Lifetime is expanding its Ripped from the Headlines slate with a chilling new thriller, Girl in the Cellar, set to premiere Saturday, August 23 at 8/7c. The film stars Kyla Pratt and Kelcey Mawema in a psychological drama inspired by true events.
In Girl in the Cellar, Pratt plays Rebecca, a single mother whose deep-rooted trauma leads her to extreme parenting. When she discovers that her teenage daughter Lory (Mawema) has been secretly dating someone, she makes a harrowing decision—to lock Lory in their basement cellar to protect her from making the same “mistakes” she did. But unbeknownst to Lory, this is the very cellar where Rebecca was once imprisoned by her abusive father.
As Lory fights for freedom, her sudden disappearance doesn’t go unnoticed. Suspicion begins to swirl around Rebecca, whose erratic behavior raises alarm bells in the neighborhood. The film explores themes of generational trauma, control, and survival as Rebecca teeters between guilt and justification.
The film is directed by Robert Adetuyi (Stomp the Yard, Troubled Waters) from a script written by Eva Gonzalez Szigriszt. It is produced by Navid Soofi for PF Maple Productions Inc. in association with Studio TF1 America, with Timothy O. Johnson, Meghan Hooper White, and Amelia Burstyn serving as executive producers.
Girl in the Cellar joins Lifetime’s growing library of true-crime inspired films centered on the perilous plights of young women, including Girl in the Attic, Girl in the Basement, Girl Locked Upstairs, and Girl in the Bunker.
Pratt is no stranger to Lifetime, having previously starred in holiday favorites like The Christmas Pact, No Time Like Christmas, and Let’s Meet Again on Christmas Eve. Mawema also returns to the network after standout performances in Cruel Instruction and The Long Island Serial Killer: A Mother’s Hunt for Justice.