Angela Bettis Movies
With her unconventional, quirky beauty and memorably tormented roles in the made-for-television remake of Stephen King's Carrie and independent director Lucky McKee's art-house horror hit May (both 2002), actress Angela Bettis is quickly gaining a reputation as something of a scream queen despite talent that could easily find her accelerating far beyond genre work. A Texas native whose free-spirited mother encouraged her acting endeavors, it was at age six that Bettis first began to realize her love of performing. A thriving community theater environment in Austin served to inspire Bettis and provide her with her earliest roles; with each passing year, what had begun as a hobby began to look more and more like a career. Eventually performing opposite such screen heavies as Al Pacino (in Salome) and Liam Neeson (in The Crucible), Bettis was honored with both Drama-Logue and Garland awards for her turn in Tom Stoppard's Arcadia.Bettis' screen debut in director Franco Zeffirelli's Sparrow (1993) found the then 18-year-old actress gaining her first positive screen notices directly out of the gate, and though it would be six years before she would again go before cameras, a pair of notable efforts in 1999 would find many agreeing that it was worth the wait. In addition to a moving turn as a sympathetic teen who develops feelings for a wanted man in the little-seen indie drama The Last Best Sunday, Bettis gained exposure, and critical kudos, for her role as an anorexic teen in the Winona Ryder drama Girl, Interrupted. Though Girl, Interrupted co-star Angelina Jolie would take home the Oscar for Best Supporting Performance that year, many would agree that Bettis' considerably less substantial supporting role packed as much if not more dramatic impact than the much-celebrated Jolie.
Making her maiden voyage into horror with a role as Kim Basinger's sister in the horror outing Bless the Child, Bettis wetted her toes in the genre despite the fact that it would be two full years until her standout performances in May and the otherwise forgettable Carrie. In the meantime, Bettis would continue to gain notice in such dramas as Perfume and Falling (both 2001). The same year Bettis established genre credibility, she could be spotted in Love Rome before she began gearing up for her role in Texas Chainsaw Massacre director Tobe Hooper's horror remake The Toolbox Murders. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1993
It is the 19th century in Italy, and Maria (Angela Bettis) has joined a convent in order to explore her strong feeling that she has a calling to become a nun. She has adapted to live at the convent quite nicely, and is relatively untroubled, but a cholera outbreak sends her back to be with her family for a while, near the steaming peak of Mount Etna. She enjoys her freedom to move around the countryside, and is wooed (unsuccessfully, it seems) by a charming young man named Nico, but returns to the convent when the danger is past. There, she is troubled by the thought that she truly loved Nico, and that her calling may not be as firm as she thought. When she learns that Nico has married her sister, she nearly goes mad with self-recrimination, but eventually weathers the storm. All the dialog in this Italian-made film by Franco Zeffirelli is in English. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Angela Bettis, Johnathon Schaech, (more)
Two teenagers, each dealing with a different set of emotional burdens, find love and understanding with each other in The Last Best Sunday. Lolly Ann (Angela Bettis) is a high-school student in Pickley, a small agricultural community in California where she's growing up under the thumb of her strict, deeply religious mother (Kim Darby). Joseph (Douglas Spain), on the other hand, is struggling to get along without his parents; he came to Pickley with his family as migrant workers, but opted to stay on after his folks left so he could finish his final year of high school and earn his diploma. However, Joseph finds Hispanics are not always welcome here; a pair of bullies beat him savagely, and when he tries to get revenge, he finds town's bigoted sheriff (William Lucking) is after him. On the run, Joseph breaks into what he thinks is an empty house, only to find Lolly Ann at home while her parents are away for the weekend. Once she overcomes her initial fear and distrust, Lolly Ann finds she has a lot more in common with Joseph than she thought, and a grudging respect soon grows into affection. The Last Best Sunday was directed by Don Most, who as Donny Most is best remembered for playing Ralph Malf on the sit-com Happy Days; his former co-star Marion Ross briefly appears in a supporting role. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Douglas Spain, Angela Bettis, (more)
In 1967, 19-year-old Susanna (Winona Ryder) feels that "reality is becoming too dense" and is diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. The doctor suggests to her parents that she be committed to the Claymore Hospital, and she spends the next 18 months struggling with her troubled psyche and the bizarre world of the institution. Susanna bonds with several other patients, including Lisa (Angelina Jolie), Polly (Elizabeth Moss), and Georgina (Clea DuVall). As she realizes that Lisa is potentially dangerous and truly needs help, Susanna begins to work harder with her psychiatrist (Vanessa Redgrave) and the nurse on the ward (Whoopi Goldberg). But Susanna soon learns that getting out of the hospital is not as easy as getting in. Girl, Interrupted was based on the autobiography of Susanna Kaysen, who really did spend a year-and-a-half in the McLean Psychiatric Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie, (more)
In this supernatural horror story, Jenna (Angela Bettis), an unstable young woman, gives birth to a girl named Cody who proves to be autistic; unable to care for her properly, she turns Cody over to her sister, psychiatric nurse Maggie O'Connell (Kim Basinger). Maggie raises Cody as her own, but when the child (now played by Holliston Coleman) turns six, Jenna and her new husband Eric (Rufus Sewell) forcibly take back the child. Maggie believes Jenna and Eric are not fit parents, but when she takes the matter up with detective John Travis (Jimmy Smits), they discover that a number of children born on the same day as Cody have also been abducted recently. Even worse, it seems that Cody may now be in the hands of Satanists who, in accordance with Biblical prophecy, believe the little girl may be mankind's last line of defense against ultimate evil. Based on a novel by Cathy Cash Spellman, Bless the Child also stars Christina Ricci and Ian Holm. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kim Basinger, Jimmy Smits, (more)
As a number of luminaries on the international fashion scene converge for a major show, their personal and professional crises come to a head in this comedy-drama. Lorenzo Mancini (Paul Sorvino) is an internationally famous designer who has learned he has only a short time to live. As Mancini tries to make his peace with both his ex-wife (Sonia Braga) and his long-time companion (Peter Gallagher), he also tries to mend fences with his son (and heir) Mario (Michael Sorvino) while persuading him to not merge the family business with the hip-hop fashion empire of J.B. (Omar Epps. Anthony (Jared Harris), a famous and influential fashion photographer, is having a career crisis as his marriage to Francene (Michelle Forbes) begins to collapse. Cutting-edge designer Roberta (Rita Wilson) is scrambling to complete her latest line as her underlings start leaving her one by one. Camille (Leslie Mann), Roberta's business partner, may be the next to hit the road, as she becomes involved with Jamie (Jeff Goldblum), who works for a firm run by arch-rival designer Phillip (Harris Yulin). And Janice (Joanne Baron), the editor of a leading fashion journal, is facing a deadline when she gets an unexpected visitor -- her daughter Halley (Michelle Williams), whom she hasn't seen in over a decade. Taking an unusual approach, director Michael Rymer and screenwriter L.M. Kit Carson wrote a detailed outline for Perfume and in-depth background sketches for all the characters, but allowed the cast to improvise all the dialogue used in the film. Perfume had its world premiere at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joanne Baron, Angela Bettis, (more)
- 2001
Martha Coolidge (Real Genius, Out to Sea) directed this light PBS drama about a rich eccentric who is overly generous with his fortune. Ally McBeal's Peter MacNicol stars as Daniel Ponder, the wealthy man in question, who finds himself charged with murder after his young bride is found dead. Produced in 2001, The Ponder Heart co-stars JoBeth Williams, Angela Bettis, Boyce Holleman, and Star Trek: The Next Generation's Brent Spiner. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
A young social outcast goes to great measures to find the perfect friend in this debut horror feature from director Lucky McKee. Set apart from her peers as a child due to her lazy eye, May's only friend and confidant was a delicate doll encased in glass. Though as a young adult May has learned to control her lazy eye with glasses and contacts, her introverted tendencies always seem to hinder her search for the perfect friend. Walking down the street one day, May happens across a young man tenderly caressing the damage of a wrecked car and falls in love with his seemingly perfect hands. As May and Adam (Jeremy Sisto) begin to spend more time together, the quirky couple seem to have much in common, and May believes that she might have finally happened across the perfect boy. Her deep-rooted psychological problems slowly surface, however, and Adam is gradually driven away, leaving the vulnerable May in the company of amorous co-worker Polly (Anna Faris). It soon becomes obvious to May that, though various acquaintances seem to have perfect traits, they never add up to a perfect whole -- leading the creative and demented young girl to her own unique method of creating the perfect friend. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Angela Bettis, Jeremy Sisto, (more)
Victor Nuñez's Coastlines centers on Sonny (Timothy Olyphant), who is returning home after his release from prison. When he asks for money owed to him by local crime boss Fred Vance (William Forsythe), Vance responds by blowing up Sonny's home (causing the death of Sonny's father). Sonny moves in with old friends Dave and Ann (Josh Brolin and Sarah Wynter), even though Dave is now a policeman. Ann, who has grown bored by her husband's conversion from wild man to cop, begins an affair with Sonny. Nuñez wrote this script before his breakthrough films Ruby in Paradise and Ulee's Gold, but directed it after making those movies. Coastlines was screened at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Olyphant, Josh Brolin, (more)
This made-for-TV remake of the classic movie chiller Carrie is slightly more faithful to the original Stephen King novel--and slightly less profane and violent. Following in the bloody footsteps of Sissy Spacek, Angela Bettis stars as woebegone high school girl Carrie White, whose shy and awkward demeanor obscures the fact that she is "gifted" with awesome telekinetic powers. As part of a cruel and vicious student prank, Carrie's better-looking and more socially savvy classmates arrange for the hapless heroine to be elected prom queen--and one does not have to have seen the original film to know the terror that is unleashed once Carrie is crowned (in more ways than one). The climax is infinitely more "high tech" than in the 1976 film, but whether it is equally as frightening is a matter of taste; additionally, the 2002 version boasts a radically different ending, one that could very well accommodate a sequel or two...or three... Patricia Clarkson reprises the old Piper Laurie role as Carrie's abusive religious-fanatic mother. Carrie first aired November 4, 2002, on NBC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
After making his name directing a number of high-profile music videos and the award-winning Jane's Addiction rockumentary Three Days, filmmaker Carter B. Smith made his feature debut with this ensemble film about several New Yorkers dealing with life in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks. With a cast featuring The Sopranos' Drea de Matteo, Love Rome is divided into four vignettes covering different ways average Gotham residents were affected by the tragedy and the ensuing war. Documentary footage of the city fills the gaps between each segment. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
Tobe Hooper, who directed one of the truly iconic American horror films of the 1970s, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, offers his take on another well-remembered scare-fest of the era with this remake. Steve (Brent Roam) and Nell (Angela Bettis) are a young couple living in Los Angeles who are short on money -- she's just started work as a teacher, while he's a medical student doing his internship. They rent a flat in the Lusman Arms, a once beautiful but now decaying (and therefore affordable) apartment building managed by the sleazy Byron McLieb (Greg Travis), who tries to pass off the ramshackle accommodations as "charming" and "historic." Watching over the Lusman Arms beside Byron is Ned (Adam Gierasch), a greasy simpleton who serves as the building's handyman. Steve and Nell haven't been living at the Lusman especially long when she notices that a growing number of young women living in the building have been meeting a violent death, and with some help from good-hearted part-time actor "Jazz" Rooker (Rance Howard), she begins looking into the murders and makes some disturbing discoveries about both the building management and her fellow tenants. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Angela Bettis, Brent Roam, (more)
Yuri Zeltser's The Circle concerns a woman (Angela Bettis) who discovers that her husband has a contract taken out on him by a mobster. She finds the hitman who has been hired to take out her husband, and pleads for the man's help. The killer takes mercy on her, and the two begin a harrowing journey into the harshest aspects of humanity. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Angela Bettis
A shy entomologist drawn into a tentative lesbian affair following the discovery of a mysterious new species of bug finds herself faced with a startling metamorphosis in May director Lucky McKee's creep-crawly entry into Showtime's terrifying Masters of Horror series. Ida Teeter's (Angela Bettis) life revolves around bugs, and upon discovering a large unidentified crawler while simultaneously being drawn into a heated affair with a beautiful young woman named Misty (Erin Brown), the studious wallflower's personal and professional lives begin heating up like never before. It seems that the bizarre new insect has some fairly strange feeding habits, and when seduction leads to infection and bloodletting, the stage is set for a horrifying mutation that will find Ida identifying more closely with her insect subjects than ever before. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Angela Bettis, Erin Brown, (more)
May star Angela Bettis trades places with that film's director Lucky McKee for this tale of a lonely recluse who finds his obsession with a beautiful girl taking a dark turn after coming face to face with the unsuspecting object of his affections. Roman (McKee) is a quiet soul whose only escape from the tedium of life and the torment inflicted upon him by his co-workers is basking in the ethereal beauty of the elusive girl who resides next door (Kristen Bell). During a chance encounter with the fragile girl, Roman's intense desperation leads him to commit a transgression that opens the floodgates of madness and deranged fantasy. As Roman's cold reality gradually begins to melt into a grisly puddle of dripping insanity, an eccentric neighbor (Nectar Rose) stealthily begins to ingratiate herself into his increasingly unhinged world. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lucky McKee, Kristen Bell, (more)
- 2007
A woman trying to escape traumatic memories from her past finds history repeating itself in this gory horror story. Joan Burrows (Brittney Wilson) was an ordinary teenager growing up in a small Colorado town until she and a friend were abducted by Ernie Bishop, who ran the local funeral parlor. Joan and her friend discovered to their horror that Ernie was a violent lunatic who performed elaborate torture rituals on young women, and while Joan was able to escape with her life, her friend was killed. Sixteen years later, Joan (now played by Angela Bettis), who bears a facial scar and vivid memories of the attack, returns home for the first time to visit her older brother Jeff (Christopher Titus) and his daughter Olympia (Kirby Bliss Blanton), who has been voted queen of the local high school's senior prom. However, the mutilated bodies of Olympia's friends and classmates are soon littering the town, and both Joan and Jeff suspect that Ernie is back and up to his old tricks. Scar was produced in two versions -- one in a new 3-D process, the other shot using High Definition digital video technology. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Angela Bettis, Kirby Bliss Blanton, (more)
The stroke of midnight sets the stage for terror when four vacationing coeds turn the tables on a group of depraved backwoods miscreants. Art student Ilene (Robin Sydney) has a bizarre run-in with eccentric fellow student Caleb (Mark Senter) just before she and roommates Helen (Eryn Joslyn), Mary (Carlee Baker), and Jill (Eve Mauro) head out for a relaxing weekend at a lakeside mountain cabin. Later, as Caleb recalls the encounter to his older brothers, Palmer (Damian DeKay) and Fred (Justin Stone), and the family patriarch, Sir Jim (Frank Birney), the girls get ready to hit the road. On the way to the cabin, the girls stop by a roadside gas station and have a bit of fun with redneck proprietors Cyrus (Mike McKee), Runt (J.D. Brown), and Half Idiot (Luke Y. Thompson). A relaxing afternoon of skinny-dipping in the lake gets the weekend off to a good start, though things take a turn for the worse when Caleb, Palmer, Fred, and Sir Jim unexpectedly show up at the cabin looking for a raunchy good time. Just as things start to get ugly in the cabin, veteran detective Jake (Tim Thomerson) and his rookie partner, Ray (Michael Esparza), stumble into a ritualistic alter while investigating a bloody basement crime scene. Upon finding a newspaper clipping about a mysterious cabin, they race to the country to find another clue. But at this point the clock has just struck midnight, and things are just getting interesting out at the cabin. It seems that the girls have somehow managed to gain the upper hand against their attackers. Have Ilene and company accomplished this by simply outsmarting Sir Jim and the boys, or could it be that these outwardly timid coeds actually possess a deadly and diabolical secret? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carlee Baker, Angela Bettis, (more)
