Rafal Zielinski Movies

A family of paranormalists investigates the strange goings-on at a high school still reeling over a student's very public suicide in this teen thriller. Hangman's Curse concerns the further exploits of the Veritas Group, a loose collective of people committed to researching supernatural mysteries. The group's members include the Springfield family -- parents Nate (David Keith) and Sarah (Mel Harris) and Elisha (Leighton Meester) and Elijah (Douglas Smith) -- whose current assignment takes them to the aforementioned high school. There, they find that Abel, the teen who took his life, had been long ostracized by various cliques in the school -- jocks, popular kids, and the like -- all of whom are falling prey to mysterious ailments. As Nate and Sarah watch from the sidelines, it's up to Elisha and Elijah to pose as students to get inside the mystery. Hangman's Curse was based on the novel by Christian author Frank Peretti. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

This French comedy looks at sex from the perspectives of the participant's navels. The story focuses upon the complex and titillating relationship crises between a large group of Parisian baby boomers. Watch them as they come together, move apart, gossip, pout, and engage in witty dialog. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Bonnie (Alicia Witt) and Hillary (Renee Humphrey) are two seemingly average California teenagers who have some very heavy emotional baggage to lug around. Bonnie was abandoned by her mother years ago, and Hillary was sexually assaulted by her father, who is now behind bars. Bonnie and Hillary have enough in common that they strike up a fast friendship and head out one day in search of "fun." However, by the end of the day, their pursuit of happiness has taken them from typically meanspirited teenage pranks, such as dropping pennies onto cars from an overpass, to an abrupt and shocking extreme -- the murder of an elderly woman who has done them no harm. Jane (Leslie Hope), a social worker assigned to work with Bonnie and Hillary, finds it all but impossible to get through to them and is dealing with her own precarious emotional state (which she treats with alcohol), while tabloid journalist John (William R. Moses) tries to wring a juicy, sensational story out of the girls' crime spree. Meanwhile, Bonnie and Hillary wonder out loud about their sudden "celebrity" and who will play them in the inevitable TV movie about their crimes. Alicia Witt and Renee Humphrey both won awards for their performances at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival, though the film didn't find a distributor until 1996, after the release of the thematically similar Heavenly Creatures. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A talented kick-boxer attempts to retire and finds himself framed for murder in this stylish action thriller. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this horror thriller, a scary sorcerer opens up his ancient Italian castle and allows the winners of a music contest to enter it and search for a fabulous treasure--provided they can stay alive long enough to enjoy it. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Three military-school rejects hire on at a near-bankrupt antique hotel where they plunge into their jobs with gusto, trying to turn a profit. They think up a plan to run a gambling parlor in the hotel basement and they convince a bunch of Christian Beauty Girls (winners of a religious beauty contest) to put on a ladies' wrestling show for the guests. ~ All Movie Guide

In this sex comedy, the hope of landing a profitable contract sets two rival valet services, the Fraternity Parkers and the Valet Girls, into competition with each other. In an attempt to outsell their competition, both services offer special bonuses and incentives to their lucky customers. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Filmed in just four weeks one fine autumn in 1984, this amateur teen sex romp, with not a lot of sex but a lot of trying, was released a few years later as Screwballs II. A melange of young men and women with only physical contact on their minds have been put together in the same boarding school by their trusting parents. Some inkling of the level of the comedy involved is revealed by the names of these erstwhile students: Steve Hardman, Hugh G. Rection, and Marvin Eatmore. Enough said. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Five high school boys chase after "Purity" Busch (Lynda Speciale) for impure reasons in this undistinguished teen sex comedy that emphasizes the absurd (such as a bowling ball attached to a sensitive part of the anatomy, going down the lane for a strike), and points to its own buffoon-like quality in fast-forward segments. As the five try one mindless stunt after another to lure Purity into their clutches, many a viewer would fast-forward the 80-minute running time even further. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide