Cyber Seduction: His Secret Life

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Cyber Seduction: His Secret Life
Directed byTom McLoughlin
Written by
  • Wesley Bishop
  • Richard Kletter
Starring
Distributed byLifetime
Release date
June 20, 2005
Running time
88 min
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Cyber Seduction: His Secret Life is an original Lifetime television movie which was first broadcast on June 20, 2005. It was directed by Tom McLoughlin and written by Wesley Bishop and Richard Kletter. The movie stars Jeremy Sumpter, Kelly Lynch, and Lyndsy Fonseca. It is now available on DVD. The film is meant to be a cautionary tale about the alleged effects of internet pornography addiction on teenage boys.

Plot[edit]

Justin Petersen is a popular 16-year-old high school student and a successful swimmer with a steady girlfriend, Amy. Justin's coach announces that Justin has made the All-State team, which pleases his parents, particularly his mother Diane, who used to swim as well.
Justin is introduced to internet pornography when a friend sends him a link to a softcore webcam site featuring Monica, a fellow student who has a crush on him. Captivated, Justin is then exposed to a porn film at a party. Later, Justin browses more explicit pornographicwebsites on a daily basis. However, he's only to be caught by his mother. It is easy for Diane to be aware of her son's behavior, as Justin does little to make his activities clandestine. Throughout the film, Justin's severe addiction to porn escalates. He views it in increasingly public places, making little effort to cover his tracks.
Justin's late nights in front of his computer and escalating addiction soon impact his lap times. He betrays Amy's trust by downloading porn onto her PDA. Then, he exposes his younger brother, Alex, (who's only 11) to porn. This left him feeling queasy. Justin begins to gain a reputation at school of being a "porn freak" after showing his friends S&M porn. Eventually, his pornography addiction causes him to almost miss the All-State swim finals, where he places third. Later that night, while Diane puts away Alex's neatly folded laundry into his top drawer, she then discovers a DVD-R titled Virgin Vaginas (which Alex had stolen from Justin's bedroom earlier). Eventually, Diane confronts both of her sons and moves Justin's computer into the living room, much to Justin's dismay.
However, it does not stop him. While trying to write a history paper on the school's library computer, Justin goes to the extent of using it to access porn (using his USB Drive). Eventually, he gets caught hacking the internet firewall by the school librarian. This action led to his suspension from the swim team and being placed on overall probation. Later, after fantasizing about girls while struggling to sleep, Justin sneaks out of his bedroom to use the computer in the living room, in defiance of his grounding. He then continues to surf the web for more porn, eventually racking up extensive bills on his parents' credit cards.
The next day, Justin becomes closer to Monica and increasingly ignores Amy. After being pressured to have sex with him, Amy puts the brakes on their relationship. She found Justin's attitude towards sexual matters to be repulsive. However, when Monica tries to seducehim, Justin hesitates. This prompted an angry Monica to toss him out of her house. After feeling emotionally rejected by Justin, Monica throws a physical tantrum alone in her bathroom. She bangs her own head on the bathroom's counter top, causing it to bleed. Soon after, Justin endeavors to make amends with Amy. After leaving Amy's house, he is noticed by another schoolmate, who relays to other schoolmates that he is near. Monica is seen in a restaurant with noticeable face injuries. The incident is presumed that she told others that Justin was responsible for them. Eventually, the schoolmates beat Justin up on the street, disturbed by both his reputation and the alleged incident with Monica.
Depressed and devastated after being physically attacked, Justin arrives at the school's swimming pool and leaps in, presumably to drown himself. Earlier in the middle of the movie, he would be under the water fantasizing about women and porn. However, this time, he thinks of all the things, for which he has to live instead. Gradually, he saves himself and apparently breaks his addiction.

Reception[edit]

The film has been described as "overwrought" and "Reefer Madness for the PC generation."[1]

Accolades[edit]

List of awards and nominations
AwardDate of ceremonyCategoryRecipient(s)Result
27th Young Artist AwardsMarch 25, 2006Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special - Leading Young ActorJeremy SumpterNominated
Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special - Supporting Young ActorJake ScottNominated

References[edit]

  1. Jump up^ Cyber Seduction; his secret life

See also[edit]

External links[edit]