Death of a Cheerleader (2019 TV Movie) User Reviews

The original was better

[phd_travel · 5/10 · 4 February 2019]

The original was better. The first part is hard to follow - badly directed and unclear with too many characters and girls who kind of look alike. The camera is jerky. The The killing is scary still.

The killer isn't plain enough.

Not great. Just watch the original. An unnecessary remake.

Cheesey

[charmingchazi · 4/10 · 3 February 2019]

The camera work is horrible, it doesn't stop moving.

Failure is not an option for these girls at Hollybrook High School and peer pressure is overwhelming

[Ed-Shullivan · 6/10 · 26 September 2020]

This made for TV film was based on a true story so I have to accept that the events outlined actually did occur. There were a lot of caddy and cliquey girls misbehaving and being cruel to one another in an attempt to show who were the alpha girls, and who were the subordinates. Many of these young ladies came from affluent parents and unlimited funds to achieve their lofty goals easily influencing any voting on who gets in and who does not make the cut.

The lead actresses Aubrey Peeples (perpratrator) and Sarah Dugdale (victim) did more than an adequate job and if I did not know that these events actually happened then I would have said the film is hokey. But the events did happen and a number of families lives were ruined all because one young lady felt she was being shunned because she was not as rich as her peers, nor in with the "cheerleaders".

The fate of two of these ladies is life (and death) changing and any young teenagers (female and male) should pay close attention to how hurtful words and actions can be to their classmates.

I give the film a 6 out of 10 IMDB rating

Boring and Dissapointing

[jazzyfae-64355 · 2/10 · 3 February 2019]

Nothing even close to the original. I miss the 90's lifetime movies. The new remakes of lifetime are never good. "No one would tell' was a great 90's movie and the new 2018 remake of that was just butchered. Same with this one. I never give my hopes up anymore.

Does not compare to A Friend to Die For

[ivegonemod · 27 March 2019]

I'm starting to wish they would stop re-making 1990's TV movies that focused on real crimes. The modern movies don't even begin to compare to the original versions.

I loved A Friend to Die For. Kellie Martin was great as Angela Delvecchio, but in this version, Aubrey Peeples just doesn't have it as Bridget Moretti, which is the Angela character.

Kellie made me feel so many emotions. I was disgusted by Anegla's sickening need to fit in but I also felt a little sorry for her, though disgust definitely won out. Bridget did not make me feel anything at all.

Tori Spelling also disgusted me as Stacey Lockheart, but Sarah Dugdale was a flop as Kelly Locke. It was like there was no spark at all.

Where to start ... SUCKS?

[MissAgnes · 1/10 · 6 February 2019]

So, my sister tells me that Lifetime has done a remake of A Friend to Die for AKA Death of a cheerleader. Both based on the true story of the Kristin Costas murder in 1984 in Orinda, CA. Bernadette Protti was the name of the killer IRL.

Anyhow, we like the original so we decided to watch the remake. It sucks. The acting is horrible and the movie is just all over the place.

Skip it and watch the original instead.

This was NOT the 1980s

[user-415-133374 · 3/10 · 2 March 2019]

The producers of the film, in an attempt to try and link the plot with the real murder more than the 1990s original did, retro-set the film to 1983 and attempted to portray to the audience the world of the early 80s. Unfortunately, at this the film badly failed.

With the sole reference to one of the characters going to see Ghostbusters on its opening night, there was nothing else that struck of the 1980s to include the clothing, music, and other daily trends. In fact, I was just waiting for one of the girls to pull out a cellphone and start texting her friends on Facebook.

The acting was mediocre, but it was a real thrill to see Kellie Martin in the role of an FBI agent. In the 1990s version, the confession between Kellie and the FBI profiler was one of the more powerful scenes, and Kellie now returns to play the exact same role on the other side of the conversion, and does it masterfully.

Decent, but it cannot beat the original version

[lmnclips · 6/10 · 29 November 2020]

The new version of the original lifetime movie death of a cheerleader, was okay, but the original 1994 version is and will always be my favorite. They are many reasons why. First of all, whoever found the locations must have forgotten that the events of this movie took place 20 years ago, unless they wanted to make the remake take place in the late 2000's, Bridget's house looked so out of place and didn't look like something that would exist in the 90s. The acting by everyone was mediocre, as was the storyline that was based on true events. But what I'm really saying here is that a remake of this movie wasn't really needed, and they should've just stuck to the original.

6/10

Rubbish

[svader · 1/10 · 10 August 2020]

Where do they get these "actors" from?

The two leads look about 30 years old. They can't act and the storyline although based on a true story is disjointed and goofy !!

Not at all accurate to the true story or people involved in the story

[eric-ham · 1/10 · 4 July 2019]

I was at the high school where this took place in 1984 and knew the victim as well as the murderer. It was shocking and surreal to have this happen at my school. It troubles me that the location is nothing like Orinda, CA where it took place, the characters in the film are NOTHING like Kirsten, Bernadette and the rest of the real people involved in this, and most of the other major points are wrong. If a movie is going to be made about this subject, then at least be true to the actual personalities of those involved as well as the location where this took place.

Very disappointed

[sunniebunnie11 · 3/10 · 6 February 2019]

I was pretty excited to see the remake of an amazing movie but this wasn't so amazing. If you haven't seen the original, the story is pretty hard to follow and full of holes. If you have seen the original movie this one is just a huge disappointment.

Lifetime

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 13 July 2020]

It's 1983 in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in California. Bridget Moretti (Aubrey Peeples) is an outsider from a modest family. She is desperate to befriend Kelly Locke, the coolest girl in school, and join the Bobettes. Nina Miller is not into the superficial and narrates as Bridget gets arrested for the murder of Kelly Locke.

It's a Lifetime movie. That's the start and the end of it. The cinematic look is poor. The places look cheap despite this is supposed to be the wealthiest neighborhood. The girls are twenty somethings. From the start, Nina should have the same look. I didn't connect her to the opening of the movie. She has no rooting interest. Peeples needs to go full force right from the beginning. She does have a few nice acting moments. That's probably the only good from this. Mostly, it's all very flat. The ending tries to wrap it up by blaming it on the pressure. That needs to be set up much better. All of this needs to be much better.

Terrible remake

[Lea43 · 1/10 · 4 February 2019]

The original was perfected as per all of the articles and court reported stories from the time it actually happened. This remake was just awful in my opinion. The other girls all did look a like, it was very hard to tell who was who. The acting wasn't convincing, they didn't provide the emotions that the killer went through enough to show the build up. The proof of the killer's state of mind and torment she felt she endured was in the actual taped police confession. This movie failed miserably in my opinion. Very disappointed.

Boring

[rhatidream · 4/10 · 6 February 2019]

There's very little build up to the murder and, other than Nina, the characters are all bland and forgettable. The film is also anachronistic. It's supposed to be set in the 80's but looks like it's set in modern times and the main lead dresses like she's from the 40s. Kellie Martin appears in this for like 5 minutes at the end. That's it. No One Would Tell was a decent remake but I'm not really into this one.

Just watch the original

[singe594 · 4/10 · 11 March 2019]

Horrible remake, horrible camerawork, horrible wigs. They took out some of the storyline, which really just deflates any emotion or reasoning behind everything. Did they blow their entire budget on Kellie Martin? They didn't even have enough extras to fill out "The Bobettes" - did you notice how the group seemed to only have 1 member when the new group joined?

Just a story and nothing else

[Tak005 · 2/10 · 9 June 2021]

This is a murder mystery based on a true story. But there is no suspense and no mystery. It is just the telling of the story in chronological order. It's just like watching a docu drama reenactment.

A decent remake

[meerschweinchen_freunde · 9/10 · 3 March 2019]

As someone who a kid and a teenager in the 1980s in many ways this does capture how the 80s were. It shows the competitive, tough love attitudes that teachers had in upper middle class school districts and how it transformed in many ways into emotional abuse. The best example is when Bridget Moretti goes to find out about getting onto the yearbook staff and the teacher's dismissive attitude with her and then the principal's refusal to deal with her disappointment. This movie also showed how teachers and administrators were so focused on the future of these students they wouldn't deal with the present. What I liked about this remake was how even handed it was towards the murder victim. It showed her relationship with her parents and her mother's grief after her daughter's death. What did drag this remake down however was the three points of view narrative. While it was nice to see the home life of the goth girl who is blamed for the death it would have been better to just show more of the home lives of the victim and the killer. But it was a decent remake despite that criticism.

Nothing like the original...

[gencurtis-37036 · 1/10 · 26 February 2022]

Although the original 1994 movie twisted many facts, it was still well worth watching. The 2019 version pales in comparison to the original and is not worth watching. If you want to see the most excellent version of this movie, stick to the Tori Spelling/Kellie Martin version. This remake does not do the original story justice in any way. 2019 was certainly not the era for great film remakes.

Actors too old for their roles

[scoker21 · 3/10 · 10 February 2019]

All of the teenage roles were played by actors in their twenties. The sad part is that they looked like older adults playing a role. This was a giant distraction to an otherwise terrific film based on a true story.

Watch the original, not this!

[rainbowkid-52373 · 1/10 · 27 October 2019]

I had the original of this movie on VHS and watched it several times. The cast were so great at their roles. Tori Spelling was perfect as the b*tchy, over-confident, most popular girl at school. And Kellie Martin was outstanding as mousy Angela who you feel there is something "off" about from the very start. Her over-enthusiasm, obsession with Stacey and desperation to be part of the in-crowd. The whole film just works!

This remake casts actors who look about 40 playing the teenagers, there is no character development and if they were trying to pretend it was the 80s they were WAY off the mark! The other element I didnt appreciate was trying to make us feel pity for the Stacy character. Tori's portrayal showed us a very unlikeable person who bullied anyone who she felt was beneath her (most people), and you feel sympathy towards Kellie's character and can see how she snapped (although obviously nobody deserved to die). This remake tries to make us sympathise with the wrong person. So bullies have a tough life away from their victims... so do plenty of people who dont go out and bully others!

All in all, this film is not worth it if you've seen the original, it just doesnt compare!! If you've not seen the original, watch that. Not this remake!!

1/2 a cheer

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 14 March 2019]

Yet another one of those high school can be cruel films which are usually girl or boy oriented. By the title we see it's girl flick, but one thing that got me is the total lack of boys in any of the teen roles other than peripheral parts.

Sarah Dugdale is the teen who is murdered. This one is a teen princess and expects to be treated like royalty. Price for admission to her court is unquestioned obedience and beauty nearly equal to her's.

When she's stabbed to death on her driveway it's first thought that Goth girl Morgan Taylor Campbell did the deed. Has to be here she's the odd duck who doesn't fit in. But that's far from the end of the story.

The one who does the deed is Aubrey Peeples a shy kid with low self esteem who just wants to be liked and be part of the in crowd. She's the best thing in this film, but that's not saying much.

The rest of the film is as plastic as the lead character and no real imagination in a story that's been seen many times on the big and small screen.

Terrible on every level

[Oakartist68 · 1/10 · 20 July 2019]

As a friend of Kirsten, watching something like this is maddening, and frankly shameful. I have to always have the memory that she was murdered on my birthday, and that she was just a month away from turning 16 herself.

I wish they would stop producing this egregious BS. Both movies about her have been completely false, in every respect. It's sensationalism at it's very worst.

Please avoid at all costs.

Boring, old, ordinary, expected, usual, and worse than other lifetime movies

[NijazBaBs · 2/10 · 11 February 2019]

There is nothing extraordinary. Old times, low quality, filtering out people face, too much talk, ordinary life and crime. Boring. No special lesson or insight. No details. Looks more like news report, biography, drama, or amateur vlog. The only reason this movie deserves at least one star is because it is based on the reality. Life in movie looks real.

Very Happy with this Movie

[mbqwerty · 10/10 · 14 October 2019]

Ever since I heard there was a remake, I was pretty excited! Unfortunately, my tv provider doesn't have Lifetime but I was able to watch it online a 2 weeks after it was released. I love that there's more color in this movie, unlike the '94 version. I also realized (a couple of months after watching the movie for the first time) that the shy girl is dark haired and the popular girl is blonde...typical high school story stereotype, but I think Lifetime did it to make the story more dramatic. Next thing I noticed is that the scenes don't last that long...they only last like 2-4 minutes. Anyway, something I should point out for any male viewer (like moi) is that more females appear than males. The only males that appear are the police cop investigating the murder, the principal at the high school, the popular girl's dad and the father at the catholic church. The unpopular girl's dad is mentioned throughout the movie but is never seen. But remember, this is Lifetime, which according to Wikipedia, it has women in LEAD ROLES. Anyway, the movie is awesome! Love it! P.S: Colina and Colina County are both a fictional town and fictional county in California, they don't exist at all.

Being Nice giving 2 stars

[iheartkatherine-63006 · 2/10 · 15 December 2023]

It's great That Kelly Martin return but I don't understand how she can do this in good conscience since this version is so poorly done unlike the first movie that she did with Tori spelling. When I found this movie I didn't realize that it was a remake of a friend to die for or death of a cheerleader with Kelly Martin and Tori spelling I thought it was a cheap knock off of that movie that came out around the same time but this thing came out in 2019 they should've just left the whole thing alone I'm not even sure the first movie is accurate because of reviewer eric- ham who says they were there, says that these are not accurate portrayals of the people Involved. I agree with the reviewer that said the 1990s lifetime movies were much better I did enjoy them better than I don't know what they're doing now.