It's hard for me to believe Mekenna Melvin studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. In fact, it's hard for me to believe that she studied anywhere. She's certainly pretty, but her screaming, emotional scenes were beyond her. I blame this on the director, who could have helped her but didn't. In acting, you only go to the high point you are emotionally or technically able to go. Go beyond it and it becomes external and overdone.This is a typical Lifetime movie with its rehashed plot of a nanny from hell infiltrating a once-happy home. In the first scene, we see the pregnant Amber (Melvin) and her husband (Ethan Parsons) get into a terrible car accident. Amber loses her baby. We don't know what happens after that.Some time later, though, Amber impersonates a nanny named Julie Palmer after taking her resume and getting rid of her. She is put in charge of a darling little girl, as the family finances mean that the wife (Ashley Scott) has to get a job.All goes well, except that Ashley is either on the insecure side, or her instincts tell her she's dealing with someone one sandwich short of a picnic. She is upset when her daughter asks for Julie one day, and another time, she thinks Julie is after her husband (Kip Pardue). Also, without the permission of the parents, Julie takes the little girl for swimming lessons, and Ashley is furious. Later on, things become much worse.I want to know how Amber killed Julie Palmer and probably put her in the trunk of her car since she's found elsewhere. Dragging dead weight is one thing; lifting it is something else. We're not talking about Arnold Schwarzenegger here. And what did she use to kill her?Secondly, to show you how much hard work went into this script, Ashley says, "I've been calling Amber for hours" - when her name is supposed to be Julie. Ashley doesn't know that's not her real name.Nathan Parsons, whom I know from General Hospital, gets good billing in this, but he's only in the movie at the beginning and end, in case a fan should see his name and think it's his movie.

Ashley Scott plays a mother with a terrible haircut and a newfound motivation to return to work after finding nanny Melvin, who appears to be an excellent fit for her toddler daughter. It's only after Scott's character goes against her hunches that she decides to take action… but by that time, the obvious psycho she hired to care for her daughter has gone missing… with… you guessed it… the daughter. Ugh! Unsympathetic characters and dull story. There really is nothing here but a waste of time. Even for people who embrace the shameless corniness of a Lifetime Movie will find this one stale; there's not even a whole lot to make fun of either. Just downright lame.*½ (out of four)

On their way to start a family in California, pregnant Mekenna Melvin (as Amber Miller) and her scruffy boyfriend Nathan Parsons (as Jake) have a car accident. She loses the baby. Three years later, Ms. Melvin gets a job as nanny for attractive Los Angeles couple Ashley Scott and Kip Pardue (as Anne and Ben Gerson). Melvin is hired to look after their disabled three-year-old daughter. This being a nightmarishly titled TV movie, you already know the young nanny is psycho and wants to play the mommy...As of September 2013, the "Lifetime" channel was running this movie with an amusing error. Part of Melvin's cover is that she is pretending to be a legitimate nanny named "Julie Palmer". After about 35 minutes of running time, "Anne" calls home worried about her baby daughter's whereabouts. She says, "I've been trying to get Amber on the phone for the last two hours." But, at this point, she is not supposed to know "Julie" is "Amber". This is far from the liveliest "Lifetime" psycho drama in existence.**** The Nightmare Nanny (7/13/13) Michael Feifer ~ Ashley Scott, Mekenna Melvin, Kip Pardue, Nathan Parsons

Tragedy turns a woman into a nightmare. Just about to give birth, she and her husband are in an automobile accident and she loses the baby.3 years later, she applies to be a nanny by killing the real nanny who was on her way to apply for the job. At first, she does a very competent job and earns the trust of the family and child she is taking care of.This is her sinister method of devising a plot to kidnap the child and take her away to pretend that the child belongs to her.She is really something by casting doubt on the parents by the information she tells police.The heroine does an admirable acting job by going from a decent lady into insanity. She will stop at nothing to obtain her objective.