Suzanne Barnes Movies
The low-budget indie feature EMR weaves several of the most notorious and oft-told urban myths into the narrative of a single thriller. It begins with Englishman Adam (Adam Leese) regaining full consciousness after a seizure - tens of thousands of miles from home - only to discover that someone has surgically extracted one of his kidneys. All roads lead to a shady drug company called Phenal, which Adam believes is plotting against him, systematically. As Adam's paranoia builds, he realizes that no one around him can be fully trusted. Gil Bellows, Guy Henry and Whitney Cummings co-star; newcomers James Erskine and Danny McCullough co-direct. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Adam Leese
- 1997
- R
Yasmine Bleeth stars in this drama about a woman looking for a way out of her dead-end existence. Six years after she ran away from her home in Utah, Rachel (Bleeth) is living in Las Vegas, where she gets by as an exotic dancer and occasional prostitute. Rachel lives in a fantasy world as a way of distancing herself from her bleak surroundings, and she imagines that a Prince Charming will one day rescue her from her fallen world. Rachel thinks that her prince may have finally arrived when she meets Navy (Richard Grieco), a gigolo who has tired of his humiliating life in the sex industry. Navy is fond of Rachel, and when he decides to leave male prostitution behind and move to Montana to start a new life, she eagerly joins him. However, along the way she persuades him to make a stop in Utah so that she can check in with her family. Rachel and Navy discover that it's difficult to hide their respective pasts from Rachel's straight laced family and that they're out of step with life in small town America; Navy also finds himself attracted to Rachel's sister Lilli (Monica Potter), which leads a heartbroken Rachel to strike out on her own. Heaven or Vegas also features Sarah Schaub and Andy Romano. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
When snoopy Billy Rackman accidentally witnesses a murder, he tells his mother all about it. She doesn't believe him so Billy turns to his pals at the Blue Heaven Clubhouse to solve the crime and bring the killer to justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michael Ballam, Michael Galeota, (more)
- 1993
Married for 12 years to dentist Corbin Bernsen, Markie Post comes to the sudden and startling conclusion that her husband is a murderer-many times over. While she is able to get a divorce, she is unable to pin any of the killings on Bernsen. Scott free, Post's ex threatens dire consequences for herself and her child. Federal agent Kelsey Grammer attempts to trap Bernsen into a confession; to do this, he must rely on Post to win back her former husband's confidence. Though it starts rather too pokily, the fact-based Beyond Suspicion builds steadily and craftily to its heart-pounding conclusion. Made for television, the film first aired November 22, 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Markie Post, Corbin Bernsen, (more)
Writer Susan Isaacs and director Frank Perry of Compromising Positions re-team for this unsuccessful resurrection fantasy comedy. Shelley Long plays Lucy Chadman, the accident-prone wife of plastic surgeon Jason Chadman (Corbin Bernsen). When she chokes to death after eating a South Korean chicken ball, a funeral is held and she is mourned, but then everyone goes on with their lives and forgets about her. Everyone, that is, except her sister Zelda (Judith Ivey). Zelda runs an occult bookstore and as she peruses one of her books of incantations, she discovers a magical chant that can raise the dead. Obeying the rules of the incantation -- it has to be performed a year after the person dies and the resurrected person must find love within 30 days or the person will die again -- she brings back Lucy to life. Lucy immediately proceeds to her husband's home and finds that he is married to her best friend Kim (Sela Ward). She now has to deal with the changed circumstances of her husband, along with a burgeoning love affair with Kevin Scanlon (Gabriel Byrne), the emergency-room doctor who had tried to save her life. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Shelley Long, Judith Ivey, (more)
- 1985
Sisters Cathy and Maryann Rogers (Claudia Christian, Suzanne Barnes) are the owners of a bottling plant which turns out an all-natural beverage called Hi-Bright soda. Evil beer magnate Jason Webb (Louis Giambalvo) uses strongarm tactics to pressure the sisters into converting their plant into a brewery, part of a larger scheme involving crooked banker-realtor Barrington (Jack Hogan). Figuring that the world doesn't need any more alcoholics, the A-Team comes to the rescue of the sisters, posing as the representatives of a phony ad agency in order to expose the villains' machinations. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
This dull, routine slasher film focuses on a nighttime scavenger hunt sponsored by a sorority that takes a tragic turn when a figure in a bear costume with knives strapped to one "paw" begins slashing the women to death. Years ago, a student was killed by her mentally unbalanced boyfriend when she broke off their relationship. After his capture and trial, the young killer was sent to the local Weston Hill Sanitorium for the mentally insane -- and now he has escaped. Even though the sorority is rapidly losing members, the police are no closer to finding the killer than before they heard of the crimes, so Mac (Hal Holbrook), the original victim's father and head of campus security, goes after the serial murderer himself. Even a surprise ending cannot pull the rest of this film out of the horror doldrums. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Julia Montgomery, James Carroll, (more)
In The Children, an above-average horror film, the children in a bus on the way to school become murderous, black-fingernailed zombies after being exposed to poison gas during a nuclear-plant leak. Sheriff Billy Hart (Gil Rogers) must battle the children in order to save his town. This horror film directed by Max Kalmanowicz was also released as The Children of Ravensback. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi
- Starring:
- Martin Shakar, Gil Rogers, (more)
- 1964
Impoverished and terminally ill Mexican peasant Juan Diaz (Alejandro Rey) makes a deal with gravedigger Alejandro (Frank Silvera) that will enable Juan to provide for his wife, Maria (Pina Pellecier), and their children after his death. When Maria discovers that her late husband had promised to allow Alejandro to mummify his body and display it as a tourist attraction, she takes it upon herself to break into Alejandro's crypt and steal Juan's corpse. An ironic ending caps this ghoulishly poignant Ray Bradbury story, which also boasts a typically superb Bernard Herrmann musical score. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Alejandro Rey, Frank Silvera, (more)
