Upamanyu Biswas
With Nicholas Treeshin in the director’s seat, Lifetime’s ‘Match, Meet, Murder’ follows a young woman named Ruby, who works as a lingerie designer. After recently becoming single, Ruby decides to reignite her love life by delving into the world of dating apps. She peruses through it until she stumbles across a seemingly handsome, intelligent, and successful stranger who catches her eye. However, his profile does not mention that he is a former contestant on the dating show, ‘Marry My Millionaire.’ Ruby starts suspecting foul play after realizing that he is hiding more secrets, a lot of which have been left off his profile. The thriller film illustrates the contemporary worries of dating through a cautionary tale of survival, lies, deception, and hidden agendas.
Match, Meet, Murder Examines the Dangers of Online Dating
‘Match, Meet, Murder’ is a fictional story penned by scriptwriters Daniela Bailes and Adam Rockoff. The Lifetime movie serves as a reminder of how dangerous and malicious individuals with secret agendas can exploit and threaten the lives of those who engage in dating apps without properly vetting their options. In the film, Ruby finds herself in a precarious position after inviting a stranger into her life without knowing everything about him and the dark truths lurking in his past. While these elements are fictionally conceived, the context of the situation and its exploration of dating app culture is vaguely rooted in reality to some degree. There have been a variety of real-life cases where unassuming people have been taken advantage of or harmed by strangers on online dating platforms, which provides some grounding for the events described in the movie.
In 2016, a serial killer named Khalil Wheeler-Weaver used the social media site Tagged to get in touch with women in Orange, New Jersey, before killing them. He allegedly posed under several nicknames on the site, contacting women in the region and arranging meet-up dates with them. He was eventually caught after the sister of a victim lured him in before contacting the police. Wheeler-Weaver was handed a 160-year prison sentence with the possibility of parole after 140 years. Although ‘Match, Meet, Murder’ tells an original story that has no links to any pre-existing material, real-life cases like Wheeler-Weaver’s may likely have inspired the central aspects of the movie. It is a prescient concern of modern times and is a subject matter rife with anxiety and fear, which comes across in the film.
Match, Meet, Murder Touches Upon Another Vaguely Resembling Real-Life Serial Killer Case
Another real-life incident that bears some resemblance to ‘Match, Meet, Murder’ is the case of Rodney James Alcala. He was a serial killer who appeared on the game show ‘The Dating Show’ in 1978 while he was in the middle of his killing spree, earning him the moniker Dating Game Killer. Alcala was sentenced to death in California for charges of murder and rape, among others. He passed away in 2021 at age 77 while on death row. The case became the basis for Netflix’s crime thriller movie ‘Woman of the Hour,’ starring and directed by Anna Kendrick. In the Lifetime thriller, Ruby’s newest dating app partner has a similar event in his past, having appeared on the dating show, ‘Marry My Millionaire.’ Thus, some inspiration may have been taken during the script’s development.
At its heart, ‘Match, Meet, Murder’ is a reminder of the perils associated with modern-day inventions like dating apps. While they are helpful in one aspect, they can also be the breeding ground for unparalleled danger and threat to one’s life, as explored in the Nicholas Treeshin directorial. It showcases the unsafe nature of such services and how they can be gamed and exploited for the benefit of malicious individuals who seek to satisfy their own needs. The film addresses these anxieties while also diving into them, crafting a suspenseful drama with numerous twists and turns. To that end, it likely draws from actual events like the ones mentioned. However, for the most part, the film is a compelling thriller narrative born from the minds of the writers and a figment of their creativity.
Read More: Death Saved My Life: Is the Lifetime Movie Based on a True Story?
