Villainess Review: Lacy Settle (Nightmare School Moms)

I was excited for Nightmare School Moms for a number of weeks, but my excitement increased very recently for a reason I will state later on. I have to say this; I've always been fascinated by Lifetime's themed titles. A long time ago Lifetime gave up the "Perfect" films, and then we had the "Met Online" themed films (i.e. The Boy She Met Online, The Girl He Met Online, and my favorite of the bunch, The Wife He Met Online) and the "At 17" group. Very recently, Lifetime's giving us the "Nightmare Moms" films, and previous entries include PTA, Neighborhood, and Pageant, with School being the latest addition.

The "Nightmare Moms" films guarantees at least one villainess, and in this go-around, the baddie in question is Lacy Settle, who is a single mother of high school student Nicole Settle, with the pair living with Lacy's wealthy father, Drake Settle. Like a number of past Lifetime films, Whittendale college is the subject, and it's the planned school for Nicole. It would have been planned for Lacy, but as Drake was so quick to remind us, Lacy could not get in. On the other side, we have Mandy Williams, who did attend Whittendale and had a successful political career, but is now focused on her daughter, Parker Williams.

Parker and Nicole are close friends and opponents for the school presidency. Mandy is always warm to Nicole, but as for Lacy, well, her chilly demeanor could tame some summer heatwaves. She doesn't appear to be too fond of Parker, and it's clear that she's not happy with Mandy. All we hear is that Lacy accused Mandy of stealing her spot at Whittendale from her, and as I await the inevitable closure, we see that Parker has won the election. Lacy's not one to back down; she basically prods Nicole into demanding a recount. Unfortunately, that doesn't go well, as it only exposes more votes for Parker.

So Nicole has officially lost the election, and knowing that this would her her chances at Whittendale, Lacy begs Drake to use his wealth to get his granddaughter in. Drake refused, just as he did for Lacy, as he stated that Nicole had to earn it and not have it handed to her, while again browbeating Lacy for failing to get in herself. His rant is interrupted by his faulty tank, and he later asks Lacy to get him a new one. "Big mistake," I thought. Lacy used this to force Drake to agree to help Nicole, and even after he promised to do so, she let her father die anyway, claiming that he would go back on his word once she helped him.

So the patriarch is gone, and Lacy decides to use her father's death to get Nicole on the path to Whittendale. We see Lacy meet with admissions counselor Bill Yellen in her plot, and after giving us some Lori Loughlin vibes, we see some heavy duty studying before Lacy actually seduces Bill into moving up the date for Nicole's important test. Speaking of Nicole, I have to point out this fun fact. Nicole is played by Rachel Walters, who is in her second Lifetime film. Her first? None other than Nightmare Pageant Moms, and in both films, she played the daughter of an evil and insanely ambitious mother.

Nicole's new date gets in the way of a party she wanted to attend, but despite Lacy's orders, she sneaks out anyway and has the time of her life with Parker. This results in Nicole being too inebriated to even stand up for a few minutes, let alone take a test, and after Lacy accuses Parker of getting Nicole drunk on purpose, Lacy gets a wild idea: she disguises herself as Nicole (badly) and takes the test...and passes. Nicole is stunned when her mother tells her that she took the test in her place, and in response to Nicole's morality, Lacy not only claimed that Drake used immoral methods in his business, she also stated that Nicole should be grateful to her mother for her actions.

Parker learns about Nicole's high score, and it brings surprise from both her and Mandy. Meanwhile, Bill looks to collect on that date from Lacy, who brushes him off, but Bill doesn't go away easily, as he has knowledge of Lacy's appearance at that test. Bill blackmails Lacy, demanding $9,900 (just a C-note shy of the amount that raises IRS eyebrows) in exchange for his silence. Later on, we see Bill visited by Mandy, and that meeting sees Bill attempt to solicit a sexual favor from Mandy, who walks off in immense disgust. Lacy delivers the pay off to Bill, who tells Lacy about the meeting with Mandy and starts to demand more money. Lacy wields the meat tenderizer at Bill, who blocks the attempt and lunges at her, only for Lacy to kill him with an iron.

So Bill's out of the picture, and now, Lacy turns her attention on Parker. She plants drugs on Parker, and that has her facing expulsion. Nicole sees Parker getting scolded and worries about her, but for Lacy, it's off to a meeting with Whittendale's higher-ups. They are encountered by Mandy and Parker, with Mandy revealing that everything against Parker has been dropped. Even so, Lacy assumes that their appearance is all about Nicole, but it's at this point that Nicole decides to burn it down and state that her mother took the test for her. Lacy couldn't believe what she was saying, but Nicole didn't care, she was done living a lie. Lacy walked off furious, and it was later in the climax that we see Lacy go full wild, attacking both Mandy and Parker before tying them up and dousing them with lighter fluid.

It's at this point that we get to the bottom of Lacy's anger at Mandy. I was expecting Lacy missing out on Whittendale to be because of outside factors, but it wasn't. Mandy was selected, Lacy wasn't. That's it. So it comes down to entitlement; Lacy felt that Mandy took what (in her mind) should have been hers, and she also blamed Mandy for (also in her mind) turning Nicole against her, so she plans on killing Parker as payback. Mandy pleads with Lacy to take her instead, adding that she would have turned down Whittendale all those years ago. All that did was increase Lacy's anger, and she was set on enacting her murderous revenge until Nicole appeared, followed by a pair of detectives. So Lacy's arrested, but as we see, she's actually teaching a class full of her fellow inmates. Wow!

Nightmare School Moms aired on Lifetime on July 16, 2023, and featured the always amazing Crystal Allen as the deranged Lacy Settle; which marked Allen's fifth time playing a Lifetime film villainess. In addition, this is actually my third time writing about a Crystal Allen villainess, which shows just how amazing she is. So about my anticipation for this film, I have a story about that. It actually centered on a story. So I've been on Tiktok for about a month now, and one of the things I posted was my story about Allen's appearance in Am I a Serial Killer? as the evil Annie Weaver. I would get a response from Crystal Allen herself, and it was a heads up on this role, her evil role in this exact film!

Not surprisingly, Allen knocked it out of the park. Lacy Settle was insane, diabolical, and bloodthirsty, as well as very, very entitled. Lacy was a woman who felt that everyone around her owed her. It didn't matter if it was Mandy, or Nicole, or even her father, they all owed her plenty, in her mind. Lacy also had that Machiavellian demeanor, believing that the ends justify the means, and that everyone is basically immoral and out for themselves. Allen's performance was, as usual, stellar. Lacy was evil from the get-go, meaning that what we saw from Allen was a deliciously villainous performance from beginning to end, and it was just an absolutely wonderful sight! This is why Crystal Allen is in demand on Lifetime, and it's also why she's been the villainess five times on Lifetime, she is just so good at it!

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Check out Lacy Settle's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!