Tom Ruben Movies
The always challenging transition from adorable child performer to sexy adult star was achieved flamboyantly by actress Drew Barrymore with this erotic drama that unfolds like a paranoia-drenched Lolita (1962). Sylvie Cooper (Sara Gilbert) is a misanthropic student at a private high school for children of the privileged. While calling in a phony bomb threat to the TV station where her father, Darryl (Tom Skerritt) is a producer, Sylvia attracts the attention of Ivy (Drew Barrymore). Ivy is an orphan from a poor family, attending the school on a scholarship. She and Sylvia quickly become best friends, and Ivy eventually moves out of her aunt's home and into the Cooper household. Ivy covets the Coopers' lavish lifestyle and luxuries, so she begins plotting to kill Sylvie's ailing mother Georgie (Cheryl Ladd), then seduce the alcoholic Darryl and frame Sylvie for the crime, thus taking over the Cooper house. Director Katt Shea Ruben and her co-writer husband Andy Ruben were veterans of the Roger Corman school of filmmaking. The success of Poison Ivy (1992) on video and cable television inspired a pair of sequels, Poison Ivy 2: Lily (1996) and Poison Ivy: The New Seduction (1997). ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Drew Barrymore, Sara Gilbert, (more)
- 1990
- R
Best known as the sexy but intellectually challenged Kelly Bundy on Married with Children, Christina Applegate broadened her range a bit with this tough-minded drama in which she played a drug-addicted teenage prostitute living on the streets of Los Angeles. Sy (David Mendenhall) is a clean-cut, middle-class teenager who dreams of becoming a rock star, so he makes his way from the suburbs into downtown L.A. to check out the action. Shortly after arriving, Sy sees a man with a gun beating Dawn (Christina Applegate), a hooker who didn't let her customer get as rough with her as he wanted. Sy comes to Dawn's rescue, and he suffers some severe facial scratches for his trouble. Dawn takes Sy under her wing and gives him a guided tour of the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles, where murder, theft and addiction are as common as jaywalking, and hundreds of homeless kids no older than Sy fight for survival. Meanwhile, as Dawn and Sy become closer, the psycho who attacked Dawn is hot on her trail, looking for revenge and unconcerned with who gets hurt before he finds her. Streets was directed by Katt Shea Ruben, who acted in several low-budget exploitation films for producer Roger Corman before moving on to direct several films for Corman's New World Pictures. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Christina Applegate, David Mendenhall, (more)
Stripped to Kill 2: Live Girls, the sequel to the excellent Stripped to Kill, directed by Katt Shea Ruben, is a lurid, exploitation film which has none of the humor, suspense or eroticism of the original. As in the original, exotic dancers are being murdered at their strip club in a variety of bloody and inventive ways. A psychic is brought in to help solve the murders. Director Katt Shea Ruben has a great pace and visual sense and works well within the confines of her tight budget, but this film, despite her best efforts, remains a formula slasher film with little to recommend it except for the beautiful women in various stages of undress. Those who loved Stripped to Kill will be disappointed in this routine sequel which captures none of the appeal of the original. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi
- Starring:
- Maria Ford, Eb Lottimer, (more)
- 1988
- R
This existentialist vampire tale essentially revolves around two characters: The Vampire (Cyril O'Reilly) and his intended victim, a young, brooding and suicidal stripper (Starr Andreeff). Selecting her as his prey primarily because of her desire to die, the morose supernatural predator chooses to spend an entire evening with his equally angst-ridden quarry -- a night in which the two have the opportunity to share their dreams, fears and desires. Good acting and an imaginative premise set this film apart from many low-budget vampire yarns of the period, but the talk-heavy "My Dinner With Dracula" script wears out its welcome after about an hour, and fails to realize the potential for erotic chemistry between the characters. Remade (for no apparent reason) as To Sleep with a Vampire in 1992. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
- Starring:
- Starr Andreeff, Cyril O'Reilly, (more)
- 1987
- R
Stripped to Kill is an exciting, low-budget, stylish mystery thriller where dancers at a local strip club are killed one by one. Detective Cody Sheehan (Kay Lenz) wants the case and is willing to go undercover as one of the dancers in order to catch her suspect. Stripped to Kill, directed with great style by Katt Shea Ruben, is a terrific thriller, despite its excessive gore and nudity. Kay Lenz seems somewhat uncomfortable in her role, which requires her to do a striptease, exposing her complete lack of dancing talent. However she is very effective as the ambitious Cody and has considerable chemistry with her partner Heineman (Greg Evigan). Despite the fact that the plot is routine and the ending implausible, the dancer's are gorgeous and photographed with flair, and there is a good deal of black humor that enlivens this erotic, highly-recommended fast-paced, lively thriller. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kay Lenz, Greg Evigan, (more)
Returning from the original American Graffiti are Debbie Dunham, Steve Bolander, John Milner, Carol/Rainbow, Terry the Toad and Laurie Bolander (Candy Clark, Ron Howard, Paul LeMat, Mackenzie Phillips, Charles Martin Smith and Cindy Williams), but Richard Dreyfuss is missing and Harrison Ford shows up in a gag cameo. The sequel brings its principles into the more radical end of the 1960s, with Steve and Laurie, now married, on the fringes of the protest movement. Debbie and Carol have been lured into the flower-power milieu by rocker Newt (Scott Glenn). And John has parlayed his love of hot rods into a drag-racing career. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Candy Clark, Bo Hopkins, (more)
- 1976
The title of this episode is a gross understatement. Actually the 4077th is plagued with three deluges: rain, fire, and an overabundance of incoming wounded. An unexpected enemy offensive has exarcerbated the situation--and as the men and women of M*A*S*H go to work, it is with the realization that things could become far worse at any minute. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
