Naman Shrestha
A Patricia Frontain directorial, ‘Surviving the Sleepover’ is a gripping thriller that showcases how a fun overnight stay with friends can turn into a living nightmare. It chronicles the life of Hannah, a teenager who speaks straight from the shoulder but often bears the brunt of the same. When she moves to a new town, the young girl is excited to have a fun high school experience and make new friends. To her amazement, she receives an invitation to a slumber party from Melissa, one of the most popular girls. While Hannah gears up to have a great time at the social gathering, she has no idea that Melissa and her friends have something sinister up their sleeves.
When everyone arrives at Melissa’s swanky place, they decide to play Never Have I Ever, which soon becomes a game of survival for Hannah. When all hell breaks loose, Hannah can only count on her mother to save her. The Lifetime production is driven by a compelling storyline and performances by Sloan Mannino, Dawn Marie, Jenna Hogan, Joshua Bertell, and Sage Moore. The mystery film touches upon several themes, such as bullying and isolation, and also showcases a sacred mother-daughter bond through Hannah’s relationship with her mother, raising several questions surrounding its resemblance to reality.
Is Surviving the Sleepover a True Story?
‘Surviving the Sleepover,’ as per the network, includes fragments of reality in the narrative. In real life, there have been numerous cases where a sleepover has turned into a nightmare. Take the 2023 case of a sleepover in Oklahoma that ended up in the murder of seven people, including the shooter himself. Before dying by suicide, 39-year-old Jesse McFadden shot his wife Holly Guess, and her children Rylee Elizabeth Allen, Michael James Mayo, and Tiffany Dore Guess, to death. Besides them, he did not spare Tiffany’s friends — Ivy Webster and Brittany Brewer — who were there for a sleepover Saturday night.
Reports suggest that director Patricia Frontain took some inspiration from her own teen years to portray humanity in the Lifetime film more authentically. She told Screen Mag, “It’s about a new girl in town who is invited to a sleepover, and things go wrong. I was once a new girl — I moved from New York City to a tiny town in Texas.” She also admitted that she faced a similar situation as Hannah back in her high school days and she showcased it in rich tones and dramatic manner. Patricia explained, “I didn’t want it to be a black-and-white objective morality. I wanted to humanize the mean characters to find out what motivates them and why they feel compelled to always be on top.”
Screenwriter Richard Pierce also made the most of his excellent penmanship and creative mind to assist Patricia bring ‘Surviving the Sleepover’ to life. During the same conversation, the filmmaker also said that she was cautious to not make the characters seem similar to those of ‘Mean Girls.’ She elaborated, “Of course, ‘Mean Girls’ is really funny. But I wanted to explain that these characters are multifaceted — that they have lives and feelings — and maybe help the viewer be more sympathetic. Girls can be very, very mean to anybody who’s different and they’re so afraid of their own insecurities.” Thus, it would be safe to conclude that ‘Surviving the Sleepover’ is somewhat inspired by certain aspects of the filmmaker’s personal life.
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