Brian Matthews Movies
Harry Hook directed this second screen adaptation of William Golding's cult novel about a group of British schoolchildren who revert to savagery when marooned on a deserted island. The new adaptation replaces British school children with a group of American military cadets and instead of a shipwreck, their plane crashes into the sea. The children swim ashore onto an island and try to fend for themselves, with the only surviving adult wracked with fever and crazed with pain. As the children get the feel of the island, the group separates into two different camps: Ralph (Balthazar Getty) and his followers prefer to act civilized and want to expand their efforts toward finding a way off the island; on the other hand, Jack (Chris Furrh) and his band revert to painting their faces, carrying spears and exploiting the island for survival. When the chances for rescue become less and less likely, the two factions go to war with each other, with tragic results. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Balthazar Getty, Chris Furrh, (more)
- 1987
In Denver to appear on a TV book-review show, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) witnesses a nasty confrontation on the set of a consumer-advocacy show hosted by the pompous and abrasive Steve Honig (Robert F. Lyons). Soon afterward, Honig is murdered, and the main suspect is one of the targets of the victim's on-the-air wrath. Jessica, however, quickly learns that practically everyone in the studio--if not everyone in Denver--had ample motive to kill Honig, whose "advocacy" could be bought at the right price. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1987
- R
Randy (Christopher Parker) leaves rural New Hampshire for Hollywood to become a star in this tragic drama. His best friend David (Brian Matthews) is hooked on drugs and under the spell of the sleazy dealer Bruce (Tom Badal). Randy meets pretty blond Betty (Patti Bauer) at a party but soon discovers she makes porno films with filth merchant Uncle Solly (Jack Cater). When David is killed, Randy goes after Bruce to exact revenge for his friend's death, but he heroic Randy soon finds himself surrounded by the police and caught up in the tawdry cesspool of Tinseltown's dark side. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Brian Matthews, Tom Badal, (more)
Apart from early appearances by Jason Alexander and Holly Hunter, an interesting score by Rick Wakeman, and some typically effective work by effects icon Tom Savini, this slasher film is also among the more frightening of its kind. The plot concerns a summer-camp caretaker named Cropsy (Lou David) who is horribly burned by mischievous teen campers during a botched practical joke. Years later, he leaves the hospital as a disfigured gloppy mess with an axe (actually, hedgeclippers) to grind. After dispatching a local prostitute, Cropsy heads out to the wilderness to terrorize a group of campers. They're the usual bunch of horny, obnoxious teenagers, but there are some interesting performances by Larry Joshua as a mean-spirited bully and Brian Backer (of Fast Times at Ridgemont High) as a put-upon nerd. The campers visit an island and, in a scene heavily cut by the ratings board prior to release, several of them die in a horrifying mass slaughter aboard a boat. The remaining teens are brutally picked off one by one until Cropsy is finally defeated. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- Starring:
- Brian Matthews, Leah Ayres, (more)
