Duncan Fraser Movies

Originally conceived as a TV miniseries (but generally shown in a single three-hour installment), this lavish adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen stars Bridget Fonda as the icy-hearted title character. Arriving incognito at the alpine inn run by a man named Wolfgang (Robert Wisden), the embittered Snow Queen makes it her mission in life to ruin all chances of romance for Wolfgang's beautiful daughter, Gerda (Chelsea Hobbs). To this end, the Queen exercises her magic over Gerda's bellhop boyfriend Kai (Jeremy Guilbaut), literally freezing the boy in his tracks. In order to save her beloved, Gerda must undertake a grueling odyssey through the Four Seasons (each of them briefly appearing in human form), culminating in a final, frigid showdown with the spiteful Snow Queen. After its December 7, 2002 debut on the Hallmark cable network, The Snow Queen was almost immediately released in a deluxe DVD edition. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Yuppie couple Denise Harris (Alyssa Milano) and Roger Lewis (Cameron Bancroft) get it in their wee little heads to head off to Alaska, there to work a gold mine some 75 miles away from civilization, At first, Denise and Roger revel in their exotic new surroundings, but before long the weather goes from cold to really cold, the supplies run out, and all contact with the outside world is cut off. Are the two city-dwellers prepared to endure the ordeal of making their way back to town or will they end up a pair of frozen Yuppie-sickles? In one of the big dramatic moments, the starving Denise and Roger seriously consider eating their pet dog; one suspects that this idea is borne of jealousy, since the dog gives the film's best performance. Lensed on location in British Columbia, the made-for-TV To Brave Alaska originally aired November 3, 1996, on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Years after the accident that rendered her comatose, Alison Sullivan (Tiffani-Amber Thiessen) awakens with no memory of her past life or of the events leading up to the event that caused her amnesia. As she goes from person to person asking details of her life history, Alison is unaware that some of the interviewees are lying--and not without good reason. It turns out that there is a Very Powerful Person who doesn't want Alison's memory to return. . .and is willing to kill to make certain that it never does. Also in the cast is David Newsom as a kindly psychiatrist who insists upon helping Alison lift the veils from her mind--but why? Sweet Dreams originally aired September 16, 1996 on NBC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Die Hard meets Cliffhanger in this two-fisted action flick full of cool guns and exploding racists. One cop stands between order and lawlessness when a nefarious band of white supremacists invade a ski resort and take the guests hostage. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Another psychopath haunts another baby sitter in this made-for-TV sequel to the 1979 feature When a Stranger Calls. When prim schoolgirl Julia (Jill Schoelen) accepts a last-minute baby-sitting assignment from a doctor and his wife (Kevin McNulty and Cheryl Wilson), she follows all the rules: She studies diligently, checks often on the kids, and refuses to open the door for strangers -- even when a stranded motorist asks to come in and call his auto club. Julia offers to call for him, but the phone is dead, and rather than alert a strange man that she's without a link to the outside world, she lies and says they're on their way. The man returns to the door repeatedly, angrily wondering why help hasn't arrived; as he continues to badger Julia, she notices things aren't right in the house. Slips of paper disappear, doors mysteriously unlock themselves, the children vanish, and Julia barely escapes with her life. Five years later, Julia is an introverted college student with some heavy-duty locks on her door. Nevertheless, she starts getting that familiar feeling that something isn't right. Enter Jill Johnson (Carol Kane), survivor of a similar baby-sitting atrocity many years earlier. Now a guidance counselor at Julia's university, she offers to help the girl track down her stalker. With the help of an old friend, private eye John Clifford (Charles Durning), Jill picks up the trail of a disturbed ventriloquist (Gene Lythgow). But when Julia ends up with a bullet in her head in an apparent suicide attempt, even John thinks Jill's investigation is a wild goose chase. Reuniting stars Carol Kane and Charles Durning with writer/director Fred Walton, When a Stranger Calls Back features another horror veteran in its cast. Jill Schoelen previously starred in 1990's Popcorn. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

The made-for-TV Fatal Memories is based on a true story. Shelley Long stars as a California woman whose repressed memories suddenly burst forth. She promptly accuses her father of murder that occurred 20 years earlier. Then she experiences flashes of recollection suggesting that her father was also a party to her preteen rape. Many questions are raised but few are resolved during the climactic courtroom sequence. The theory of Repressed Memory Syndrome is in such disrepute nowadays that it's likely a rebroadcast of Fatal Memories will be even more controversial than its original telecast on November 9, 1992. The film has been syndicated as The Eileen Franklin Story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The quiet family life of an Oregon couple and their infant is shattered when two criminals whacked-out on drugs burst into their home and hold them hostage. The film is based on a true story. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This animated adventure, based on the novel by Jack London, follows the friendship between a young boy and his dog in 19th-century Alaska. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

Ellis (Duncan Fraser), a literature professor, has started a relationship with Fee (Elizabeth Dancoes), one of his students, displaying a serious lack of judgement. However, his judgement is not in question when he goes to meet his girl's parents. Why she invited him to see her parents (Roberta Maxwell and Christopher Plummer) scream and yell at one another, displaying for all to see the bonds of hatred they share, remains a mystery. The new couple, baptised by this conflagration, now proceed to spend the rest of their weekend with Daniel Kingsgate (Alan Scarfe), a famous writer. This time, not only is there shouting and screaming, but the writer tries to put the make on Ellis' new girlfriend while he is busy trying to console the writer's wife (Barbara March). ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This parody by Jack Darcus sends up the Canadian film industry. Among the protagonists is Vladimir (Alan Scarfe), an exiled Czech filmmaker who arrives in Canada to shoot a most disrespectable porno film after winning an award at Cannes. But Vladimir's halcyon days of glory are all in the past, and the producer he gets for his skin flick went over the hill several miles ago. Nevertheless, the production continues with all the attendant problems any low-budget effort will encounter, even the potentially menacing visit of a Hollywood talent scout. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this erotic drama, a desperately unemployed actor makes a porno movie about the making of pornographic films. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

One man's small empire threatens to collapse under the weight of his greed and deceit in this drama that transplants the story of Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge to 19th century America. In 1867, Dillon (Peter Mullan) is an Irish immigrant who settled in California during the Gold Rush of '49 and has done quite well for himself. Dillon owns nearly every business of consequence in the town of Kingdom Come; if someone wants to dig for gold, rent a room, open a bank account, or even order a drink, they have to go to Dillon to do it. One of the few profitable enterprises in town that he doesn't own is the brothel, which is operated by Lucia (Milla Jovovich), Dillon's lover. Circumstances change somewhat when Dalglish - a surveyor with the Central Pacific Railroad - turns up and expresses his plans to implement a railroad in the area. Dillon, sensing a great opportunity afoot, travels well out of his way to ensure that the line is run through Kingdom Come, to enhance the town's commercial prospects. Also arriving in town the same time as Dalglish are two women, the beautiful but ailing Elena (Nastassja Kinski) and her lovely teenage daughter Hope (Sarah Polley); their presence is deeply troubling for Dillon, for they are the keys to a dark secret Dillon has kept from the people of Kingdom Come. The Claim is Michael Winterbottom's second adaptation of the works of Thomas Hardy; his 1996 feature Jude was adapted from Hardy's final novel, Jude the Obscure. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide