Brad Dourif Movies
Brad Dourif is a quirky character actor whose gallery of killers, sociopaths, and other lost souls brought to life any number of contemporary horror and science fiction projects. Born March 18, 1950, in Huntington, WV, he began his professional acting career after graduating from college, honing his skills during a three-year apprenticeship with New York's Circle Repertory under the celebrated drama coach Sanford Meisner. While appearing off-Broadway in a production of When You Comin' Back, Red Rider?, Dourif was spotted by director Milos Forman, who immediately cast him in his 1975 film adaptation of the Ken Kesey novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Dourif's turn as a suicidal teen asylum inmate was one of the most acclaimed film debuts in memory, earning a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe as well as an Oscar nomination. However, the performance also typecast him as a talent best suited to idiosyncratic, off-center character roles, a straitjacket he remained unable to break from for the duration of his career. He then did not reappear onscreen for another two years before co-starring in the 1977 West German production Gruppenbild mit Dame.Dourif's next major performance came in the 1978 Irvin Kershner thriller The Eyes of Laura Mars, followed by a superb starring turn as a damaged war veteran in John Huston's Wise Blood. Upon completing a supporting role in the 1980 television film Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones, Dourif next surfaced in Michael Cimino's legendary flop Heaven's Gate, the first in a string of big-budget disasters to which the actor was attached including Forman's Ragtime and David Lynch's Dune. A series of low-budget projects followed before Dourif reunited with Lynch for a small role in the director's 1986 masterpiece Blue Velvet. However, no other offers of a similar caliber were immediately forthcoming, and instead he found himself providing the voice of the evil doll Chuckie in the Child's Play series of slasher movies. In the years which followed, Dourif occasionally reappeared in more substantial projects (including the 1988 Alan Parker film Mississippi Burning, the 1990 Ken Loach picture Hidden Agenda, and Hanif Kureishi's 1991 directorial debut London Kills Me), but he remained primarily confined to low-budget genre work; additionally, he often guest starred on television, appearing in series including The X-Files, Millennium, and Star Trek: Voyager. In 2001, Dourif took a break from low-budget fright flicks to appear in a decidedly more enormous production, director Peter Jackson's eagerly anticipated Lord of the Rings trilogy. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
Directed by former CIA officer Michael Sellers, Vlad chronicles the far-reaching consequences of a professor's (Child's Play veteran Brad Dourif) request that his students visit the tomb of the infamous Vlad Drakul (aka Vlad the Impaler). Known as one of the cruelest figures in world history, Drakul's reputation for dismembering his victims ultimately led to the belief that he himself may have been a vampire -- he was, in fact, the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula. With this in mind, four foreign-exchange students, along with their Romanian tour guide (Billy Zane), venture into the bowels of Drakul's final resting place. When the students come into contact with a legendary necklace, they realize that its rumored ability to traverse throughout time and space is no myth. Vlad features performances from Kam Heskin, Monica Davidescu, Nicholas Irons, and Paul Popowich. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Francesco Quinn, Billy Zane, (more)
A charismatic, modern-era healer must reconcile his relationship with his creator after his life and ministry are threatened in this religious-themed drama starring Brad Dourif, Robert Wagner, and Faye Dunaway, and based on the real life exploits of self-professed holy man Leroy Jenkins. Leroy Jenkins (Damian Chapa) has been touched by "The Spirit," and his mission in life is to pass on the good word to a population enraptured by sin and decadence. As Jenkins' empire rapidly evolves into the largest ministry in America, his burgeoning friendship with actress Mae West (Dunaway) soon paves the path for the minister himself to achieve celebrity status. Blessed with the stage presence of Elvis and imparted with a flamboyant sense of style that would make even Liberace envious, Jenkins' intolerance for anyone who voices descent finds his list of enemies multiplying almost as fast as his list of followers. When betrayal comes knocking at the headstrong holy man's door, Jenkins is forced to face up to his all-consuming pride and turn to The Spirit in hopes of reconciling his situation before it's too late. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2002
- PG13
- Add The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers to QueueAdd The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers to top of Queue
The second film in Peter Jackson's series of screen adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's internationally popular Lord of The Rings trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers literally begins where The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring ended, with the Fellowship splitting into three groups as they seek to return the Ring to Mordor, the forbidding land where the powerful talisman must be taken to be destroyed. Frodo (Elijah Wood), who carries the Ring, and his fellow Hobbit Sam (Sean Astin) are lost in the hills of Emyn Muil when they encounter Gollum (Andy Serkis), a strange creature who once carried the Ring and was twisted by its power. Gollum volunteers to guide the pair to Mordor; Frodo agrees, but Sam does not trust their new acquaintance. Elsewhere, Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) are attempting to navigate Fangorn Forrest where they discover a most unusual nemesis -- Treebeard (voice of John Rhys-Davies), a walking and talking tree-shepherd who doesn't much care for Hobbits. Finally, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Gimli (John Rhys-Davies), and Legolas (Orlando Bloom) arrive in Rohan to discover that the evil powers of Saruman (Christopher Lee) have robbed King Theoden (Bernard Hill) of his rule. The King's niece Éowyn (Miranda Otto) believes Aragorn and his men have the strength to defeat Saruman, his henchman Wormtongue (Brad Dourif), and their minions. Éowyn soon becomes infatuated with Aragorn, while he struggles to stay faithful to the pledge of love he made to Arwen (Liv Tyler). Gandalf (Ian McKellen) offers his help and encouragement as the Rohans, under Aragorn's leadership, attempt to face down Saruman's armies, but they soon discover how great the task before them truly is when they learn that his troops consist of 10,000 bloodthirsty creatures specially bred to fight to the death. Most of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was shot in tandem with The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King during a marathon 18-month shooting schedule, overseen by Peter Jackson. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, (more)
A pair of minor league crooks discover they're playing way out of their league when they have to face off against a legion of supernatural beasts in this tongue-in-cheek horror opus. Two low-level thieves think they've discovered a big score when they manage to steal a rare and ancient artifact that's long been held in a secret tomb. However, they don't realize just how big an item they've lifted until they realize that the relic is capable of summoning up demonic spirits; taken from its sanctuary, the artifact lets loose a legion of monsters upon the world, and the thieves are forced to turn to an angel of the dark world in order to send the demons back from where they came. Rodney Rowland and Kevin Patrick Walls star as the thieves in over their heads, while the supporting cast is dotted with horror and exploitation film notables, including Karen Black, Robert Davi, Brad Dourif, and Michael Ironside; former teen pop singer Deborah Gibson also appears in a cameo role. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rod Rowland, Kevin Patrick Walls, (more)
In the third installment of the series that began with The Prophecy, the Angel Gabriel (Christopher Walken) has taken up residence on Earth, where he's learned to enjoy the simple pleasures of life among humans, such as frosted doughnuts and driving a convertible. One night, he witnesses Danyael (Dave Buzzotta), a heretic preacher with a storefront church who tells his flock that God doesn't care much for the people who tend the Earth. A blind man (Brad Dourif) who claims to hear the voice of God shoots Danyael several times in the chest. However, several hours after he's pronounced dead, Danyael rises from his slab at the morgue and heads out into the street. Maggie (Kayren Ann Butler), his understandably upset girlfriend, is then approached by Zouhael (Vincent Spano), a fallen angel who needs Danyael for his own evil purposes. It seems that Danyael is half human and half angel, and both Gabriel and Zouhael want his help. A Spirit of genocide and destruction is about to rise on a Native American reservation, and if Gabriel is going to stop it -- or Zouhael is going to bring it forward -- they will need Danyael's guidance. Prophecy 3: The Ascent marked the directorial debut of Patrick Lussier, who has often worked as an editor for horror director Wes Craven. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 2000
A rivalry between two career criminals leads to a chase across two continents in this action thriller. Jing (Chung Lai) is a beautiful but deadly Chinese hit woman who, after being abandoned as a child, was adopted by the Tong, the Chinese organized crime syndicate to whom she has sworn lifelong allegiance. A dispute between Jing and criminal overlord Chang (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) leads Chang to swear vengeance by killing off the members of Jing's Tong faction. With nowhere to hide at home, Jing escapes to the United States posing as an Asian mail-order bride, but when Chang learns she's fled to America, he hires Dan (Michael Madsen), a ruthless bounty hunter whose need for a pay day outweighs his scruples. The Ghost also stars Brad Dourif, Richard Hatch, and Louis Herthum. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Michael Madsen, (more)
Israeli-born director Isaac H. Eaton spins this thriller about a Mephistophelean writer luring an impressionable young man into L.A.'s seamy underside. Stuart Chappell (Peter Weller) persuades gas station attendant Michael Holloway (Balthazar Getty) to abandon the straight and narrow and accompany him on a prowl of increasingly kinky haunts -- including stripclubs, S&M dungeons, fight clubs, and Russian roulette joints. This film was screened at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Balthazar Getty, Peter Weller, (more)
Three elite alien-fighters are out to find a creature who can change its appearance at a moment's notice in this sci-fi thriller. Shaun (Olivier Gruner) is the leader of the Interceptor Force, a small band of highly-skilled soldiers who are the first line of defense in the event of a hostile attack by space aliens. When a spacecraft crash-lands in the desert, Shaun and his partners Russell (Glenn Plummer) and Dave (William Zabka) are sent in to investigate; they discover that an angry alien has arrived on Earth and that the creature has the dangerous ability to assume the form of any being it wishes -- making it all but impossible to find. Interceptor Force also stars Brad Dourif, Ernie Hudson, and Angel Boris. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Olivier Gruner, Brad Dourif, (more)
Reeling from the news of his sister's suicide, Beau McCammon returns home to his family after a long absence. His father, who has just barely won another term as senator, doesn't take things well when Beau approaches him with the sinking suspicion that the suicide may have actually been a murder. Determined to solve the mystery, Beau uncovers a plethora of family secrets, deception, and implications of unspeakable political wrongdoings. Cypress Edge was directed by Serg Rodnunsky, and stars Damian Chapa, Rod Steiger, Ashley Laurence, Brad Dourif, and Charles Napier.
~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- 1999
Several noted American actors dot this autobiographical feature from Hungarian filmmaker Gabe Von Dettre (also know as Gabor Dettre) about the difficulty of getting a break in the movie industry. Brad Dourif plays a filmmaker who often talks to the audience about the main question on his mind -- why can't he get a project financed when so many people with less talent and fewer credentials are working steadily? This film (which was many years in production, as evidenced by the presence of several actors who are no longer living) was shown as part of the 1999 Hungarian Film Week Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brad Dourif, Kathleen Gati, (more)
This horror film, directed by Ronnie Yu, marked a return (after an eight-year lapse) of Chucky and the Child's Play series that began in 1988. At the moment of his death, the spirit of former serial killer Charles Lee Ray was mystically relocated in the doll Chucky (voice of Brad Dourif). After being salvaged from the evidence morgue by his ex-girlfriend Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly) and a corrupt cop, Chucky is put back in action when Tiffany sews his pieces back together and works a voodoo spell to revive his sinister self. Tiffany sees her dreams of marriage aren't working out, so she keeps Chucky locked away. After an escape, Chucky electrocutes Tiffany by pushing a radio into the bathtub, delivering a chant that puts the spirit of Tiffany into a bridal figurine. Chucky's amulet can switch them back into their original human forms, so they head for New Jersey where the amulet is buried -- putting cops in motion, along with car-crash carnage. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jennifer Tilly, Katherine Heigl, (more)
Former music-video director Tamra Davis (Guncrazy) created strong characters in this bank-robbery tale, a crime/comedy/drama somewhat reminiscent of the anti-establishment attitudes seen in early '70s films. After three years in a California prison, Jesse (Luke Wilson) is ready to marry his girlfriend Hope (Drew Barrymore) in the town of Independence (the original working title of this film). Joining Jesse is a odd assortment -- the buzzcut ex-Green-Beret Buzz (Dean Cain); ex-lawyer Sol (Mitchell Whitfield); geeky Teddy (Andy Dick); and Shakespeare-quoting Billy (Sean Patrick Flanery), aka Hamlet on the FBI's most-wanted list. Then they're off to the wedding. Billy, however, asks to be dropped off at a nearby bank, and after it's evident that Billy is pulling off another Hamlet heist, the others join him inside. Billy's father, Sheriff Phillips (Fred Ward), up for re-election, begins hostage negotiations, but the media arrives, along with psycho FBI agent Hoover (Raymond J. Barry) and his partner Carter (Art Edler Brown). Wearing her wedding dress, Hope goes inside the bank. Soon various friends and locals gather outside to offer support as the hostages take the side of their captors. In addition to portraying agent Carter, Art Edler Brown is the film's co-producer and co-scripter. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
Based on a novel by acclaimed crime writer James Ellroy, this film stars Michael Rooker as Fritz Brown, a former L.A.P.D. detective who was kicked off the force due to his drinking. Now struggling to remain sober, Brown works as a private eye when he can, but he makes most of his money repossessing cars. One day, Brown is offered some detective work by Freddie "Fat Dog" Baker (William Sasso), a golf caddy who has some severe reservations about his younger sister, Jane (Selma Blair) and her relationship with Solly (Harold Gould), a wealthy businessman with mob connections who is old enough to be Jane's grandfather. Brown isn't interested at first, but when "Fat Dog" starts flashing an impressive bankroll, he decides to take the case. Brown's investigation of Solly causes him to cross paths with Cathcart (Brion James), the head of L.A.P.D. internal affairs who was responsible for Brown losing his job. Soon Brown runs afoul of a group of hired thugs and several key figures wind up dead as Brown tries to find out the truth about Solly and Jane. Ellroy wrote Brown's Requiem, his first novel, while he was still supporting himself as a golf caddy and breaking himself of a decade-long addiction to drugs and alcohol. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Rooker, Tobin Bell, (more)
Brian Yuzna directed this sci-fi horror film with creature design by Screaming Mad George. Sherry (Jillian McWhirter) and Craig Burton (Arnold Vosloo) are zapped by a white light while making love, suffer a later memory loss of the incident, and see a psychiatrist (Lindsay Crouse) and UFO investigator Dr. Clavell (Brad Dourif). Hypnotic sessions prompt memories of steel medical instruments, tentacled aliens, and an operating table. When Sherry's gynecologist (Wilford Brimley) checks with ultrasound, alien technology zaps his pacemaker, and the situation begins to get grim. Progeny was shown at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arnold Vosloo, Jillian McWhirter, (more)
Like The Vanishing (1988 and 1993), Nightwatch is an English-language version of a foreign-made film with the original director hired to remake his own movie. Ole Bornedal was the writer-director of the suspenseful 1994 thriller, Nattevagten, which had no U.S. release immediately on the heels of its success in Denmark. For the second time around, Bornedal directed, but Steven Soderbergh wrote a new script based on Bornedal's original film. Both were produced by Michael Obel. Nattevagten was Bornedal's directorial debut, and reviews praised the film for the claustrophobic atmospherics and suspense generated from the very first establishing scene. For the 1998 English-language remake, the artistic elements of the original gave way to name actors, slicker production values, and the more conventional grindhouse genre approach, opening with a brutal prostitute murder in a pre-credit sequence. University student Martin (Ewan McGregor) ignores warnings to take a city-morgue night watchman job for extra cash. Odd happenings at the morgue are linked to a serial killer, and Inspector Thomas Cray (Nick Nolte) investigates. Soon Martin's girlfriend Katherine (Patricia Arquette) learns that Martin has become a key suspect. However, some might suspect Martin's edgy friend James (Josh Brolin). Brad Dourif fills the role of a doctor, and young Alix Koromzay portrays vulnerable teen hooker Joyce. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ewan McGregor, Nick Nolte, (more)
Penelope Spheeris directed this Marlon Wayans comedy, scripted by the Rocket Man team of Greg Erb and Craig Mazin. Saddled with several on and off-campus jobs, hard-working college student Darryl Witherspoon (Marlon Wayans) is aiming for a position with the Smythe-Bates brokerage firm, but twit Scott Thorpe has the right resumé and connections. A frat failure, Darryl also doesn't score at ice hockey. For extra cash, Darryl becomes a test subject for an experimental drug that heightens the senses by five times. The initial effect is a rectal irritation, but then Darryl finds his enhanced hearing enables him to pick up distant conversations, and his upgraded coordination improves his hockey game. However, an overdose literally leaves Darryl senseless, as he discovers only four of his five senses operative at any given time. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marlon Wayans, David Spade, (more)
Two centuries after Ellen Ripley's death, doctors aboard the space station Auriga clone her using a blood sample taken from Fiorna 161, in hopes of harvesting the queen embryo that was incubating inside of her when she was trapped on the remote penal planet. Finally succeeding after numerous attempts, they remove the alien and repair the clone for further study. Before long, the Ripley clone has gained consciousness, and displays superhuman capabilities that suggest it possesses alien DNA. When Ripley discovers that General Perez (Dan Hedaya) is keeping the queen in a heavily fortified room of the space station, she warns the military man and his scientists that the creature cannot be contained no matter how hard they try. Meanwhile, General Perez has hired a crew of space pirates to deliver the cryogenically frozen bodies of another ship to the Auriga so they can be used to breed more aliens. The leader of the pirates is Johner (Ron Perlman), a gruff mercenary who engages Ripley to no avail. When Call (Winona Ryder), one of Johner's crewmembers, admits that she was sent to assassinate Ripley, General Perez attempts to have the pirates executed. The result is a tense standoff between the pirates and the military men, with the aliens causing havoc after breaking free of their containment cells. Attempting a daring escape, Ripley and the pirates discover the lab where she was cloned before being forced to swim through the mess hall, which has been submerged in water during the aliens' escape. Discovering a carefully guarded secret about Call's past, Ripley attempts to convince her to alter the Auruga's course, which was set to Earth when the ship went into emergency mode. With the fate of mankind hanging in the balance, Ripley is captured by the aliens and taken to their nest, where she comes face to face with the mutated results of the scientists' experiments. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder, (more)
- 1996
- R
This programmer stars Brian Bosworth as John Grey, a bank executive who is involved in a car crash, and subsequently experiences complete amnesia. Matters grow more complex when he finally makes his way home and finds his wife brutally and inexplicably murdered. Grey soon determines to both find the killer and recover his own lost identity. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Bosworth, Brad Dourif, (more)
- 1996
After her son Georgie (Kendall Cunningham) is paralyzed in a diving accident, feisty divorcee Anna Lerner (Judith Light) vows never to take a moment's rest until she finds a cure for her boy's affliction. Ultimately, Anna moves herself, Georgie and her "normal" son to a new town, there to commiserate with pioneering neurosurgeon David Decker (Tom Irwin), who agrees to an experimental spinal-cord operation that may or may not enable Georgie to walk again. Throughout the experience, Anna must not only spar with the skeptical medical community and an insensitive insurance company, but also with the resentment seething within her other son Ben (Tim Redwine), who feels neglected and forgotten. Appearing in a pivotal supporting role is Christopher Reeve, making his first film appearance since the accident which rendered him quadriplegic. Made for television, A Step Toward Tomorrow premiered November 10, 1996 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1996
America's Most Wanted host John Walsh appears as himself and serves as producer in this made-for-TV movie, inspired by one of the most infamous crimes to be chronicled on Walsh's popular TV series. Antonio Sabato Jr. stars as John Hawkins, a frustratingly elusive criminal, con artist, drug dealer and murderer. Using both men and women with callous impunity, the bisexual Hawkins caps all of his previous scams by talking his partner-lover M. Eugene Hanson (Brad Dourif) into an insurance-fraud scheme that will require a real corpse for verification. The result: Hanson turns up dead, and Hawkins collects a $1 million dollar policy before skipping off to parts unknown. David Keith is cast as Peter Stanford, the dedicated California detective who makes it his mission in life to bring the wily (and undeniably charming and charismatic) Hawkins to justice. If Looks Could Kill: From the Files of America's Most Wanted" made its Fox network debut on February 6, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1996
In this martial arts/sci fi outing, the leader of a crack team of fighters must reclaim an important mining colony from a group of mutant androids. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brad Dourif, Billy Drago, (more)
