Richard D'Ovidio Movies

An emergency operator receives a desperate call from a kidnapped teen, and races to locate the young victim while facing a terrifying killer from her own past in this thriller from director Brad Anderson (The Machinist, Session 9). Jordan Turner (Halle Berry) is a 911 operator in the Hive -- the bustling Los Angeles headquarters for emergency operators. Her job is extraordinarily stressful, though the camaraderie she shares with co-workers Flora (Denise Dowse) and Marco (José Zúñiga) helps Jordan to stay sharp and focused during those long nights on the phone. The veteran operator experiences a debilitating bout of self-doubt, however, after making a thoughtless mistake that results in the brutal murder of a young girl at the hands of a sadistic prowler. Six months later, Jordan is taking a group of young trainees on a tour of the Hive when an inexperienced operator receives a frantic call from Casey (Abigail Breslin), a terrified teen who is locked in the trunk of a speeding car after being abducted in a parking lot. Unfortunately, Casey is calling from a disposable phone with no chip, making it impossible for the operator to trace the call. Instinctively taking over the situation, Jordan does her best to calm Casey so that she can provide clues that will help authorities, including Jordan's police-officer boyfriend Paul (Morris Chestnut), identify the car and rescue the frightened abductee. With each passing minute the danger grows, and the hope for a happy outcome fades. Meanwhile, when the kidnapper (Michael Eklund) finds Casey's hidden phone, an ominous exchange with Jordan leaves her convinced that he's the same man who killed the other young girl six months prior. Horrified to discover just what's at stake should she fail to save Casey, the haunted operator takes the situation into her own hands, only to realize she may have unwittingly become the killer's next victim. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

This haunted house chiller is the second feature from Dark Castle Entertainment, the mid-budget outfit put together in 1999 to remake the cheesy horror genre pictures of William Castle by his daughter, Terry Castle, and producers Gilbert Adler, Robert Zemeckis, and Joel Silver. Financially ravaged and widowed by a fire that is consuming him with guilt, Arthur Kriticos (Tony Shalhoub) is left to raise two kids on his own: beautiful teenager Kathy (Shannon Elizabeth) and grade school student Bobby (Alec Roberts). Good news suddenly drops into their lives when a lawyer visits and reveals that they have inherited a lavish home from a late uncle, Cyrus (F. Murray Abraham), an eccentric ghost hunter. The Kriticos family moves into the remote house only to discover its odd secret: the dwelling contains a state-of-the-art, elaborate system of moving glass walls that trap spirits inside. Soon the ghosts, which can only be seen through the use of special high-tech spectacles, are loose in the elaborate contraption and are none too thrilled about their predicament. With the exits sealed, the family members try to learn the secret of Uncle Cyrus' bizarre mansion and survive supernatural assaults with the help of sassy housekeeper Maggie (Rah Digga), neurotic psychic Rafkin (Matthew Lillard), and Kalina (Embeth Davidtz), an activist championing the civil rights of ghosts. The eyeglasses through which the spirits can be viewed in Thirteen Ghosts (2001) were part of a ballyhoo gimmick involving pairs of spectacles handed out to audiences for screenings of the 1960 original, which was presented in "Illusion-O." ~ Karl Williams, Rovi