George Dickerson Movies

Writer-director Jon Resnik's debut feature film is set in a small, secluded New England town in which seemingly everyone is obsessed with a beautiful young woman named Rachel (Arija Bareikas). There are three separate episodes, the first involving an over-the-hill boxer, The Champ (Adrian Pasdar), who is smitten with Rachel, though she does not return his affections. The second segments centers on another Rachel admirer, Bucyrus (George Dickerson). To Bucyrus, Rachel is the reincarnation of his wife, whose violent death drove him insane and into the mental hospital. The final part of the film centers on a lesbian minister who is plotting with a local shopkeeper to get revenge on the townspeople who hounded her out of the ministry. They plan to use Rachel as part of a plot to expose the hypocrisy of the citizenry. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

This made-for-television mystery is a medical-thriller with a twist. Crystal Bernard stars as Susan, an L.A. newcomer who finds a new friend in ulcer-sufferer Nicole (Traci Lords). When Nicole (who has no medical insurance) needs emergency surgery for her ulcer, Susan comes to the rescue and offers to let Nicole use her identity and health insurance. The charade seems to work until the unexpected happens -- Nicole mysteriously dies after her operation and takes Susan's identity with her. ~ Bernadette McCallion, Rovi

Canadian Mountie Louis Burke (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is assigned to a bizarre case where prison inmates are being murdered. Sent to the jail to investigate while undercover as a prisoner, Burke is hot on the trail until one of his former busts, the Sandman (Patrick Kilpatrick), is transferred to the same prison. ~ John Bush, Rovi

Hunter (Fred Dryer) and McCall (Stepfanie Kramer) want to find out why a teenage girl named Angie (Lar Park Lincoln) was involved in a gunstore robbery in which she was wounded and left for dead by her accomplices. It turns out that Angie is the daughter of Brother Hobarts (Dean Stockwell), leader of a dangerous neo-Nazi organization called the Aryan Brothers. Ultimately, both Hunter and McCall are captured by Hobarts' minions--and their only hope for escape is to scale a treacherous mountain, with the well-armed Aryan Brothers hot on their trail. Featured in the cast as "Randy" is pro wrestler Big John Stud. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Charles Bronson, weary and comatose, is trotted out again as the cocked crusader Paul Kersey in Death Wish 4: The Crackdown. Director Michael Winner has jumped ship for this installment, replaced by J. Lee Thompson (who has seen better days). Kersey is back in L.A. and dating attractive reporter Karen Sheldon (Kay Lenz). Of course, the clock is ticking, and the gong goes off when Karen's daughter overdoses on crack. Before you can say "kaboom" the drug dealer, along with a large cast of bit players, are blown to bits by the single-minded vigilante. An enterprising publisher whose own daughter has died from a drug overdose hires Kersey to wipe out the city's two rival drug dealers and their legions of flunkies. Kersey has no trouble agreeing, and using the technique limned in Yojimbo, he methodically eliminates gang members, first from one side and then the other, until one gang's paranoia about the other gang causes the two competitors to engage in a major confrontation that impacts both groups. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Director David Lynch crafted this hallucinogenic mystery-thriller that probes beneath the cheerful surface of suburban America to discover sadomasochistic violence, corruption, drug abuse, crime and perversion. Kyle Maclachlan stars as Jeffrey Beaumont, a square-jawed young man who returns to his picture-perfect small town when his father suffers a stroke. Walking through a field near his home, Jeff discovers a severed human ear, which he immediately brings to the police. Their disinterest sparks Jeff's curiosity, and he is soon drawn into a dangerous drama that's being played out by a lounge singer, Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini) and the ether-addicted Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper). The sociopathic Booth has kidnapped Dorothy's young son and is using the child as a bargaining chip to repeatedly beat, humiliate and rape Dorothy. Though he's drawn to the virginal, wholesome Sandy Williams (Laura Dern), Jeff is also aroused by Dorothy and in trying to aid her, he discovers his dark side. As the film nears its conclusion, our hero learns that many more indivduals are tacitly involved with Frank, including a suave, lip-synching singer, Ben (Dean Stockwell), who is minding the kidnapped boy. Director Lynch explored many similar themes of the "disease" lying just under the surface of the small town, all-American façade in his later television series Twin Peaks (1990-91). ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

Low-budget and cheap, the sci-fi adventure Space Raiders liberally raided Star Wars and the previous Roger Corman film Battle Beyond the Stars for scenes of special effects once, twice, three times, and more. The story, also cribbed from Star Wars is about a Col. Hawkins or "Hawk" (Vince Edwards) who has to defeat the "Company" and their massive robot ship in order to bring a young boy back to his home planet. A Star Wars bar scene has a space creature hooker looking great until she turns around and shows her face. Aside from the familiar content in this film, there are continuity gaps that make wounds miraculously jump from one side of the body to the other and do not connect the special effects in space with the space travelers inside the ships. Perhaps the title should have been "Spacy Raiders." ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

A sequel to one of the most popular horror films of all time, this psychological thriller received a pleasantly surprised, positive critical reception. Anthony Perkins returns as Norman Bates, who has just been released from an insane asylum after 22 years, having been judged clinically sane by the State of California over the objections of Lila Crane Loomis (Vera Miles), sister to one of Norman's murder victims. Norman returns home to the hotel and hilltop mansion he once inhabited with his mother. As a parole condition, Norman is hired at a local diner, where he struggles to join mainstream society, despite the stares of patrons aware of his past. At the diner, Norman befriends Mary (Meg Tilly), a waitress, and it seems that he may be putting some semblance of a life back together. But then Norman begins to experience hallucinatory encounters with his long-dead mother, including a handwritten note, a phone call, and a sighting of her standing at her favorite window. Is Norman's psychosis manifesting itself again, or are old enemies attempting to drive him back into an institution? As the pressure mounts, bodies pile up, and Norman's fragile hold on normality becomes more and more tenuous. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

In this made-for-TV docudrama, Sam Elliott stars as John Hill, a Houston plastic surgeon accused of the murder of his socialite wife Joan, the daughter of oil baron Ash Robinson. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi