Dora Dainton Movies
- 1990
This Canadian TV movie stars Marion Bennett as a young girl possessed of mysterious powers. No Carrie she, Bennett hopes to harness her unique gifts for good. Her main mission is to reunite her long-estranged mother and father. The film makes excellent atmospheric use of its mist-enshrouded Prince Edward Island locations. Lantern Hill was originally telecast in two parts on PBS' weekend Wonderworks series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
Canadian filmmaker Kevin Sullivan once more graces the small screen with a warm, deeply personal effort, this one titled Looking for Miracles. Set in 1935, the film details a sometimes painful family reunion. Two brothers, separated by the exigencies of the Depression, meet once more to compare life experiences and revitalize their relationship. Comic actor Joe Flaherty, a Second City TV veteran, scores in an unexpectedly touching supporting role. Looking for Miracles was first seen in the US over the Disney pay cable service. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
- Add Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel to QueueAdd Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel to top of Queue
An Emmy-winning adaptation of Lucy Maud Montgomery's novel by the same name, this is a Canadian TV production which follows the life of a feisty young girl who is adopted by a bachelor farmer and his sister who have decided to adopt a boy and have several surprises due them when Anne arrives. Part of a series that goes through her winning a place in their hearts and home, it continues on through her youth and the blossoming of young love. This particular episodes deals with her first tentative encroachments into social functions and dealing with the loss of a loved one. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Megan Follows
- 1986
- R
Once again, it's horror on a college campus. The difference between this and other entries in the slice-n-dice genre is that bloodflow is minimal and most of the horror occurs off-screen. That is not to say that there are no queasy acts of violence though. Set just before April Fools Day, the story centers on a trio of sorority pledges who attend a dance held at a haunted frat house where two decades before a pledge lost his head in a hazing gone awry. During the party, the dead frat boy rises up from his gravesite (located in the backyard), takes over the body of one of the girl pledges and embarks upon an evening of bloody, inventive revenge using a variety of tools that include but are not limited too garden utensils, electric wires and even a guillotine. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Hewitt, Ralph Seymour, (more)
Purporting to be loosely based on Hamlet, Strange Brew is about an evil braumeister at the Elsinore Brewery who has discovered an additive that when guzzled in beer, allows the drinkers to be easily controlled. Braumeister Smith (Max von Sydow) has a plan to take over the world with his new brew, and only the Great White hosers of the North, Bob and Doug McKenzie (Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas) -- with their plaid shirts, ski toques, fur-lined parkas, and addiction to beer -- can stop the dastardly plan, sober or not. There are several jabs at "hoseheads" and the business of movie-making, including an epilogue that critiques the film itself. Strange Brew found a cult audience with fans of the Second City comedy troupe, of which Moranis and Thomas were members. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dave Thomas, Rick Moranis, (more)
- 1982
- R
A super breed of rats is accidentally given large doses of steroids, and the rodents grow five to ten times their usual size. While the city is being overrun, a science teacher (Sam Groom) and a health inspector (Sara Botsford) struggle to survive while plotting the rats' demise. The film was originally known as The Rats. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sam Groom, Sara Botsford, (more)
A crazed, women-hating killer (Michael Ironside) rapes and brutalizes journalist Deborah Ballin (Lee Grant). When he discovers that his attack didn't kill Deborah, he comes to the hospital to finish what he started. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Ironside, Lee Grant, (more)
This filmization of John Jay Osborn Jr.'s novel Paper Chase ended up one of the surprise hits of the 1973-74 movie season. Timothy Bottoms stars as the Minnesotan Hart, a brilliant but naive first-year student at the Harvard Law School. Like most of his fellow aspiring attorneys, Hart is in fearful awe of his demanding, ego-deflating instructor, Professor Kingsfield (John Houseman). He is not so much intimidated by Kingsfield, however, as to resist falling in love with the professor's pretty daughter (Lindsay Wagner). An eminent theatrical and film producer, John Houseman won an Oscar for his first important film role (no, it wasn't his first film role ever; he'd played an unbilled cameo in 1964's Seven Days in May), launching Houseman on a latter-day acting career wherein he spent most of his time playing variations of Kingsfield. Houseman also recreated the role for a Paper Chase TV series, which first ran on CBS, then on public television, then on the Showtime pay cable service. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Bottoms, Lindsay Wagner, (more)
