Donald McDonald Movies
An act of violence throw a young woman's life into disarray in this independent drama, the first feature from director Talia Lugacy. Maya (Rosario Dawson) is a bright and ambitious college student who tries to balance a social life with her busy academic schedule. One night, Maya and some friends attend a house party largely populated by drunken frat boys. Maya is appalled by their uncouth behavior and disrespect for the female guests, and when a guy named Jared (Chad Faust) bluntly hits on her, she gives him a piece of her mind. While she begins to warm to him by the end of their conversation, Jared shows just how much he thinks of her opinions by brutally raping her later that night. The assault has a profound effect on Maya; her grades suffer, she turns to drugs to blunt her emotional pain, and falls into a cycle of promiscuity. Maya has come close to hitting bottom when she encounters Jared and confronts him about the toll he's taken on her life. Leading lady Rosario Dawson also served as producer for Descent, which received its premiere at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosario Dawson, Chad Faust, (more)
A group of close female friends on a yearly adventure vacation find themselves trapped and hunted in a series of caves by an unknown force that lurks in the shadows in The Descent, the second horror feature from Dog Soldiers writer/director Neil Marshall. After suffering a devastating car crash one year before, Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) is lured to the States with her friend Beth (Alex Reid) to a special spelunking trip by the fearless Juno (Natalie Mendoza), who abruptly fled from the U.K. after Sarah's accident. Along with two old friends and a new acquaintance of Juno's, the group embark on a cave expedition that takes a turn for the worse after a rock fall leaves them stranded in an uncharted cave with no map and only a handful of supplies to last them the rest of the trip. As tensions arise in the group, they are faced with another danger -- one whose love of the dark is as strong as its lust for blood. Opening to rave reviews in the U.K. in July of 2005, the creature-feature went on to show at the Venice Film Festival and garnered the top prize for Euro feature at Sweden's Fantastic Film Festival. The Descent was picked up for future U.S. distribution by Lion's Gate, whose work was cut out for them considering the tame opening of the similarly-themed stateside production of The Cave in late-August of the same year. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shauna MacDonald, Natalie Mendoza, (more)
- 1927
One of the better Sam Sax-produced actioners of the late 1920s, When Danger Calls stars William Fairbanks as a fearless fire inspector. Despite stiff opposition from a cadre of corrupt politicians, Fairbanks endeavors to expose several recently-constructed tenements as dangerous firetraps. The chief crook manages to unload his property holdings on unsuspecting heroine Eilleen Sedgwick, knowing full well that any subsequent tragedies will be blamed on the girl. The owner of a slum mission, Sedgwick assumes that her "benefactor" is on the up and up, and naturally resents Fairbanks' snooping around. The inevitable climax finds the hero rescuing the heroine from a roaring blaze then settling the hash of the bad guys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Fairbanks, Eileen Sedgwick, (more)
- 1923
Veteran screen cowboy Harry Carey was getting a bit uncomfortable doing romantic scenes by 1923 and Crashin Thru therefore supplied young Cullen Landis to take care of the more potent love scenes. Carey plays a rancher whose foster son (Landis) is getting too chummy with a gang of obvious crooks. To offer the impressionable boy a more conventional homelife, he takes out an advertisement for a mail-order bride. The rancher gets two replies -- from a mother (Myrtle Stedman) and her daughter (Vola Vale)! ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harry Carey, Cullen Landis, (more)
