Megachurch Murder (2015) User Reviews

21st Century Hamlet.

[templetonx · 4/10 · 22 May 2020]

A modern retelling of Hamlet (Hannah) without the play within a play, or the wit. Poorly written and adequately acted.

Really bad!

[kelaster · 1/10 · 13 April 2015]

This was the worst movie ever! The acting was poor, the storyline weak and the predictable. In order to post it says you must have 10 lines, but this movie was so bad, I can imagine writing 10 lines about it. I mean blackmailing gay youth pastors into drugging a main character is just one example of how poorly written and acted this movie was. The scene on the bridge was by far one of the poorest scenes ever written. They kept yelling, "She killed Marcus!" I wanted someone to kill them all to end this horrific movie. It's so bad that I couldn't stop watching because I knew it had to eventually end. The ending was something out of a Horrible Shakespearean tragedy! I am continuing to write because I want everyone who reads this to know how sick, sad and sorry this movie was. If you have something else to do like watch paint dry, watch the flowers grow, organize your closets, alphabetize your books, watch the rain come down, cut your toenails, or do any other activity that you hate doing. In the words of James Brown, PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! do anything and everything else but watch this movie!

This was really bad! *Possible spoiler alert*

[melflavender · 2/10 · 18 August 2015]

I will admit I have watched my fair share of Lifetime movies and some of them were pretty good. This movie is downright awful. Its a shame because some of the actors have done good work in other films. The actress who played the preacher's daughter needs some serious acting lessons. She was the main reason this movie was so bad. Its never a good thing to have a story centered around the one person who can't act their way out of a paper bag. This movie could have played out with some good suspense if the main character could have been convincing enough to make us care. Oh well, I hope this review helps someone else from wasting their time. Malcolm Jamal Warner was the only luck one. He disappeared out of this nightmare in the beginning.

Just Horrible

[ShunJackson · 1/10 · 25 August 2015]

I wanted to give this movie a shot because I've long been a little frustrated with not seeing some of my favorite actors from from the 80's and 90's not involved in more acting roles. So, I was excited to see Malcolm Jamal Warner as one of the cast members of this movie. But man oh man, from start to finish, this movie was horrible! What's sad is they had some awesome veteran actors in this movie, Malcolm Warner, Michael Beach, Dawn Lewis, and Tamala Jones. The rest of the cast can go kick rocks for all I care. Seriously, through out the movie, I kept saying, "Just kill me now!" It was full of cheesiness. I rolled my eyes several times. The main character needs to sign up for acting lessons as soon as possible. She is a beautiful woman, but that was some nonsense acting. They had her character crying the entire movie. There was a definite need for balance. The storyline was predictable. I've long felt that Romeo needed some acting lessons as well but I've seen him do better and feels he has potential. A part of me feels sorry for the entire cast because the directing and storyline was just horrible and I sort of feel this made everyone do horribly because I'm just surprised at the acting of the veteran actors I mentioned. Dawn Lewis was the ONLY one that was convincing in her role. Everyone else....nuh uh....not happening. So, I'm think this was just a poorly directed movie and the actors portrayals suffered because of it.

I understand that it is easy to criticize. So, I'm hoping the director just pick things and try again and do better in his future projects because this was a mess. My 1 star is for Dawn Lewis in her small role.

A lot of bad going on

[jtracie-03706 · 1/10 · 5 July 2020]

A lot of bad going on. Bad script, bad direction, bad sets, and bad acting.

Geez, it's hard to even know where to start. I guess first things first...the story. It is extremely cliche and predictable. There is nothing unique or creative about this movie. You know what is going to happen about 10 minutes in. The plot twists are not twists at all; you can see it coming from a mile away.

Now the acting is just unbelievably terrible. Michael Beach, Dawn Lewis, and Tamala Jones were ok considering what they had to work with but the other actors were shameful.

This movie should be a hard pass.

Murder drama plenty of plot twists , thrills and suspense , being inspired by Shakespeare's "Hamlet"

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 2 March 2015]

Crime thriller about a teen believes that her father's suicide was murder . After popular and charismatic megachurch leader Hamilton Spears (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) is killed, his teenage daughter Hannah's (Shanica Knowles) life goes off the rails . The only thing keeping her together is her new boyfriend, Oliver . When she finds evidence pointing to a church conspiracy and threats toward her father, she is determined to prove that Hamilton's death was a cruel murder . She uncovers a conspiracy among church members and the possibility that her mother, Martha Spears to be a murderer . As she gets closer to the truth, she realizes her own mother (Tamala Jones in a Hamlet's Gertrudis role alike) along with her lover (Michael Beach who plays Claudio role alike) may be involved in her father's murder and that the boy (Romeo Miller at an Ofelia character alike) she is falling in love with may be the son of his killer.

This Lifetime original production includes murder , adultery , twists , turns and a series of lies . Megachurch Murder" is not your typical church movie . The story centers on the mysterious death of pastor which causes his teenage daughter to go off the rails , she then discovers by means of a computer her father may have been murdered . The flick bears remarkable resemblance to Shakespeare's Hamlet play , taking here and there several situations and personages such as Gertrudis , Claudio , Polonio , Laertes , Ofelia and even Rosencrantz y Guildenstern . The picture has a good cast and support actors who give acceptable acting . As Tamala Jones has spent the past two decades making a name for herself in Hollywood and now her hard work is paying off in big ways , Jones currently stars as Lanie Parish on ABC's long-running series "Castle" , here she plays a devious church lady in Lifetime's upcoming original movie "Megachurch Murder" , and she played a role in the minister's death . The real starring results to be Shanika Knowles in a Hamlet role alike , she plays some songs too .

The movie packs an atmospheric and appropriate cinematography . Adequate as well as thrilling musical score by Sean Murray , a TV usual composer . The motion picture was professionally directed by Darin Scott . Darin is a nice actor , writer , producer and director, known for Something wicked (2014) , American Horror House (2012) , Dark House (2009), Caught Up (1998) and Tales from the Hood (1995) . Rating : passable and decent direct to video film .

Not bad at all!

[tichelle77 · 7/10 · 29 July 2022]

A lot of the reviews are super harsh, but in actuality, it's a solid story line with good performances by Beach, Jones, and Miller. Knowles musical performances add a nice touch to the movie as well. Overall, I liked the movie and found it entertaining. Judge for yourself.