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From: "Ian J. Ball" <ijball@mac.invalid>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: What Did You Watch? 2024-06-23 (Sunday)
Date: Mon, 24 Jun 2024 10:30:09 -0700
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On 6/24/24 1:30 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:

> What did you watch?

I mostly took it easy yesterday - I only got through one flick off Tubi, 
and one Lifetime flick. However, I did go back to start up a series I 
couldn't watch/finish before:

School Spirits (Pee+) - So a few days ago, I saw an article about the 
filming of the second season of "School Spirits". And then yesterday I 
was sitting around trying to figure out what streaming series I would 
watch next (after having finished "Daisy Jones & The Six" in a single 
day!!), and then I realized - "Hey! I have Pee+! - I can go back and 
watch "School Spirits" now!!"
    So, I rewatched the pilot, which I had seen before (they ran just 
the pilot on Paramount Network once, and I DVR'ed it), and then later in 
the day watched episode #1.2.
    I feel like Arthur mentioned this, but their "rules for ghosts" are 
all over the place! Where are they getting paper to write on?! Where did 
the donuts come from?!!
    At the end of the pilot, Maddie's (Peyton List The Younger) bestie 
Simon (Kristian Flores) is able to see her, despite no living person 
ever seeing any of the other ghosts on campus.
    Episode #2 picks up with Maddie and Simon rather arbitrarily 
deciding that Maddie's boyfriend (Spencer MacPherson) is the one who 
killed her, just because he's a cheater, and trying to gather evidence 
to prove this, but we know in any mystery series that the first 
"suspect" is always a red herring, so there's no way he did it.
    Hopefully, they get to some other suspects in ep. #3.

golf - Whoa! The final hole of the Travellers was interrupted by some 
"protesters" - of course they were eco-nutters! - who threw paint(?) on 
the green, and then were promptly tackled by about a dozen cops! (See: 
https://apnews.com/article/travelers-championship-intruders-18th-hole-police-bc3e9408e9417b8520fe866795761fe2 
)
    That final hole was consequential, as Day Three leader Tom Kim 
birdied it to move back into a tie for the lead and force a playoff with 
Scottie Scheffler.
    But, of course, Kim choked on the first playoff hole, so Scheffler 
ended up winning anyway.  :/

Devil's Prey (Tubi) - 2001 "horror" flick, starring Ashley Jones! and 
Charlie O'Connell; also starring: Bryan Kirkwood, Jennifer Lyons (who I 
was shocked to see was still working up to almost the present day!), 
Elena Lyons and Patrick Bergen(!).
    Basic premise: Some brain-dead (college-aged(?)) youts get chased 
after a rave by Satanists who want to sacrifice them. [roll]
    For supposedly a "slasher" flick, this wasn't very gory at all. It 
did however have a bunch of gratuitous nudity, though not really the 
"good kind"!
    Jones really only did two "films" in her (early) career (and later 
on mostly did just TV/Lifetime flicks) - "The King's Guard" in 2000 and 
this in 2001, both presumably after she left Y&R. So this flick was 
still "peak Ashley Jones" and she looks great here.
    I am pretty sure I have seen this film before, though it likely was 
literally 2 decades ago! - But I clearly knew going in that Elena Lyons 
was going to turn out to be the lead villainess, and I don't think this 
was just a lucky guess... Lyons actually does a pretty steamy sex scene 
in this (with Patrick Bergen who even then was probably old enough to be 
her father!!), though I rolled my eyes at the idea that two Satanists 
would have sex with their clothes on!... Lyons kept working though 2012, 
which is about 7-8 years longer than I thought she did.
    This flick was just barely OK (I only stayed with it for Ashley 
Jones and Elena Lyons, as we got no nudity out of Jennifer Lyons and she 
plays a whiny bitch), and the ending was the cliched addlebrained 
(though ambiguous) and completely unnecessary "twist". [roll]

Devil on Campus: The Larry Ray Story (Lifetime) - Directed by Elisabeth 
Röhm! (who also co-stars as the main victim's mother).
    Wow - this may be the absolute *least* sympathetic Lifetime "victim" 
ever! I was actually rooting for Larry Ray to kill her by the end!
    This is based on the true story of 50-year old conman/psycho Larry 
Ray who in the early 2010s moved himself into his daughter's dorm at 
Sarah Lawrence College, and quickly sets up a quasi-cult.
    Based on this film, I would *never* send a kid to Sarah Lawrence 
*ever*: The film portrays the main victim's parents as going to the 
college administration about Larry Ray living on campus, and the admin 
just shrugs - you can't tell me that colleges can't control who is 
living in their on-campus housing!! (IOW, that they can't kick out 
people not enrolled in the college!)
    Anyway, the film's "heroine" (she's clearly not IMO) is named 
Claudia Drury (this is a real person, apparently), played by Tedra 
Rogers, and she is initially skeptical of Larry (obvi!), but then soon 
crumbles and becomes his willing... victim? dupe? Renfeld?
    In general, I don't like Lifetime's "con/cult" movies because you 
have to be a weak idiot to fall for any of this garbage. And this film's 
"heroine"/victim was the weakest idiot of them all (at least, as 
portrayed here).
    So I didn't have a whole lot of sympathy.
    One thing I did find interesting is how Larry Ray's daughter was a 
willing participant/lieutenant in his crimes - though she only got 4 
years in jail (it likely should have been more!).


What did you watch?