Brandon (Thicker Than Water)

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Brandon (real name Christopher) is the main villain of the 2019 Lifetime TV movie, Thicker Than Water (alternate title: The Twisted Son).

Events

Brandon, real name Christopher, is a child born to abusive parents. His abuse soon causes his mind to devolve into darkness and evil, so much so than at the age of eight, he kills his parents by burning their house down, a crime he has not been caught for. He spends the rest of his childhood in foster care.

Years later, parents Paige and Nathan, and their daughter Addie, who are all coping with the mysterious death of their teenage son Zach a year earlier, rent out a room for college students. Brandon comes in and becomes their tenant, moving in with the family. Despite his off-putting behavior and strange similarity to the late Zach, Brandon begins to bond with Paige and Nathan by telling him his stories of how he lost his parents (without mentioning the full details), with only Addie reluctant to do so, as she feels it's weird for a mysterious college man like Brandon to acquit himself with the family. Brandon enjoys being with the family so much, he tells several people that Paige, Addie and Nathan are his real family.

One day, Brandon tries to get in Addie's good graces by taking her to school, though she remains unsure of him. At campus, Brandon encounters a student who recognizes him and calls him by his real name "Chris". Brandon quickly denies he's Chris and shoves him away. Later that night, Brandon attacks the student, locks him in a car, and kills him by setting the car alight. 

Paige and Nathan begin to become wary of Brandon when he starts to emulate Zach's appearance and when he convinces Paige to help finish a puzzle she and Zach were working on. Addie and her friend attempt to look into Brandon in his social media page, but accidentally lets him know Addie is on to him. Later, at a BBQ, Brandon plays with a little girl and almost lets her drown in a pool, but eventually saves her. Addie gets even more suspicious of Brandon when she discovers a birthday card of Brandon's eighth birthday, which was printed in 2012. Soon, Addie and Nathan wish for Brandon to move out of their house, but Paige is the only one still concerned for Brandon. When Nathan tells Brandon he should move out, Brandon reacts by rounding up some bees and putting them in Nathan's car, hurting Nathan so much that he is hospitalized.

Addie soon discovers Brandon has been lying about his entire identity, discovering his true name as Chris and his history with his parents dying in a fire. Before she can leave, Brandon captures Addie, douses her in gasoline, holds a lighter next to her, and waits for Paige to come home.

Paige soon comes home after discovering Nathan in hospital, and find Brandon holding Addie hostage, as well as his true evil nature. Brandon reveals his true evil goal: to become a permanent part of Paige's loving family, free of the abuse of his parents, which Brandon admits he killed. Brandon also reveals that he was the cause of Zach's death a year ago, having discovered the family and becoming jealous that Zach was getting the care and love he never got as a child. Thus, Brandon intended to become the "new son" of the family by killing Zach to take over his life, and now, he intends to kill Addie because she's the only one who knows his evil secret.

Paige attempts to calm Brandon down by telling him he understands his motive and his backstory, and gives Brandon a long hug. However, secretly, Paige immediately tells Addie to run, proving she knows that Brandon is an irredeemable monster and will never accept him as a new son for his evil deed of killing Zach. Brandon becomes enraged and struggles with both Paige and Addie, before eventually knocking Paige down and preparing to kill Addie by lighting her with his lighter, the same way he killed his parents. As he prepares to kill her, Brandon attempts to say that he loves Paige, just as Addie breaks loose from Brandon's grasp and runs to safety, and Paige gets up and responds to Brandon's words by bringing out lighter fluid and throwing it at Brandon as he's holding the lit lighter, thus setting his full body ablaize. A burning Brandon first lets out cries of shock, realizing that Paige has done this because she truly loved Zach and will never love him, then lets out loud screams of pain and defeat as he burns alive and falls to the ground, dead, thus ridding the family of the monster that destroyed their family forever.