Jen Russell (Evil Nanny)

The evil psychopath Jen Russell, aka Alexa Dodge

Jen Russell aka Alexa Dodge (Lindsay Elston) was the main villainess of the 2016 Lifetime film Evil Nanny.

History

Jen's real name is Alexa Dodge, and from what little we see of her past, she spent her whole childhood in foster care. At the beginning of the movie, she's being kicked out of a wayward home for attacking a boy. After rejecting concern from Wren Rollen, her only friend at the home, Jen douses the home in gasoline before setting it ablaze with a cigarette.

Events

As a means of getting by, Jen begins moving in with people, pretending to be an ideal tenant at first before revealing her true self. She then bends the eviction laws to prevent them from kicking her out, leading most to pay her off. When Fay Wells and her husband Tim advertise a nanny position following a move, Jen responds and instantly charms the couple and their young son Alan. She gets the job and convinces the family and their neighbors that she is wonderful. When Jen runs into Wren, who is now a cashier at the nearby grocery store, she subtly warns her not to infer with her new life after Wren recognizes her in front of Fay. One day, after Jen gets drunk, wears Fay's clothes, and leaves Fay's infant son Caleb in the bathtub, she and Tim try to fire and evict her. But since Jen has started having her mail sent to the home, there have to go through the courts to evict her. She also manipulates the neighbors into thinking Tim is sexually harassing her.

Throughout most of the movie, Jen uses her extensive knowledge of the eviction process to prevent Fay and Time from getting rid of her, while also terrorizing them and turning their neighbors against them. She even is able to get Tim arrested at one point when he tries to prove she's using drugs, which would give them grounds to evict her. She even manipulates Kyle, a neighborhood boy, into helping her in her schemes to ruin the couple's lives. When Fay fights back against Jen, even convincing Wren to help her, Jen's actions turn violent. She cuts Kyle with a knife before trapping her in the trunk of Fay's car before going to pick up Wren. While the two drive and talk, Jen intentionally crash the car. Wren is the only fatality of the crash, and the police mistake her for Jen, causing the couple to let their guard down.

Along with her boyfriend Wade, Jen breaks into the house, knocks Tim out, and holds Fay and Alan at knifepoint. She monologues about how she plans to kill them, saying that they should've just paid her off like the other people she had victimized. She leads the two to a nearby tree house at knifepoint as the police arrive. She lets Alan go at their insistence and tries to escape, but ends up nearly falling to her death from the tree house. Despite her pleas to let her die, Fay pulls Jen back up to safety (having learned about her troubled past). Jen is taken in by the police and later institutionalized.

Gallery

Jen as she prepares to set her former home on fire

Jen calls the police after Fay and Tim lock her out

Jen, bloodied following the car crash

Jen holding Fay and her son at knifepoint