Mark Andrews Movies
A woman's past and present meet in one dangerous place in this tense British thriller. When she was only four years old, Michelle Wallace stood by helplessly as her mother was sadistically murdered, and as she's grown to adulthood, Michelle still carries emotional scars from the trauma. Now in her early twenties, Michelle (Rosie Fellner) is hoping to find a flat with her boyfriend, but in the meantime she rents a room in a decaying boarding house, where she's struck up a friendship with Charles Paskin, a middle-aged man living down the hall. Unknown to Michelle, Charles is actually a British intelligence agent with a license to kill, and he's currently involved in a secret mission to recover highly confidential files that have been stolen. Michelle unwittingly becomes involved in Charles' dangerous game when it's discovered there may be a link between the agents with the stolen files and the thugs who killed her mother. Distant Shadow also stars Stephen Tiller, Trevor Byfield, and Andrew Faulkner. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephen Tiller, Rosie Fellner, (more)
- 1985
- R
Six sorority sisters are desperate for rent money, so, encouraged and trained by their den mother, they enter a mud-wrestling tournament in Las Vegas. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ruth Gordon, Laura Branigan, (more)
- 1984
- R
In this inane teen comedy, a rafting competition is going to determine whether four friends will graduate or not (an interesting amendment to college practices), and up against their team is a group of offensive rich kids. Meanwhile, a band of expelled military rafters is out to thwart the race as a whole. Bob (Tim Matheson) of the aspiring group of graduates, and Heather (Jennifer Runyon), a convert from the military rafting side, are a hot item, as are many other couples, since sex seems to be the only known activity carried out on land. A game of charades with a dog -- in order to locate a hostage -- is the funniest sequence in an otherwise routine story. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Matheson, Jennifer Runyon, (more)
- 1982
The deaths of two teenagers alert Quincy (Jack Klugman) to the perils of deceptively harmless "lookalike drugs", which can be legally sold over any pharmacy counter. The crusading coroner is determined to ban these drugs and to punish those merchants who sell them to underaged customers. Unfortunately, neither the law nor human nature can be changed so easily--and it looks as though future tragedies are a foregone conclusion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The title character, a nasty landlord (Elliott Gould), is killed in a car accident and descends into hell. There he meets the Devil (Bill Cosby), who promises him his life back if he can find three people willing to sell their souls in three months. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elliott Gould, Bill Cosby, (more)
- 1980
After 1970's Diary of a Mad Housewife, actress Carrie Snodgress found her career moving in frets and starts rather than barrelling ahead. By 1979, Snodgress was making do with gothic horrors like The Attic. In a variation on a theme previously explored in The Barretts of Wimpole Street and The Heiress, Snodgress plays a shy, withdrawn young woman who is totally dominated by her tyrannical father Ray Milland. At father's insistence, she remains sequestered in her attic room, denied contact with any men. When she finally breaks free, a spectacularly bloody denouement is the result. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
American-International's Hot Rod Girl is a whole lot less exploitaitonal than its title. Chuck Connors stars as Ben, a policeman who hopes to stem an outbreak of juvenile delinquency. Overcoming great obstacles--most of them created by prejudiced adults--Ben hopes to build a drag strip, where hot-rodding teenagers will be allowed to race their motors in safety. The title character, Ben's pretty sister Lisa, is played by Lori Nelson. Among the hot-rodders in Hot Rod Girls is a young Frank Gorshin (here billed as Frank J. Gorshin), who ten years later would reteam with director Leslie H. Martinson on the set of the theatrical-feature version of TV's Batman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lori Nelson, John Smith, (more)
