Lois Duncan Movies
Adapted from author Lois Duncan's 1971 children's book of the same name, director Thor Freudenthal's Hotel for Dogs follows two mischievous orphans as they attempt to hide dozens of stray dogs in an abandoned hotel. Disheartened by their new guardians' announcement that pets are strictly forbidden, 16-year-old Andi (Emma Roberts) and her younger brother, Bruce (Jake T. Austin), race to find a home for their loyal dog Friday. Fortunately for Friday, there's an abandoned hotel just around the corner, and Bruce possesses just the kind of mechanical smarts needed to transform the rundown inn into a four-star retreat for canines. For a while, Friday and his friends have it made, but when the neighbors start to get suspicious, Andi and Bruce resort to every trick in the book in order to prevent their secret from being discovered. Don Cheadle, Emma Roberts, and Lisa Kudrow star in a family-friendly film penned by screenwriter Jeff Lowell. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emma Roberts, Jake T. Austin, (more)
This suspense film features Dennis Hopper as JD, a crazed kidnapper who hijacks a school bus (not unlike his crazed kidnapper in Speed) and holds the students hostage (one of the students is played by former Home Improvement star Zachery Ty Bryan). Even if the hostages are able to break free from their captors, they would have to survive the harsh terrain that surrounds the cabin in which they are being held. Lee Stanley's film was sold directly to Blockbuster Video, never gaining a theatrical release in the United States. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- 1999
To avoid prosecution himself, Jeff Corrigan (Patrick Duffy), CFO of a multinational corporation, agrees to testify against his boss, whom he has only recently discovered is actually a powerful druglord. Now Jeff must enter the Federal Witness Relocation Program, taking his estranged wife, Liz (Pam Dawber), and his bratty children, April (Tanja Reichert) and Bram (David Kaye), along with him. Though he is resigned to live out his life incognito, Liz is frustrated by the new restrictions imposed on her, while the children are downright hostile. But the worst is still to come: the bad guys have found out where the Corrigans are living, and their murderous minions are rapidly closing in. Made for cable, Don't Look Behind You debuted over the Family channel on July 25, 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Duffy, Pam Dawber, (more)
- 1998
- R
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I Know What You Did Last Summer was one of the two teenaged horror movies responsible for bringing the horror genre into the 90's (the other being Wes Craven's Scream). Both of those films came from the pen of screenwriter Kevin Williamson, and both of them generated sequels. I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is the continuation of Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt), a tortured college co-ed who accidentally almost killed a man and left him for dead one night. One year later, that man, named Ben Willis, came back to kill all of Julie's friends. Now, another year later, she still suffers from nightmares over the horrible incidents. When Julie's roommate Kate (Brandy) wins an all-expenses paid trip to the Bahamas on a radio promotion by guessing the capital of Brazil, she decides to take her roommate Julie, her boyfriend (Mekhi Phifer), and their new friend (Matthew Settle) on the retreat. Once there, they discover that besides being the rainy season, they were also followed by Julie's nemesis who is still seeking revenge. Slowly the islanders turn up murdered, leaving Julie no choice but to explain her past actions to her friends and fight to stay alive. It will entail the final showdown between her and Ben Willis once and for all. ~ Chris Gore, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze, Jr., (more)
Strange happenings occur when California teenager Sarah (Sarah Chalke) and her mother Rosemary (Markie Post) relocate to the small New England town of Pinecrest. It seems that Sarah shares the same name with a notorious witch who'd been burned at the stake three centuries earlier. Before her death, the "original" Sarah had vowed to get even with all the descendants of the people who persecuted her. A group of snotty high schoolers who've formed The Descendants' Club decide to give the hapless Sarah a very, very hard time -- but the fun is over when, while posing as a fortuneteller at a Halloween party, Sarah discovers that she possesses genuine psychic powers, and foresees a series of disasters that foment a frenzy of mass hysteria in the tiny community. Also tossed into this witches' brew is a mentally challenged serial killer, decked out in a Mike Myers-style mask. Adapted (and heavily laundered) from Lois Duncan's novel Gallows Hill, the made-for-TV I've Been Waiting for You debuted over NBC on March 22, 1998. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sarah Chalke, Markie Post, (more)
Popular high school student Mark Kinney (Scott Bairstow) wants to get even with tyrannical English teacher John Griffin (Jay Thomas) for humiliating him in class. Together with a group of like-minded friends, Mark hatches a plot to kidnap Mr. Griffin, using his girlfriend Susan (Amy Jo Johnson) as bait. All Mark wants to do is put a scare in Griffin and take a bunch of photographs that will show up the teacher for the fatuous phony that he seems to be. But the student prank goes horribly awry when Griffin turns up dead, the victim of heart failure! Now it falls upon Mark and his co-conspirators to furtively cover their tracks, lest they be accused of felony murder. Based on the bestselling novel by Lois Duncan, the made-for-TV Killing Mr. Griffin debuted April 7, 1997, on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Scott Bairstow, Amy Jo Johnson, (more)
- 1997
- R
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During the annual July 4th festivities in a North Carolina fishing town, Helen (Sarah Michelle Gellar) wins a local beauty contest and departs with her boyfriend Barry (Ryan Philippe) and pals Julie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Ray (Freddie Prinze Jr.). On their way back home, Ray hits a fisherman with her car. The teens panic, drop the body in the water, and abandon the scene. Many months later when Julie returns from college, she gets an anonymous note: "I know what you did last summer." The four teens suspect the note was written by their classmate Max (Johnny Galecki), but then Max is murdered -- and the terror begins. (In the original Lois Duncan novel, the teens hit a small boy on a bicycle instead of a fisherman.) The screenplay is by Kevin Williamson, whose credits include the 1996 box-office hit Scream. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, (more)
Notable as an early effort from renowned horror filmmaker Wes Craven, this made-for-TV occult thriller was loosely adapted from a novel by Lois Duncan. Star Linda Blair -- whose film career had taken a detour into TV-movie territory after her legendary bow in The Exorcist -- returns to the demon-possession genre as a teenager who can't seem to convince her parents that her visiting southern-belle cousin (Lee Purcell) is an evil witch. Purcell's diabolical meddling seems focused entirely on the innocent Blair, who loses both her prize horse and her boyfriend to the scheming sorceress before the rest of the family catches on. Though Craven's well-known extremism is curbed by the limitations of television, his talent at generating high-intensity suspense is still evident, making this a modestly entertaining horror item. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
