Pam Gidley Movies

In this exercise in horror, something strange is out in the woods, and it's taking a terrible toll on the nearby town -- animals are being brutally killed, people are suddenly going missing, and mutant beasts are attacking random passers-by. Can anything be done to stop it? ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Lenny (Tom Sizemore) is the kind of man who simply cannot get through the day without messing up, or suffering some amazing piece of bad luck. As a consequence, he has lost every one of the jobs his uncle has set him up with. That's how he loses his job as a gas station attendant: he leaves the place to ferry Eloise, a particularly good-looking girl, to a job interview. She looks like a good thing for him though, and they move in together, despite a lack of funds. Soon, he even loses his job at a porno flick, when that gets raided by the police. Oddly, he is almost insanely jealous of Eloise's former boyfriends. After the pair of them become homeless, he cooks up a scheme to recoup some money that proves he is completely clueless, once and for all. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

A severed head is found in the trunk of car on the day that the CSI is to be evaluated by the Vegas police. Not long after, a headless body is found in the desert. Could there be a connection? No: the head and body are most decidedly a "bad fit" -- and apparently not even from the same species. Elsewhere, Warrick (Gary Dourdan) investigates when his friend James (Samuel L. Jones III) witnesses a murder while in juvenile detention. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Catherine (Marg Helgenberger) investigates when the production of a "faked" snuff film results in the far-from-fake stabbing death of a young woman. Or did a murder actually occur? Clues are either vague or nonexistent, and Catherine finds herself running down a multitude of blind alleys. Meanwhile, Grissom (William L. Petersen) pieces together the evidence when an abandoned aluminum toolbox yields a human skeleton -- infested with imported fire ants. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Timothy Carhart makes his first series appearance as Eddie, the ex-husband of CSI member Catherine Willows (Marg Helgenberger). When Eddie is accused of rape, Catherine risks losing her job by conducting her own investigation. Elsewhere, a cop accused of murder may or may not be exonerated by a missing bullet, and the skeleton of an unidentified female is found encased in cement under a house. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this arch sci-fi sex comedy-cum-action extravaganza, a hard-nosed female mercenary helps a hapless yuppie find a new body for his robot girlfriend in the post-industrial wasteland of the American Southwest. In the year 2017, what little remains of civilization feeds off the scrap heap of 20th century waste, while even casual sex has become a matter of regulations and contracts. Like many other members of the L.A. white-collar elite, Sam Treatwell (David Andrews) takes refuge in a quasi-marriage with his beloved sex robot, Cherry (Pamela Gidley). After a soft-focus, bubbly sexcapade short circuits Cherry's body, Sam considers replacing her, but the shoddy production values of modern robots make it obvious that the vintage appliance is irreplaceable. To put it simply, the guy's in love. The wistful romantic therefore heads out to The Zone, a forbidding no man's land, where he hopes to find a new "chassis" in which to insert Cherry's unique personality chip. To do so, he needs the help of a "tracker," and E. Johnson (Melanie Griffith) is just the woman for the job. The gun-toting, red-headed road warrior leads Sam through a dystopian desert landscape full of psychopaths and opportunists toward their final destination: an abandoned warehouse full of antique androids. Along the way, Sam learns what it's like to interact with a woman who has brains and a heart instead of a microchip. Filmed in 1986, Cherry 2000 didn't receive its limited theatrical release until 1988, the same year star Griffith received an Oscar nomination for her role in Working Girl. Griffith and director Steven de Jarnatt previously worked together on the pilot for the 1980s revival of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Ben Johnson, veteran of many a Hollywood Western, appears as E. Johnson's mentor, Six Finger Jake. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Penelope Spheeris, director of the infamous documentary The Decline of Western Civilization may well have given the world its first punk-rock Western in the form of Dudes, a sort of Suburbia meets High Noon meets Deliverance. Three East Coast punks (Jon Cryer, Daniel Roebuck, and Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers) opt to leave behind the filth and gloom of New York City to become modern-day pioneers on the trail to California; that is, until a gang of redneck road warrior-types led by Lee Ving (of the punk band Fear) waylay the trio and kill Flea in a fashion brutal enough to justify the inevitable retribution. After their pleas to the local sheriff fall on deaf ears, Cryer and Roebuck decide instead to follow the law of the West and serve their own brand of justice as what appear to be a bondage-oriented cowboy and a squirrel on steroids. While the plot seems contrived and asinine, the violence often gratuitous, and the characters paper-thin, Spheeris nonetheless manages to create a likeable and highly watchable -- if often silly -- film. Cryer and Roebuck do the best they can with the material, Ving plays an adequately loathsome villain, and Flea lends a glimpse of his acting ability by offering a convincing portrayal of a dead body. Nowhere near being the time capsule that is The Decline of Western Civilization, Dudes still offers some insight into the punk subculture of the '80s. Spheeris later directed the hugely successful Wayne's World as well as The Decline of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide

Glory Days might have easily been titled "A Glorified Robert Conrad Home Movie." Actor Robert Conrad both produced and directed, while his co-star was his son Shane Conrad. The plot concerns a 50-year-old family man who feels that life has passed him by. Determined to fulfill a long-standing dream, he closes down his business, enrolls in the same college attended by his son, and goes out for the football team. It seems superfluous to add that he becomes the team's star quarterback: could any less have been expected of Bob "Iron Man" Conrad? This two-hour production originally aired December 11, 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this low-budget screwball-mystery, the death of an L.A. woman leads to a surreal murder investigation on the outer fringes of la-la land. When Molly McMannis (Justine Bateman) turns up dead, still impaled with the murder weapon -- a carrot -- the police launch a probe into the colorful world Molly inhabited. The suspects range from her ex-con brother to her roommate to her high-strung friend (Heather Graham). But a more likely culprit lurks among the ranks of a therapy group full of off-the-wall serial killers and the shrinks who coddle them. The fetishistic police detectives -- including sadistic interrogator Angela Pierce (Jill Hennessy) -- prove as disturbing as the people they're investigating. In fact, their unorthodox procedures leave the door open for the killer to strike again. Written, produced, and directed by Jordan Alan, who previously helmed the similarly offbeat Love and Happiness, Kiss and Tell features a who's who of obscure and indie Hollywood talent, including veteran actor Lewis Arquette and his three famous sons. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Murder, revenge, and sex are at the center of this two-fisted suspense thriller by young writer/director Jeff Santo. The film opens in Cancun, Mexico, with a quintet of shady characters soaking in the sun by the pool. The group's ringleader is Jack (Richard Tyson), a crooked used-car dealer who has a penchant for roughing up children. Others in the group include Freddie (Flea), Jack's thick-skulled sidekick; geeky Art the accountant; Niko, the group's muscle bound meathead; and finally the unassuming Vic. Much of the film focuses around Creed, Vic's club where Jack invested a quarter of a million dollars as a not-so-silent partner. Art is sent by Jack to Creed to check out the books, but the accountant instead ends up in an alley bleeding to death. Vic quickly disposes of the body with a hacksaw and a blowtorch. Meanwhile, Niko and Jack are vying for the attention of Rebecca, a well-endowed floozy, at the same time as Jack's desperate wife looks to exact her own revenge. Scheming and intrigue eventually boils over into a bloody confrontation. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Written and directed by independent filmmaker Everett Lewis, Luster is a low-budget romantic comedy. Would-be poet Jackson (Justin Herwick) is tired of orgies and wants to settle down. While working at the record store owned by Sam (Shane Powers), he attracts the affection of good boy Derek (Sean Thibodeau). However, he would rather have bad boy Billy (Jonah Blechman), who's involved with rock star Sonny Spike (Willie Garson). Meanwhile, Jackson's cousin Jed (B. Wyatt) arrives in town from Iowa and agrees to get naked for lesbian photographer Alyssa (Pamela Gidley). The soundtrack features music by Pansy Division, Cecil Seaskull (from Nerdy Girl), and Third Grade Teacher. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

High school student Alan Boyce has it all: looks, charm, popularity, excellent grades, a promising future. So why does Boyce abruptly commit suicide? As the shock waves of the boy's death reverberate through the halls of his school, the other students--particularly Boyce's best friend Keanu Reeves--ask themselves if they, too, are capable of self-destruction. As for the adults, Boyce's suicide is one more of a myriad of mysteries concerning "Generation X" (though it was not yet so labelled in 1988). While the film offers no easy answers, either for the characters or the audience, Permanent Record ultimately demonstrates that there are ways to cope with the pressures of life other than taking one's own life. An added bonus: the teenagers in the film act like genuine teenagers, not like TV sitcom wisecrackers or oversexed cretins. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Scratch the Surface is former teen model turned documentary filmmaker Tara Fitzpatrick's examination of experiences in the fashion industry, and those of her friends and family. Fitzpatrick interviews her mother, aunt, and grandmother, and her sister Tracy Fitzpatrick, all of whom were models. She interviews her contemporaries, Phoebe Cates and her sister, Valerie, Whitney Houston, Brooke Shields, Pamela Gidley, and Lisanne Falk. They tell anecdotes about their experiences, offer their impressions of the business, and discuss the impact of growing up in the public eye. Eileen Ford of the Ford Modeling Agency, John Casablancas of Elite Modeling, former Seventeen Magazine editor Midge Richardson, and makeup artist Bonnie Maller also give their perspective, which often differs substantially from that of the former models. Supermodel Bridget Hall, at the height of her career when the film was made, gives a less detached view of that world. Most of these young women decry the powerful influence of beauty magazines and advertisements on American culture, and each seems to have at least one horror story about how she was treated. But almost all of them acknowledge that their exposure to the business at such a young age ended up having some kind of positive impact on their lives. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide