Naman Shrestha
Lifetime’s ‘Beware the Night Nurse’ is a thriller film that follows Claire and Zach, a married couple of lawyers who decide to take the help of their friend, Liz, and ask her to be their surrogate after failed attempts to conceive a child of their own. After Liz gives birth to baby Owen, she takes the role of being a nanny and helps take care of the newborn as well. Soon, when she disappears into thin air under some mysterious circumstances, the couple finds it hard to handle the responsibilities that come with being parents.
Fortunately, a woman claiming to be Liz’s childhood nanny offers her services to the couple, and in desperation, they hire her without realizing that she has hatched a plan to take baby Owen for herself eventually. Starring Vitoria Setta, Bryce Jones, Olivia Larsen, and Maeve Quinlan, the Lindsay Hartley directorial sheds light on some very realistic themes, including deception, which sparks a valid question in the viewers’ minds — is ‘Beware the Night Nurse’ rooted in true events or not? Well, if your mind has been wondering about the same, let’s explore it in detail, shall we?
Beware the Night Nurse is an Original Story
‘Beware the Night Nurse’ is not based on a true story. Instead, the up-and-coming screenwriter Dan Cameron can be credited for the gripping and thrilling storyline of the Lifetime movie. The talented writer combined his creative mind and exceptional penmanship to weave a seemingly true-to-life tale that hooks the audience from the beginning to the end.
Since several aspects of the movie reflect real life, such as surrogacy, nanny, and deception, it is only natural for you to believe that the story is rooted in reality. After all, in real life, there are instances of couples turning to surrogate mothers to have a child of their own and hiring a nanny to help them with taking care of their babies. Moreover, a scandalous or deceiving nanny responsible for breaking a family apart is not something unheard of in real life as well.
Another primary reason why many of you might find ‘Beware the Night Nurse’ familiar is because the themes and elements highlighted in the film have been touched upon in several other movies and TV shows over the years, such as ‘Devious Nanny,’ ‘Sitter Cam,’ and ‘Evil Nanny.’ One of the aptest examples has to be that of the 2017 thriller ‘Inconceivable.’ Starring Gina Gershon, Faye Dunaway, Nicolas Cage, Nicky Whelan, and Natalie Eva Marie, the Jonathan Baker directorial centers upon a married couple — Angela Morgan and Brian Morgan — who have a daughter named Cora.
As Angela forms a friendship with Katie, the couple invites her to become their nanny and stay in their guest house. Sooner rather than later, the friendship turns into a dangerous obsession as Katie gets attached to Cora, so much so that she begins lying and manipulating the couple. The similar themes of a deceiving nanny and the threat she poses to a couple’s child connect the two movies in question. Moreover, the characters of Katie in ‘Inconceivable’ and Vera in ‘Beware the Night Nurse’ are quite similar as well. So, we can conclude that despite having some realistic themes and elements, the Lifetime movie doesn’t have to do much with reality.
Read More: Is Lifetime’s Look Who’s Stalking Based on a True Story?
