Jan King Movies
- 1988
- PG
This pre-teen comedy finds the studious Grover (Jay Underwood) using the notes of his late scientist father to complete a project. With unsolicited help from pigeon droppings, a substance is created that renders the consumer invisible for 30 minutes. The effectiveness decreases by five minutes with each dose, inexplicably expanding to 30 again on the eight attempt. This gives Grover the power to fulfill every hetero teen-male's fantasy; a visit to the girls locker room. Karen Black plays Grover's dizzy mom. . ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jay Underwood, Karen Black, (more)
In Kathryn Bigelow's tale of vampires in the American Southwest, the creatures of the night aren't elegant, cloaked aristocrats. They're a gun-toting gang that dresses and acts like a motorcycle gang. Caleb (Adrian Pasdar), a restless young man from a small farm town, meets an alluring drifter named Mae (Jenny Wright). She reveals herself to be a vampire, who "turns" Caleb into one of her kind rather than kill him. But the rest of her "family" is slow to accept the newcomer. The ancient leader, Jesse (Lance Henriksen), and his psychotic henchman Severen (Bill Paxton) lay down the law; Caleb has to carry his own weight or die. However, he can't bring himself to kill. He manages to win the gang's approval when he rescues them from certain death in a daytime gunfight during a spectacular motel shoot-out in which every bullet hole lets in a deadly ray of sunlight. When the vampires threaten Caleb's real family, he's forced to choose between life and death. The film avoids the complex vampire mythology of such films as Interview with the Vampire. Instead, it emphasizes the intense, seductive bond that forms between Caleb and the violent but tightly knit gang. Bigelow would later utilize this powerful dramatic device in her 1991 film Point Break. ~ Jonathan E. Laxamana, Rovi
- Starring:
- Adrian Pasdar, Jenny Wright, (more)
- 1986
This low-budget film about raising funds to make a movie offers inventive plotting from director Jim Wilson. Alec Carroll (Ben Glass) is off on one misadventure after another as he beats the bushes trying to get sponsors for his independently produced film. His story itself seems unlikely but his enthusiasm never wanes, even in the face of the strangest adversity. One gold-plated geezer seems more interested in Alec than his film, and in another instance he finds himself obligated to go duck hunting in order to butter up his potential backer. In spite of promising leads (including an introduction to Zsa Zsa Gabor), Alec never really seems to get anywhere. Can this go on indefinitely? ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Natasha Kautsky, Zsa Zsa Gabor, (more)
