Rob Schmidt Movies

Wrong Turn director Rob Schmidt takes the helm for this thriller inspired by the grim true-life exploits of an alphabet-obsessed New York serial killer and starring Timothy Hutton, Cary Elwes, Eliza Dushku, and Michael Ironside. When Rochester, NY-based police investigator Megan Paige (Dushku) discovers that ten year old Carla Castillo was brutally raped and murdered in nearby Churchville, she becomes convinced that the department is dealing with a serial killer. Paige is a driven detective whose devotion to her job often crosses the border into obsession. Her fiancé, Kenneth Shine (Elwes), is a lieutenant with the Rochester Police Department, and as both jockey for the same promotion, the cracks in their relationship begin to show. Later, when Megan becomes haunted by visions of Carla and fails to solve the case, a concerned Captain Gullikson (Tom Noonan) takes her off of the case. Suffering a nervous breakdown shortly thereafter, Megan is diagnosed with adult onset of paranoid schizophrenia and placed in a psychiatric hospital, where she promptly breaks off her engagement to Kenneth.

Two years later, Megan has returned to the precinct as a records clerk, and Kenneth is now the head of the department. Over time, Megan begins developing a friendship with wheelchair-bound Richard Ledge (Hutton). When a local girl named Wendy Walsh is abducted, raped, and murdered in Webster, Megan convinces Kenneth to let her ride along with Detective Steven Harper (Tom Malloy) as an advisor to the case. But the gruesome nature of the case once again prompts strange visions for Megan. Now she is haunted by two murder victims, and to make matters worse, she's beginning to develop embarrassing involuntary ticks and stops taking her medication. As the hallucinations get worse and the case starts to run cold, Megan struggles to find the one piece of evidence that will lead them to the killer before her dark side takes over once again. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A turn down an uncharted dirt road leads six young people into a night of pure terror in this horror story. Chris (Desmond Harrington) is driving through West Virginia on his way to a job interview when an auto accident slows highway traffic to a near standstill. Afraid he'll be late, Chris takes a detour down an old dirt road; a distracted Chris doesn't see an SUV stuck in the middle of the road before it's too late, and he plows into the back after his tires suddenly blow. The driver of the SUV, Jessie (Eliza Dushku), was out on a camping trip with four of her friends -- Evan (Kevin Zegers), Francine (Lindy Booth), Carly (Emmanuelle Chriqui), and Scott (Jeremy Sisto) -- when their tires went out, and as Jessie and Chris compare notes on their accidents, they discover that the road has been sabotaged with barbed wire. With both parties in need of a telephone, Evan and Francine are left to look after the cars while the other four set out to find help. However, Evan and Francine soon discover they've been led into a horrible trap, and as Chris, Jessie, and their friends search for help, they find that they've fallen victim not to local pranksters, but a gang of inbred backwoods killers with a taste for blood. Wrong Turn was produced in part by Stan Winston, a legendary special-effects artist whose work has appeared in such films as Jurassic Park, Aliens, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A young man is torn between responsibilities to his family, his intellectual and professional ambitions, and the temptations of easy money and casual pleasures in the downbeat drama Saturn. Drew (played by Scott Caan) is a college student trying to stay focused on his studies so he can realize his dream of becoming an engineer. But he's also been handed the responsibility of caring for his elderly father (Leo Burmester), who is suffering from an advanced case of Alzheimer's Syndrome. Drew must feed his father -- who can only speak with great difficulty -- bathe him, and change his diapers. The burden puts a great strain on Drew, who has a hard time resisting the offers from his old friend Arturo (Anthony Ruivivar) to join him in his profitable, if dangerous, life as a drug dealer. The temptations are only magnified by Drew's relationship with Sara (Mia Kirshner), a girl who lives for physical pleasure; Drew scores drugs from Arturo for her and, in exchange, she offers him kinky sex, but not love. Saturn was the debut feature from writer/director Rob Schmidt, and the dark, but compelling, story won a respectful response in its screening at the 1999 Los Angeles Independent Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide