Girl Fight Information

Girl Fight is a television film that premiered on Lifetime on October 3, 2011. Inspired by true events, the film revolves around a 16 year old girl who tries to fit in with a popular group of girls, leading to a brutal beating upon joining the clique.

Plot

Haley Macklin (Jodelle Ferland) is an academically advanced high school student. She sees herself as an outsider because she has skipped a grade. Her intelligent and well articulated contributions to class discussions cause her classmates to become jealous. Frustrated that she is left out from a popular group of girls, she posts negative comments about them on a social networking website. Unexpectedly, she befriends Alexa Simons (Tess Atkins), a popular girl in school. Haley offers to help Alexa with her schoolwork. Haley soon breaks the social barrier between her and the popular girls by being accepted by most of them. The girls with whom she does not make a connection are slightly suspicious of her. Haley's behavior changes drastically. She disobeys her parents and is rude to her sister. Her mother, Melissa (Anne Heche) endeavours to make allowances for Haley's attitude and is more lenient than her father, Ray (James Tupper).

One day, the popular girls discover the harsh comments that Haley posted online. Feeling betrayed, the girls decide to physically attack Haley, while videotaping it. They also plan to post the images online. Clueless about this revenge plot, Haley is invited over Alexa's house. The girls are waiting by the door and once Haley steps inside, the girls taunt her, calling her a "whore" and "slut" and then they beat her viciously, until she became unconscious. The entire beating, which was recorded on video, lasted 30 minutes (condensed in the film). After the brutal attack, Haley wakes up bruised, bloody, confused, and helpless in front of the girls who continue to taunt her. They drive her to a parking lot and abandon her there, until good samaritans come to her aid.

Haley's parents receive the footage of the brutal beating from Alexa's grandmother, Marylou (Linda Darlow). It was stored on a USB flash drive. After viewing it, Melissa and Ray decide to take serious action against the girls, by alerting authorities. The girls responsible for the attack receive light punishments at the end of the film. They could have received a harsher sentence, but Haley's mother pleads for leniency, which the Judge grants. Haley feels as if she were to testify and to demand the highest possible custodial sentence, then that would mean that she would be acting in a vindictive manner, similar to that of the group who viciously and maliciously assaulted her.

The film was inspired by a 2008 beating in Florida; a video of some of the beating, released by Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, was used heavily by the news media and the story caused nationwide public outrage.

Cast

• Jodelle Ferland as Haley Macklin
• Anne Heche as Melissa Macklin
• James Tupper as Ray Macklin
• Tess Atkins as Alexa Simons
• Keely Purvis as Kristin
• Genevieve Buechner as Lauren
• Chanelle Peloso as Dana
• Caley Dimmock as Becca Lawrence
• Linda Darlow as Marylou Simons
• Lanette Ware as DA Jane Dennett
• Rady Panov as Derek