‘Single Black Female’ Review (Lifetime)
Stars: Raven Goodwin, Amber Riley, K. Michelle, Janet Hubert, Iron Moore, Devale Ellis, Erin Ownbey, Gail Everett-Smith, Jeremy Mitchell | Written by Sa’Rah Jones, Tessa Evelyn Scott | Directed by Shari L. Carpenter
I don’t know what it is recently, but I’ve really been enjoying the unapologetic nature of Lifetime’s TV movies, in particular those that skirt around the horror genre. It seems, at least to me, that Lifetime has taken the reigns from the likes of Syfy, who years ago produced cheap but fun movies that riffed on bigger budget movies and, ultimately, made their films almost a genre of their own. And Lifetime is doing the same with their films – taking their traditional over the top dramas but scaling them back a little, throwing in the tropes, cliches and stereotypes of horror and thriller movies to create their own hybrid films.
Yet at the same time, these Lifetime movies are also recreating and recapturing the spirit of TV movies of the past; creating what are the closest films we’ve had to the classic TV movie horror films of the 70s and 80s in years. Maybe THAT’S why I’ve been enjoying these films? They’re hitting a nostalgic sweet spot for me? Whatever the case I’m really enjoying what I’ve seen of the recent crop of Lifetime TV movies… and Single Black Female is no different.
Single Black Female follows Monica (Raven Goodwin), who’s reeling from the death of her beloved father and a difficult breakup, ready to move forward with her life as she tries to land the new hosting job for an afternoon talk show. When the station hires her a new assistant, Simone (Amber Riley), the two quickly become close friends as Simone moves in next door and completely immerses herself in Monica’s life. But underneath her sweet exterior, Simone harbours a dark secret and as time goes on cracks in her façade begin to appear. Monica decides to sever ties once and for all with Simone, but Simone has other plans and is determined to take over Monica’s life for good.
Back in 1992 Single White Female caught the attention of filmgoers everywhere becoming, at the time, something of a zeitgeist. I remember there were ads for it on every rental tape, in newspapers, magazines, even on satellite television. It was probably a victim of its own hype, taking 13 years to get a sequel and a further four years for the FIRST iteration of Single Black Female… For yes folks, this film is actually the second film with the title but is easily the best version of this story out of all that followed the 1992 original. Why? The cast.
Raven Goodwin and Amber Riley are fantastic in the two central roles. Now I’ll be honest, I’ve only ever seen the tow briefly in other roles, Riley’s role on a few episodes of Glee that I caught for example, but here the duo put into solid performances. Goodwin, as Monica, portrays a strong woman turned vulnerable by the loss of her father and break-up with her boyfriend brilliantly. You can see that there is a fight under all that hurt throughout the film, so much so that come the finale, when she lets that out, you can’t help but cheer her on as she takes on Riley’s Simone head-to-head. Speaking of Simone, Amber Riley’s performance as the titular stalker is far divided from her role in Glee – gone is the happy go lucky attitude and in comes a cold, calculating character that bubbles under the surface. It’s like watching her Glee character if she was really Patrick Bateman from American Psycho… the smile hiding the evil. The loving nature hiding the psychopathic tendencies. It’s brilliant and surprising.
Single Black Female has other surprises up its sleeve too… In my experience Lifetime movies tend to never show anything in terms of sex and violence, only ever hinting at things. However, as Single Black Female builds to its insane crescendo – as all these stalker stories do – we actually see the aftermath of Simone’s rampage, including dead bodies stashed in a cupboard in all their rotting glory (and there’s a severed head for good measure). Whilst that would seem the norm in a horror film or a thriller usually, to see that in a TV movie, on Lifetime, comes as a bit of a shock – much more so than if this film WASN’T part of the channels oeuvre!
Easily my favourite of the Lifetime TV movies I’ve reviewed so far in 2022, Single Black Female is a great mix of thrills with just the right amount of camp, with an ending that hits just the right note of insanity to make everything all worthwhile.
