With a title like A Nurse’s Revenge, there’s no pretense about who the “villain” of the piece is. Thankfully this is never an issue for screenwriter Daniel West, who delivers a classic Lifetime film that never disguises the fact that it’s a thriller, not a mystery.
The opening of the film is particularly efficient in how it quickly and easily introduces its characters and the source of the conflict. Initially we’re introduced to Nurse Sharon (Kristina Clifford) as she tends to a young boy (Carter Hurst) with a broken arm. It’s clear that she’s compassionate, not just in her ability to administer care, but also to empathize with her patients. “The young ones are easy” she remarks to Dr. Park (Michael Whang) with a smile.
Then a group of teens are rushed in. There’s been a car accident (glimpsed in brief flashes) and though the kids in the car are scraped up, they’re mostly okay. One girl, Cassie (Carissa Murray) desperately enquires about the teen boy they hit; alas, when Sharon checks on Cassie’s behalf, it’s revealed that the victim died.
This instigates an immediate change in Nurse Sharon’s personality and tone. Suddenly her responses are clipped, her tone is curt, and when the kids are being discharged the next day, Sharon deliberately goes out of her way to nudge Braden (Joe Sterry)’s broken arm, admonishing him to watch where he’s going when he cries out in pain.
Clearly Nurse Sharon has a connection to the dead boy and, while this is the film’s main mystery, there is never any doubt that she is the one exacting revenge.
Of course, since Cassie is the main protagonist, there can be no doubt as to her character and she is presented as completely pure. The teen girl lives with her single mother Diane (Tammy-Anne Fortuin); she’s applying for College scholarships because they’re “poor” (they do, of course, live in a giant Lifetime house, though) and unlike her friends, Cassie believes that they deserve to be held responsible for the boy’s death.
Cassie’s early reactions come off as too altruistic. While West’s screenplay makes it clear that the teens were speeding, there’s never any question that Todd Alcott (Julian Moser)’s death was accidental. There’s even repeated dialogue that no drugs or alcohol were involved. So Cassie’s insistence that they be held accountable when the judge rules in their favour and their sole punishment is 200 hours of community service is a bit odd.
In this capacity, Cassie is too “movie perfect.” Thankfully any qualms about the character are partially offset by how winsome Murray is in the role. The actor is extremely watchable, which helps to make some of the film’s clunky dialogue exchanges and plot developments go down a little easier.
Cassie’s friend’s don’t entirely agree with her guilty perspective. Her boyfriend Scott (Shea Pritchard) is the most aligned with her point of view, though he’s not much of a character in the film. Her best friend, Tamara (Noémi VanSlyke), is vaguely sympathetic, but she’s also content to move on. And then there’s Braden, who was driving the car, may have a history of infractions and whose father is a successful lawyer. Both father and son are adamant that Braden, and by extension the others, don’t deserve to face any repercussions for their actions (not even community service); this immediately paints Braden as the secondary villain of the piece.
The plot kicks into gear when, after sentencing, Sharon volunteers her services as Cassie’s private nurse to assist the girl recover from a leg fracture. This grants Sharon easy access to Cassie’s injury (which she aggressively manipulates in physio), as well as her meds and her phone.
Here A Nurse’s Revenge wisely plays on its villain’s professional expertise, as well as a concerned parent’s doubts. In other films it’s annoying when parents disbelieve their children, but Diane is fed a steady stream of lies by Sharon that are just believable enough. And because Sharon’s attacks on Cassie are often petty and small scale, including loosening a bolt in her crutches so the girl falls or deleting her College scholarship essay, it’s understandable that Diane would believe Sharon’s claims that Cassie is addicted to her pain meds and is becoming paranoid.
By comparison, Sharon’s antics against the other teens is far more severe. Because Todd was killed by a car, Sharon’s murders all involve vehicles (it’s a kind of poetic justice). One victim is strangled to death when a seatbelt is thrown into a running motor, while another is asphyxiated in their garage after being sedated. Naturally Sheriff Atkins (Eric Lee) and Diane dismiss Cassie’s belief that the teens are being systematically eliminated, setting the stage for an exciting climactic set piece set in a junk yard once everyone finally accepts what is going on. It’s brief, but surprisingly exciting.
Director David Benullo stages the action fairly well. There are two early fake-outs as Sharon fantasizes about her revenge that don’t play convincingly, but when the murders and the mayhem actually kick in, everything but a late-in-the-film poorly staged punch lands. With that said, Clifford is better at playing empathy rather than outrage, and Sharon’s big moments in the last act feel somewhat muted as a result.
Ultimately A Nurse’s Revenge is entertaining in a “classic Lifetime movie” kind of way. Murray is a great lead, even if the character of Cassie is occasionally too unbelievably pure of heart, and the film gets a lot of mileage out of having a nurse as a villain. While it’s not the most remarkable entry in Lifetime’s slate, A Nurse’s Revenge is a solid, reliable choice for a casual Thursday night watch.
A Nurse’s Revenge aired Thursday, October 24 on Lifetime.
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