The evil and psychotic Penny Blake
Penny Blake (Ashley Gallegos) is the main villainess from the 2019 Lifetime film, Hometown Killer (alternately titled, A Killer is Watching; airdate June 21, 2019).
Backstory/Introduction[]
Penny Blake was introduced as a police officer who was on call regarding a break in at the home of main protagonist Tara Henson (nee Young), which saw Penny shoot and kill the masked intruder. It was at this point that Tara and Penny's shared backstory was revealed; they were friends at high school, though Penny felt that Tara betrayed her in favor of the popular crowd, as well as for Nolan, Tara's boyfriend at the time.
Flashbacks showed that 15 years prior to the events, Tara and Penny brought up their lost friendship, which both of them wanted back, after which Tara took Penny to the locker room for a makeover. At that moment, Nolan and a bunch his friends took Penny, while his other cohorts tied up Tara to prevent her from saving her friend. Afterwards, Penny was covered in makeup by Nolan and send in front of the entire school, who laughed at her and referred to her as "Pig Penny." After Tara was saved by Penny in the events, she brought up the prank and apologized to Penny for not being able to stop Nolan and his cronies, with Penny claiming that she hardly thought about the prank.
Events[]
In actuality, Penny had kept that day in her mind for years, and despite Tara's regret, she held Tara responsible for what happened to her. Penny's anger increased during a reunion party thrown by Tara, with Penny agreeing to attend under the caveat that Nolan was not invited, with Tara happily agreeing to Penny's terms. Much to the extreme dismay of Tara, Nolan appeared uninvited, and ignored Tara's demands to leave, after which he flirted with Penny. When Nolan realized that it was Penny he was flirting with, he started laughing at her, leading to Penny envisioning everyone at the party--including Tara--laughing at her.
After tracking Nolan and beating him down during a "traffic stop," Penny began enacting her deranged and murderous revenge on Tara, beginning with convincing Tara that her husband, Charles Henson, was having an affair with Lanie Meadows--Charles' co-worker and Tara and Penny's old friend, while also teaching her self-defense and how to handle a gun. The psychotic madwoman listened in on Tara's conversation with Charles, which saw Tara announce plans for both of them so he could drop his work with Lanie, after which Penny lured Lanie away from her home and paid an escort to pose as Lanie and send a suggestive video to Charles' phone. The ruse led to Tara angrily confronting Charles while they were at a restaurant, as she found the video and accused him of having an affair with Lanie, which Charles denied. Later on, the evil Penny tracked Charles and shot him, with the bullet striking his neck and resulting in Charles being hospitalized (he later survived).
Penny's plan was to frame Tara and portray her as a scorned murderess who attempted to kill her cheating husband, with Penny informing her superiors about Tara's marital problems before being confronted by her partner, Kuttler. Tara became a person of interest, but Kuttler became further suspicious of his partner and tracked her to Tara's house, where he would come face to face with a gun-wielding Penny. Despite Kuttler's attempts to talk sense into Penny, he ended up shot to death by the demented villainess.
Climax & Arrest[]
Penny pointing her gun at Tara
Tara began to sense that Penny was behind everything, and her claims would be proven right while she tracked Penny to her home, as she was held at gunpoint by the villainess. Penny revealed her true psychotic colors to Tara, as she accused Tara of not only participating in the prank, but also humiliating her at the reunion barbecue by intentionally inviting Nolan. She boasted about her plans to frame Tara for her actions, and was set on killing her before Tara attacked and blooded her sinister foe.
The film's climax saw Tara and Nolan work together to stop Penny and her rampage, with Tara setting up a meeting with Penny at their old high school. Tara revealed the truth about the day of the prank, stating that Nolan acted alone and had his cohorts tie up Tara, leaving her unable to save Penny. Even as Nolan appeared and confirmed Tara's statements, Penny refused to believe the truth, continuing her delusional sentiment that Tara ruined her life and even boldly admitting to shooting Charles (who she claimed also humiliated her at the barbecue) and killing Kuttler, before turning the gun on Nolan and shooting him to death.
Tara took the gun from Penny during a struggle and pointed it at her, while pleading with Penny not to move closer due to not wanting to shoot her. After police arrived, Penny showed her badge and claimed that she was being victimized by Tara and Nolan, while continuing to claim that Tara committed the crimes that Penny herself had orchestrated. Tara revealed that she had proof of Penny's villainy: Nolan was wearing a body cam during Penny's confession. The villainess lunged at Tara, but was stopped by her superiors before retrieving the body cam and uncovering Penny's confession. Penny was handcuffed and arrested for her evil actions, and she gave an ominous glare at Tara as she was being taken away.
Gallery[]
