drives Grace's car to a parking garage in the city and then follows Sarah around town as she shops for a pregnancy test. Helen asks Sarah if she needs someone to stay with her while Kyle is out of town to help take care of her if she is pregnant. They celebrate as a mother and daughter would. Jen (Sarah's BFF & Orphan friend) crashes the party, and Helen gets jealous.Kyle comes home from his trip, and so does his mother, Judith. Judith gives Helen the brush off and warns Sarah not to get too close to Helen because something is off with her. Sarah can't write Helen off that quickly and emotionally bonds with the woman over her new baby. Judith, on the other hand, is harder for Sarah to get along with.Helen fantasizes about her dream home and living happily with Sarah and the new baby with her alone time.Angela finds Kyle's home and snoops around, taking pictures. Helen catches her and invites her for tea. She bribes Helen into working with her to convince Sarah that Kyle is cheating on her again.While Helen is out shopping for a new crib to outdo Judith at the baby shower, Dave, a co-worker of Grace, stops by Helen's house. When he learns she isn't home, he stops by Sarah and Kyle's house. He tells Judith just enough information about Helen to get her online and snooping. Judith learns about Helen's mental health issues and suspected murder. Judith decides to confront Helen. Judith threatens to expose Helen, and Helen murders Judith and buries her in the backyard.Kyle takes Sarah out to a work dinner and is surprised when his ex-girlfriend, Angela, makes out with him by the bathrooms. An accomplice takes pictures of the whole thing. Instead of texting the photos to Helen, they extort her for more money. Judith threatens Angela and being scared, Angela backs off and settles for the original amount.Sarah and Kyle come home from dinner and see Judith's stuff is gone. Meanwhile Helen, using Judith's phone text Kyle that she has to go on a business trip sooner than scheduled. They assume she left without telling them. Kyle is so busy traveling he barely has time to worry about it.Helen gets delivered the photos of Angela and Kyle to Sarah. Helen gleefully watches from the window. Sarah packs up a suitcase while screaming, and then she cries in the mirror.Helen stops by and invites Sarah to her country home while she is in a fragile state. Sarah writes a goodbye letter to Kyle and drives off with Helen. (Who packs a gun and some drugged water.) Sarah doesn't tell anyone where she is going. With Sarah passed out, Helen deletes all Sarah messages and turns off her phone. This raises red flags for Jen, who stops studying and finally looks for her friend. Jen finds the business card Judith dropped. (the card that was given to Judith by the person who came in search of Grace)Sarah wakes up in Helen's home and is confused as to where she is. The reception is terrible, and Sarah insists on calling her husband. Helen continues to change the subject and promises to take Sarah into town to make a call. That works until Sarah finds a baby's room and is creeped out.Kyle comes home and finds the letter Sarah left him. He calls Angela. Angela tells Kyle that Helen is dangerous. Then Kyle and Jen call Dave, who tells them that Helen wanted her dream house in a forest. Kyle rushes off, and Jen stays behind to looks at real estate listings.Sarah begs for Helen to release her from captivity and tells her that she will be there for her if she lets her go. Helen says that she will NEVER let Sarah go. Sarah tries to escape but, Helen has taken out the car parts. Then she pulls a gun on Sarah and locks her in her room.Jen finds the evidence in the trash giving the address of the mountain forest home Helen purchased recently and the glove of Grace and the buried bodies and calls Kyle. She also tells Kyle to hurry up.Helen sees Kyle's car pull up and rushes outside with her gun and a flashlight. She shoots at him as he runs across the snowy yard. Kyle makes it inside and breaks Sarah out of her room. Sarah tells him that Helen is crazy.The couple sneaks out of the house and creeps around slowly. Helen screams at them and then realizes what she is doing and is horrified with herself. She cries on the steps about working hard to have a family during which time police too arrives.Later, Sarah and Kyle are shown in their house with their beautiful baby girl, Judith. (thanks to lifetimeuncorked)

Genre: Drama   Thriller