Tom Atkins Movies
This American leading man has been onscreen from the '70s. ~ All Movie Guide
A psychopathic miner terrorizes the town of Harmony in this retelling of one of the most underrated slasher films of the early '80s with My Bloody Valentine 3-D. 10-years ago, the lone survivor of an accident deep in the mines awoke from a coma and slashed his way through the town in a bloody, vengeance-fueled rampage. Though shot and apparently killed, the memories of Harry Warden still haunt both the town and Tom Hanniger (Jensen Ackles), the heir to the mine and one of the last people to see Harry before his disappearance. Just as Tom heads back to his hometown after a long time away, so do the killings ramp up again. While he mends his torn relationship with his ex-girlfriend Sarah (Jaime King) and her husband Axl (Kerr Smith), citizens are knocked off one by one in spectacularly gruesome fashion (all presented in 3-D). Has Harry come from beyond the grave or is there a new killer donning the suit and mask? Scream franchise editor Patrick Lussier helms from a script by Zane Smith and Jason X scribe Todd Farmer. Genre veteran Tom Atkins lends his B-movie chops to a supporting character in the Lionsgate production. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jensen Ackles, Jaime King, (more)
A family faces new crises while trying to resolve an old one in this drama. After the death of Cal Malby (Miles O'Keefe), a miner who died in an accident that eventually leveled the economy of a small Pennsylvania community, his sons Patrick (Jason Widener) and Cole (Tyler Christopher) have been trying to find out what caused the disaster while also caring for their mother Elizabeth (Sally Kirkland), who is now bedridden. As Patrick and Cole try to uncover the truth, they have to struggle to hold on to the family's home as Penny Hart (Dee Wallace Stone), a widow who owns the farm the family has long called home, attempts to sell the property out from under them. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tyler Christopher, Sally Kirkland, (more)
Horror-meister George Romero directs this thriller about a 99-pound weakling who strikes back at everyone who has wronged him in the past. Henry Creedlow (Jason Flemyng) works at a fashion mag called Bruiser for the short-fused, dictatorial Miles Styles (Peter Stormare). Henry spends much of his day fantasizing about killing himself and killing others, particularly his nagging wife Janine (Nina Garbiras). After learning that Miles is shagging his wife and that his stockbroker best friend swindled him out of a stack of money, Henry wakes up the following day to learn that his face has mysteriously been rendered white and featureless. Soon, like a mime with bloodlust, Henry violently dispatches with everyone in his life, save Miles' wife, whose paintings may be responsible for his sudden transformation. This film was screened at the 2000 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Flemyng, Peter Stormare, (more)
- 1999
James Garner is reunited with several of his fellow cast members from the Rockford Files series in this made-for-TV sequel. It all begins when schoolteacher Ernie Landale (Hal Holbrook), the husband of private eye Jim Rockford's ex-prostitute friend Rita Kapkovic (Rita Moreno), is accused of child molestation. Never mind that the evidence is circumstantial at best, flimsy at worst: The Media have already tried and convicted Landale, irresponsibly whipping up a journalistic frenzy that turns all of the benighted teacher's associates and friends against him. All, that is, except Jim Rockford (Garner), who, together with Landale's attorney Beth Davenport (Gretchen Corbett) and police lieutenant Dennis Becker (Joe Santos), is prepared to move heaven and earth to find the actual pedophile and clear Landale's name. Filmed in 1997, The Rockford Files: If It Bleeds, It Leads made its CBS debut on April 20, 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1998
Patti D'Arbanville guest stars as Darlene Everett, who shows up at the squad room with a videotape that "proves" that her husband, a bestselling author of espionage thrillers, was killed by his agent. Trouble is, there's no corpse -- and for the moment at least, it looks like there was no crime. In another case, an old woman is found dead after a break-in at her home -- but was she murdered? And on the romantic scene, Munch (Richard Belzer) pursues waitress Bille Lou (Ellen McElduff), while Falsone (Jon Seda) pursues fellow detective Ballard (Callie Thorne). Austin Pendleton makes his first appearance as eccentric Baltimore coroner Dr. Griscom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Belzer, Giancarlo Esposito, (more)
- 1996
While rescuing a group of slave girls from a warlord, Xena saves the life of an old man (Tom Atkins) who has helped her fend off the villains. The oldster subsequently claims to be Atrius -- Xena's long-lost father. Ensuing events convince Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) that Xena should stay as far away from Atrius as possible. Alas, before long Xena has reverted to her Warrior Princess ways, fully prepared to kill all the occupants of a village -- including Gabrielle. Can this be the handiwork of the duplicitous God of War Ares (Kevin Smith), who still has his own special plans for Xena? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lucy Lawless, Renee O'Connor, (more)
A maverick Pittsburgh policeman loses his job after he shares his suspicion that one of his colleagues is a serial killer. This thriller centers on his hunt to prove his point, a search that becomes more desperate when the killer begins killing the cop's female associates. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Willis, Sarah Jessica Parker, (more)
In the tradition of This Is Spinal Tap, producer/ director/ star Tim Robbins' Bob Roberts is a satire disguised as a documentary. Robbins plays the titular Roberts, a wealthy, well-connected young man running for a senatorial seat in Pennsylvania. On the surface, Roberts is an ingratiating glad-hander, a sincere believer in the restoration of such intangibles as national pride, family values, etc. But the longer Roberts is followed about by documentary filmmaker Brian Murray, the more we become aware that the candidate is a textbook case of cynicism and contempt. Only Giancarlo Esposito, a reporter for an underground newspaper, is willing to dig beneath Roberts' veneer--a habit that leads to the film's ironic conclusion. Several well-known actors make cameo appearances as TV commentators, notably Tim Robbins' longtime partner Susan Sarandon. Bob Roberts started out as a Tim Robbins-directed short subject for the TV series Saturday Night Live, then was expanded into a $4 million feature. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Robbins, Giancarlo Esposito, (more)
- 1992
When a district attorney starts an investigation into corruption that leads her back to her own family--rife with police officers--she finds some decisions hard to make. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Valerie Bertinelli, George Dzundza, (more)
- 1991
Cry in the Wild: The Taking of Peggy Ann eschews the usual "today's headlines" approach to fact-based TV movies. This 1991 film recounts an event which took place in Shade Gap, Pennsylvania, way back in 1966. A lunatic backwoodsman (David Morse) abducts a 17-year-old local girl (Megan Follows) and spirits her away to the deep woods. During her eight-day ordeal, Peggy Ann develops a sort of sympathy for the pathetic creature who has kidnapped her out of a misguided sense of love. Meanwhile, virtually every authority within a 50-mile radius scours the timberland in search of the girl and her captor. Whether or not Cry in the Wild: The Taking of Peggy Ann was necessary 25 years after the fact is debatable, but one can't deny that the accomplished performances of David Morse and Megan Follows smooth over the script's bumpier sections. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Two well-known directors each adapt stories by Edgar Allen Poe in this horror drama. George Romero's "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" tells how the wife of an elderly, wealthy man and her lover--who also happens to be the husband's private physician--scheme to control his assets. Dying before they can carry out their plans, his soul is caught between life and death while they freeze the body to finish their work. In the Dario Argento-directed "The Black Cat" a crime photographer, known for his photos' gruesome content, kills his girlfriend's titular pet and then his girlfriend. Soon he gets a good look at what he's done. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adrienne Barbeau, E.G. Marshall, (more)
- 1989
Danny Glover and Ruben Blades costar in this made-for-cable death row thriller. Blades plays a condemned prisoner, while Glover plays his psychiatrist. The prisoner's behavior is so violent and erratic that he may be too sick to execute. Glover is brought in to calm Blades down--and if he does so, he will certify that Blades is ready for execution. Dead Man Out first aired over HBO on March 11, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A maniacal murderer is stalking New York City cops in this urban crime thriller. Jack Forrest (Bruce Campbell) is suspected of being the killer until Lieutenant McCrae (Tom Atkins) is found dead. Jack takes over the case after McCrae's death with help from undercover cop and sweetheart Theresa (Laurene Landon). Commissioner Pike (Richard Roundtree) is under fire to solve the case as more men in blue meet their maker much too soon. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Atkins, Bruce Campbell, (more)
- 1988
In this made-for-HBO thriller, Pierce Brosnan stars as an ex-convict who seeks revenge on the racetrack partner (Tom Skerritt) who framed him. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierce Brosnan, Tom Skerritt, (more)
LA cop Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson), whose wife has recently died, is a loose cannon with a seeming death wish. This makes him indispensable in collaring dangerous criminals, but a liability to any potential partners. Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover), a conservative family man who wants to stay alive for his upcoming 50th birthday, is partnered with Riggs. As Riggs gets to know Murtaugh and his family, he begins to mellow, though his insistence on using guerilla tactics to catch criminals is still (put mildly) above and beyond the call of duty. The main villain is The General (Mitchell Ryan), a drug dealer responsible for the death of the daughter of one of Murtaugh's oldest friends. The General is also in charge of a deadly, militia-like gang of smugglers. Adding fuel to the fire is The General's chief henchman, played with all stops out by Gary Busey. Moviegoers familiar only with the relatively tongue-in-cheek Lethal Weapon sequels may be amazed to find out how dangerous and unpredictable Riggs is in the first Lethal Weapon -- and how likely it seems that Murtaugh might not survive until fade-out time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, (more)
Originally written in 1970, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lanford Wilson's play Lemon Sky was brought to television by way of PBS' American Playhouse anthology. Based loosely on Wilson's own experiences, the story concerns a 17-year-old boy (Kevin Bacon) who hasn't seen his father in a dozen years. Utilizing a complex flashback-flash forward technique, the protagonist recalls his six-month stay with his dad (Tom Atkins) and dad's second wife (Lindsay Crouse). Featured in the cast is Bacon's actress wife Kyra Sedgwick, here playing his half-sister. Lemon Sky premiered February 10, 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Bacon, Tom Atkins, (more)
- 1987
In this drama, the life of a San Francisco widow changes forever when she has a brief encounter with a younger man. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Virtually unnoticed during its brief theatrical run, this wildly entertaining horror-comedy achieved healthy cult status following its home-video and cable TV releases. The directorial debut of Fred Dekker (writer of the successful horror parody House), this low-budget effort throws alien monsters, axe-wielding killers, flesh-eating zombies, nudity, and (gasp!) drunken fraternity shenanigans into a blender, spiced with witty one-liners and references to dozens of horror classics (and anti-classics). The result is a satisfying treat that will tickle the tastebuds of horror fans. The film's nominal protagonists are a pair of randy fraternity pledges (Jason Lively, Steve Marshall) who open a literal can of worms when they steal a corpse from the campus medical facility and release a horde of space-leeches, which proceed to infest the bodies of everyone in sight. The host bodies subsequently become homicidal zombies with a penchant for popping in on unsuspecting (and undressing) sorority girls. The town's only hope (such as it is) seems to be a hard-boiled ex-cop (Tom Atkins), who has uncovered the secret link between the zombie invasion and a 30-year-old axe-murder case... and who's also several sandwiches shy of a picnic. Dekker keeps things moving at a brisk pace thanks to some outrageous set-pieces (some of which happen so quickly they'll have viewers reaching for the pause button) and clever dialogue, particularly for Atkins ("Girls, the good news is your dates are here; the bad news is, they're dead"), who dives into his crusty character with relish. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Lively, Steve Marshall, (more)
- 1986
Blind Justice is a fact-based TV movie starring Tim Matheson, here made to look "normal" with glasses and mustache. The innocent Matheson is fingered by witnesses as an armed robber/kidnapper/rapist. For the next 14 months, his life is hell. Too much circumstantial evidence surrounds the case, and too much information leaks out to the public; even if Matheson beats the rap, he'll be ruined in his community. Blind Justice was first telecast on March 9, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Matheson, Mimi Kuzyk, (more)
Abby (Lori Loughlin) and her brother, Loren (Shannon Presby), seem to have it all: good looks, lots of friends, and a great relationship with their loving mom and their heroic, discipline-minded military dad. When their folks are killed in a car crash, however, the siblings must move to small-town Florida to live with their sweet but cash-impaired Uncle Charlie (Ed Jones) and Aunt Fay (Lucy Martin), who own a gas station and a struggling, bargain-bin amusement park. For Abby and Loren, life in the Sunshine State proves to be a mixture of hard work, new faces, and harassment at the hands of drug-dealing, skirt-chasing local scion Dutra (James Spader) and his gang of trailer-park psychopaths. Dutra places a bet with the wiry, reptilian Gideon (John Philbin) about which of the young villains will be able to bed Abby first, leading to a series of increasingly vile sexual come-ons. Abby, however, has other romantic ideas involving a kindly boy named Mark (Eric Stoltz). Between bouts of defending his sister's honor, Loren finds a similarly wholesome romance with pretty, blond Karen (Paige Lyn Price). With the help of these new friends, Loren and Abby make some headway in the local social hierarchy, but their skirmishes with Dutra and his minions escalate, climaxing with attempted rape, kidnapping, and bumper-car violence on the night of a high-school dance. Director Sean S. Cunningham also directed the original Friday the 13th. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shannon Presby, Lori Loughlin, (more)
- 1982
A pair of murders occur within a few days of each other, but there seems to be no relation between the two deaths. At least, that's what the authorities believe until Quincy (Jack Klugman) finds a common factor: both victims were killed by the same handgun, which had been stolen from its original owner nearly five years before. Embarking upon another in a long line of crusades, Quincy endeavors to change the current firearm laws which allow unlicensed gun sales to proceed without any legal checking system. The episode's shattering climax was obviously inspired by the equally powerful finale of the classic 1974 TV movie The Gun. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1982
- R
- Add Halloween III: Season of the Witch to QueueAdd Halloween III: Season of the Witch to top of Queue
The only installment of the Halloween series to abandon the Michael Myers story line, Halloween III: Season of the Witch is an intricate sci-fi horror hybrid. A week before Halloween, an older man named Harry Grimbridge (Al Berry) is wounded by a mysteriously dispassionate group of assailants in an industrial parking lot. After receiving treatment at a local hospital from Dr. Dan Challis (Tom Atkins) -- a hard-drinking divorced father of two -- Grimbridge is killed by an assassin who later sets himself on fire. Blowing off his own kids, Challis teams up with Grimbridge's daughter, Ellie (Stacey Nelkin), to find out why the middle-aged toy salesman was murdered. The duo's search soon leads them to a Halloween-mask factory run by inventor and practical joker Conal Cochran (Dan O'Herlihy). In between bouts of passionate lovemaking, Ellie and Challis begin to realize that the sinister old businessman has something other than treats in mind for America's kids -- something to do with the Silver Shamrock masks that Challis' children and thousands of other youngsters have bought for the holiday. Original screenwriter Nigel Kneale, whose scripts for Britain's Quatermass TV series made him a beloved science fiction fixture, sued the producers of Halloween III to have his name removed from the credits after seeing the gory finished product; director Tommy Lee Wallace ultimately received screenplay credit. John Carpenter, director of the first Halloween film, co-produced the third installment with Debra Hill, who would later soldier on without Carpenter for additional, belated sequels. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Atkins, Stacey Nelkin, (more)
Two of the most venerable names in the horror field, author Stephen King and director George A. Romero, present this anthology of original twisted tales inspired by the E.C. horror comics of the 50's and 60's (themselves a more direct basis for the popular Tales from the Crypt TV series). The five stories are framed within the pages of a comic book which a boy's insensitive father has thrown in the garbage. The first tale, "Father's Day," features a zombie patriarch returning to claim his Father's Day cake; "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" stars King himself as a slack-jawed yokel whose discovery of a radioactive meteorite turns him into a walking weed; "Something to Tide You Over" presents a deadly-serious Leslie Nielsen as a cuckolded husband who plans an elaborate seaside revenge; "The Crate" unleashes its ferocious man-eating contents on the enemies of a meek college professor; and "They're Creeping Up On You" pits obsessively-clean billionaire E.G. Marshall against a swarm of cockroaches in his sterile penthouse. The chapters are uniformly creative, filmed in garish comic-book colors, and Tom Savini's makeup effects are quite memorable (particularly the monster from "The Crate"), though the campy treatment does become exhausting after two hours' runtime. The final segment is the most impressive, thanks to Marshall's over-the-top performance, though the planned scope of the cockroach invasion was drastically reduced (no doubt due to budget constraints). ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, (more)
- 1982
Skeezer is an irresistible dog with a special affinity towards handicapped children. Nurse/therapist Karen Valentine uses Skeezer to brighten the lives of the emotionally disturbed and mentally handicapped kids in her charge. The authorities aren't keen on Skeezer's presence, but rest assured they'll change their minds before the film's 97 minutes have elapsed. Skeezer is based on a true story, as chronicled in Elizabeth Yates' book Skeezer, Dog with a Mission. The made-for-TV film was first telecast as an NBC "Operation Peacock" special on December 27, 1982; it subsequently won an "outstanding children's program" Emmy award. Incidentally, the dog playing Skeezer was named O. J. (no wisecracks, if you please). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1982
In this made-for-TV film, a high-school counselor (Joyce Brothers) faces ineffectual help from administration in combating drugs, so she recruits several students to help in the battle. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Hunt
