Lorraine Michaels Movies
- 1988
This gory medical thriller managed to pre-date an early-'90s spate of direct-to-video exploitation films dealing with sleazy black-market organ banks. The plot centers on the activities of the "Body Organ Replacement Network," a secret criminal organization (led by ubiquitous movie villain William Smith) which obtains donor organs -- by any means possible -- for anyone willing to meet their prices and keep their mouths shut. Their methods usually involve patrolling the city in an ambulance looking for unwilling "donors" (usually female), who are promptly chopped up on the operating table. The sinister wheels are put in motion again when a wealthy family approaches the B.O.R.N. network about obtaining a replacement heart for their ailing daughter. Though not quite as gory as it sounds, this is still a pretty sleazy exercise which plays like a tabloid-flavored version of Robin Cook's novel Coma, without the clever insight of Michael Crichton's 1978 film. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ross Hagen, P.J. Soles, (more)
- 1988
- PG13
Set in 1940s England, Distant Voices/Still Lives is a compassionate look at a radically dysfunctional family. The son and his mother must endure the casual and overt cruelties of the bull-necked father. The ongoing abuse takes its toll in the form of failed marriages and misguided attempts at seeking security outside the family unit. As was the case with his earlier short subject trilogy (The Children, Madonna and Child, Death and Transfiguration), director Terence Davies based much of the material on his own life, combining rheumy-eyed cynicism with soft-edged nostalgia (the musical track, drawn from popular wartime songs, is particularly evocative). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Freda Dowie, Pete Postlethwaite, (more)
- 1985
- R
This routine erotic spy tale stars Darby Hinton as Cody Abilene, a private eye who teams up with the Contessa Luciana (Sybil Danning) and policewoman Beverly McAfee (Lori Sutton) to infiltrate a mansion and discover who is sending computer secrets to the Russians. The Contessa's friend Lady Lillian Chamberlain (Niki Dantine) runs the mansion, where sex is the presiding activity. The chauffeur is busy bedding down both a nephew and niece of Lady Lillian, as well as the nephew's wife; fortunately, driving is not a taxing activity. While four Playboy playmates cavort in various degrees of undress (no full frontal nudity), the mystery of who is selling computer secrets manages to also get uncovered. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Darby Hinton, Sybil Danning, (more)
Director Bob Fosse's fact-based tale of Playboy centerfold Dorothy Stratten's short life and gruesome death focuses less on Stratten (played by Mariel Hemingway) than on her husband/manager, sleazoid pornographer and all-around failure Paul Snider (Eric Roberts, ideally cast). He sees the young beauty as his meal ticket and sets out to pimp her in the adult entertainment business. He marries her and appoints himself her career manager; soon after, she attracts the attention of Playboy executives and wins a spot in the magazine. As her success increases however, so does Snider's alienation as he finds himself left out in the cold. His jealousy begins to consume him; she spurns him on the advice of her new friends; he goes berserk and confronts her. The same murder-suicide inspired the made-for-television Death of a Centerfold. This was choreographer/filmmaker Bob Fosse's final film. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mariel Hemingway, Eric Roberts, (more)
