William Brent Bell Movies
A group of teens discover that the next generation of survival horror games are more realistic than they thought when they begin dying in the same manner as their pixilated counterparts in director William Brent Bell's bloody tale of video games gone bad. In the days following the mysterious death of an old friend, a young group of gaming enthusiasts comes into possession of a chillingly realistic game based on the exploits of a 17th century noblewoman who earned the name "The Blood Countess" for her murderous exploits. Their curiosity piqued by the fact that they were obviously not supposed to come into possession of the grisly game, the teens soon give in to temptation and begin doing battle for high score. When the chilling events of the game begin to bleed over into the real world and the real-life deaths of the players begin to mirror the deaths of their in-game characters, the race is on to defeat the murderous Blood Countess and ensure that other curious gamers don't fall into the same deadly trap that they did. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Foster, Samaire Armstrong, (more)
- 1997
- R
This comedy-drama concerns a most unusual family of emigres, even by Hollywood standards. Douglas Spain stars as Carlos, a Mexican teenager who has just returned home to L.A. after starring in several low-budget films south of the border. His father, Pepe (Efrain Figueroa), is a Fagin-like pimp who manages a group of boy prostitutes who pose as sellers of maps to the stars' homes on Hollywood street corners. Pepe immediately sets his son to work doing the same, but Carlos has dreams of being a movie star. His goal takes a step closer to reality after he sleeps with Jennifer (Kandeyce Jensen), a soap opera actress who becomes enchanted with Carlos and orders her show's producers (one of whom is her husband) to write a part for the boy on the series. Once he's on his way to becoming a star, Carlos discovers that success has a price tag. Star Maps was the feature debut of writer-director Miguel Arteta, who went on to helm the short-lived series Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000) and his acclaimed second film, Chuck and Buck (2000), an audience favorite and Grand Jury Prize nominee at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Douglas Spain, Efrain Figueroa, (more)
