I Thought I Was Ready for Netflix’s Trending Amish Murder Movie. I Was So, So Wrong

Luke Macfarlane in Amish Stud: The Eli Weaver Story

(Image credit: Lifetime)

There are a lot of great movies streaming with a Netflix subscription. While I do love using the service to watch some of 2025’s best films like Train Dreams and Frankenstein, both of which received multiple Oscar nominations, sometimes I want nothing more than to turn my brain off for a couple of hours and check out something campy or ridiculous. That’s what brought me to Amish Stud: The Eli Weaver Story, a 2023 movie that’s been trending in Netflix’s Top 10 as of late.

Going into this movie, which stars Hallmark staple Luke Macfarlane as an Amish man who conspires to murder his wife and live among the more modern-minded folks (aka, his small harem of mistresses), I thought this was going to be your standard Lifetime original movie. While that is mostly true, I wasn’t ready for what was about to come my way.

First Off, Amish Stud Is An Utterly Ridiculous Movie

I considered putting a spoiler warning here, but decided against it since Amish Stud tells you in the first few minutes that Eli Weaver (Luke Macfarlane) was responsible for killing his wife, Barbara (Miranda MacDougall). That said, this ripped-from-the-headlines true crime film is a bonkers and utterly ridiculous movie with tonal shifts so preposterous that I thought they had to be intentional or something.

It has all the hallmarks of a made-for-TV movie, which actually gives Amish Stud an odd charm, if I’m being honest. It never felt overly dramatic or heavy, even though it dealt with murder, mayhem, and an Amish stud who couldn’t keep his hands to himself (or off his T-Mobile Sidekick). Though there are multiple sex scenes, I don’t consider this an explicit Netflix movie, but there’s one in a gun shop that still has me laughing.

I Was Expecting A Lifetime Movie About An Amish Conman, Not A Depraved Lunatic

When I saw the Amish Stud trailer, I thought this was going to be your standard Lifetime original movie about a conman going on a downward spiral of deceit and death. While that is partially true, I wasn’t prepared to spend 90 minutes with a depraved lunatic who wants to have sex with everyone and will do anything to get rid of his wife. What makes it even wilder is the fact that Luke Macfarlane portrays the real-life convicted killer with that boyish charm and light-hearted demeanor.

At times, he makes Eli look and act like the charming boy next door, and the next, a less intense version of Robert Mitchum’s sociopathic character from the all-time great psychological thriller The Night of the Hunter. There were several points in the movie where I felt like I was being conned by the not-so-conservative Amish guy who just wanted to bang chicks, go fishing, and not care about his kids one bit.

Is Amish Stud: The Eli Weaver Story a great movie? No, not really. But I’ll be damned if I try to lie by saying that I didn’t enjoy it, because I did. If you want to watch an absurd murder mystery movie that is oddly light, this is the way to go.

Philip grew up in Louisiana (not New Orleans) before moving to St. Louis after graduating from Louisiana State University-Shreveport. When he's not writing about movies or television, Philip can be found being chased by his three kids, telling his dogs to stop barking at the mailman, or chatting about professional wrestling to his wife. Writing gigs with school newspapers, multiple daily newspapers, and other varied job experiences led him to this point where he actually gets to write about movies, shows, wrestling, and documentaries (which is a huge win in his eyes). If the stars properly align, he will talk about For Love Of The Game being the best baseball movie of all time.

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