Tasma Walton Movies
The direct-to-video picture Safety in Numbers satirizes the "reality TV" fad of the early nineties and pays homage to the slasher genre. The central story involves the cast members of an (apocryphal) television series called Survivor Island, that strands several contestants on a deserted island and pits them against one another in a "survival of the fittest" contest. As the story opens, the cast members from one season gather for a filmed "reunion special" that will return them to the island locale of the series, but are mystified to find an empty island with a decimated beach house, where one of the walls warns, "You will die." Reading this as a sly prank perpetrated by the television crew, the former contestants decide to be good sports, by holing up on the island for a night - but awaken to discover that their yacht is missing. More troublingly, the castaways sense an unseen menace, lurking in the jungle and waiting to pick off the innocents, one by one. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
Director Tony Tilse's crime-themed docudrama The Postcard Bandit plunges viewers into the thrilling world of real-life Aussie bandit Brenden James Abbott (Tom Long) who developed an extraordinary to rob banks sans detection, with moves and techniques so suave and swift that they made it virtually impossible for Australian authorities to capture him. Impossible, that is, until Abbott grew just a bit too cocky and started sending the cops "souvenirs" of his heists, then made an unfortunate little slip that gave himself away. Brett Stiller and Matt Le Nevez co-star. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tom Long, Brett Stiller, (more)
Mort S. Seben's Subterano stars Alex Dimitriades as Conrad, an escaped convict who becomes the central figure in a brutal underground game that shares the same name as the title of the film. He must learn the rules of the game and help others stay alive, or else he will be killed by the game's deadly robots. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- 2000
The "surprise" ending of this made-for-TV sci/fi thriller will not surprise fans of the Matrix movies--nor those senior citizens who heard variations on the same plotline back in the days of such radio anthologies as X-Minus One and Dimension X.The film is set in the future, where the world has apparently reached perfection at last. Curiously, the modernistic trappings of the era rub shoulders with such decidedly "retro" elements as drive-in movies and rock-n-roll bars, but no one questions this dichotomy. No one, that is, except advertising executive Dale Hunter (Michael Muhney), who after surviving a car accident notices a few disturbing "glitches" in the world around him. As mentioned, practically everyone else is oblivious to such oddities, but Dale manages to find a kindred spirit in the form of a woman named Natalie (Jennifer Congram). Together, these two uncover evidence that their existence may not be an existence after all, but instead a all-encompassing illusion! Virtual Nightmare premiered April 14, 2000 on UPN. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1996
This highly-stylized Australian drama offers a grim and deliberately broadly-drawn portrait of a dysfunctional Italian-Australian family. Papa Joe is a stone mason who vents his frustration by beating his introverted, obsessive daughter Maria and having an affair with a busty family friend, while mama Grace tries to instill dubious values into Maria and cope with her husband's infidelity. With no one she can really talk to at home, poor 16-year-old Maria turns to her grandmother Virginia, who lives away from home with a good friend, for solace and advice. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Giordano Gangl, John Lucantonio, (more)
