Rachel Hayward Movies
In this family comedy, a dad and his two kids undergo a cross-country move from Los Angeles to Edmonton on Christmas Eve. They visit the local mall to do some last-minute Christmas shopping, and while they're there, they stumble upon a pile of counterfeit cash, and inadvertently catch the criminals behind it. It would all seem like a decidedly magical sequence of events, but that just might be because there's something magical residing in the West Edmonton Mall. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Swayze, Carmen Electra, (more)
- 2003
While trying to escape his adoring fans, Johnny (Anthony Michael Hall) experiences a horrifying vision: himself vanishing into nothingness after making contact with an as-yet-determined item. Soon afterward, Johnny meets a reclusive stranger, Jeffrey Grissom (Robert Culp), who has had a similar psychic vision -- and who promptly disappears as though he never existed. In his efforts to prove that Grissom is not a figment of his imagination (and, hopefully, to save himself from a similar fate), Johnny stumbles upon an elaborate governmental cover up. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John L. Adams, Nicole deBoer, (more)
Originally conceived as a TV miniseries (but generally shown in a single three-hour installment), this lavish adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen stars Bridget Fonda as the icy-hearted title character. Arriving incognito at the alpine inn run by a man named Wolfgang (Robert Wisden), the embittered Snow Queen makes it her mission in life to ruin all chances of romance for Wolfgang's beautiful daughter, Gerda (Chelsea Hobbs). To this end, the Queen exercises her magic over Gerda's bellhop boyfriend Kai (Jeremy Guilbaut), literally freezing the boy in his tracks. In order to save her beloved, Gerda must undertake a grueling odyssey through the Four Seasons (each of them briefly appearing in human form), culminating in a final, frigid showdown with the spiteful Snow Queen. After its December 7, 2002 debut on the Hallmark cable network, The Snow Queen was almost immediately released in a deluxe DVD edition. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bridget Fonda
- 2002
The wealthy designer of the world's first fully computer-automated jetliner summarily fires one of his engineers, a disgruntled computer hacker. In retaliation, the engineer "kidnaps" the high tech jetliner from a hidden location on the ground, and threatens to destroy the plane during its maiden flight. The lives of the passengers, which include a prominent politician and his daughter, rests in the hands of a troubled ex-war hero. First broadcast on Spanish television in an R-rated version in October of 2002, Cabin Pressure "officially" premiered on November 15, 2002, courtesy of the American PAX network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Georges Mihalka directs this psychological thriller about a serial killer who befriends an unsuspecting brother and sister who are still reeling from the death of their father. Adam Turrell (Tom Berenger) takes up residence in a small Oregon burg and pretends he is an English teacher currently writing his debut novel. He is actually a madman who is methodically selecting his next victim. Kate and Mike (Rachel Hayward and Tygh Runyan) must work past their grief and the trust they have developed in Turrell to stay alive.Cruel and Unusual is also known by the title Watchtower. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Berenger
Former football star Brian Bosworth stars in this action thriller as Alex Carville, a CIA agent who, while on assignment in Russia shortly before the fall of the Soviet Union, is captured by KGB forces and placed in a mental hospital. Eleven years later, Carville is given a chance to earn his freedom: Felix Grady, an eccentric multimillionaire from Texas who bears a striking resemblance to Carville (and is also played by Bosworth), has bought an extremely valuable painting, and Carville's keepers offer to smuggle him back to the United States if he's willing to pose as Grady, pick up the painting, and hand it over to Russian agents in the United States. Carville agrees, but things don't go quite as expected -- while Carville is getting the painting, the real Felix Grady shows up, and things quickly turn violent , with Carville trying to escape both from the Russians and the police. The Operative also stars Teryl Rothery and Bob Dawson. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Bosworth, John Tench, (more)
- 2000
David Caruso and Charles S. Dutton play two men at the end of their wits in this beat-the-death-sentence TV drama. Jacob Doyle (Dutton) has just seen his son wrongly convicted of murder and decides to take the law into his own hands: He sequesters the jury himself -- at gunpoint -- and demands that they re-try the case. To this end, he summons prosecuting attorney Ned Stark (Caruso), a level-headed legal eagle who, despite the fact that he just convicted the boy, believes that he's innocent. Meanwhile, the SWAT team closes in on the courthouse. Deadlocked originally aired on the TNT network. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Caruso, Charles S. Dutton, (more)
- 1999
Xena (Lucy Lawless) seeks out the shamaness Yakut (Kate Elliot) to explain why she's having nightmares about her unborn baby. Yakut explains that the spirit of the evil Alti (Claire Stansfield) is systemically sapping the life force of Xena's child so that she, Alti, can return to the land of the living. It is up to Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) to rescue both Xena and baby -- but she might have to sacrifice her own life in the process. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lucy Lawless, Renee O'Connor, (more)
A brush with death causes a woman to see into the world in a different way in this psychological thriller from Canada. A young woman writing for a tabloid (Cynthia Preston) is working with a veteran reporter (Christopher Lloyd) on a story about a patient at a mental hospital who claims to be able to predict people's deaths. The woman finds herself flashing back to a plane crash in which she was nearly killed and recalling a series of unusual events that occurred in its wake. Soon she begins to wonder if these things may be linked in some way. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Lloyd, Cynthia Preston, (more)
- 1996
One of several ABC TV movies released under the umbrella appellation "Crimes of Passion", She Woke Up Pregnant is based on a true story. Several months after undergoing oral surgery requiring her to be sedated, Connie Loftus (Michele Greene) discovers that she's pregnant. This outrages her husband Tom (William R. Moses), who has had a vasectomy and is in no way capable of producing sperm. It turns out that Connie was but one of several unsuspecting women who have been assaulted in their sleep by rapacious dentist Dr. Roger Nolten (Joe Penny). Unfortunately, Connie's efforts to prosecute Nolten are stymied when he insists that he and Connie had been consentual lovers--and there's nothing she can do to prove otherwise! An intrepid female cop named Susan Saroyan (Lynda Carter) figures into the outcome of this compelling tale of trust betrayed and a woman's battle against the "good ol' boy" network. She Woke Up Pregnant was first telecast April 28, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1995
- R
In this high-energy direct-to-video actioner, a retired bomb expert is called back to duty to find out who has been planting terrorist bombs in Seattle. While he investigates, more bombs explode and it becomes frighteningly clear that the terrorist is targeting bomb-squad members. Matters get more intense when the prime suspect suddenly disappears. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sam Elliott, Charles Martin Smith, (more)
- 1993
This is a '90s version of the classic Jack London story about the steel-willed captain of a seal-hunting ship who wrangles with a rough-neck crew. Charles Bronson plays Captain Wolf Larsen. Some of the sea scenes were actually taken from the 1941 version of the tale (with Edward G. Robinson) and colorized here. Most reviewers agree that the better version of Sea Wolf remains the earlier (1941) one. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1993
Corey Haim, the crown prince of direct-to-video films, stars in Just One of the Girls. Haim plays a teen-aged musician who is constantly being bullied. To escape his tormentors, he disguises himself as a girl. Surprise of surprises, Haim finds that he really enjoys his new identity, and decides to remain female for a little while longer just to see what develops. Also released as Anything for Love. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1992
- R
It is October 6, 2022 and humankind is nearly extinct thanks to a massive alien attack. Astronaut Michael Raynor is fleeing the planet in his spacecraft when suddenly a "wormhole" opens up and sucks him into a time warp. He finally makes it back to the ground and finds himself in Washington state in the year 1992. Soon scientists and military personnel descend upon him and his craft. They get the ship, but he escapes and finds himself pursued by the same human-looking aliens who are destroying the world in his own time. Among the invaders is lovely Karen, who poses as a scientist and decides to help Raynor save his planet. To do this, they must keep Neila from becoming president. They do not know that Neila is himself an outworlder (but discerning audience members who can spell things backwards certainly do!) As the action in the past continues, so does the future story as the few remaining humans battle it out with the aliens in futuristic Washington, D.C. Back in the past Neila and his henchmen decide to make sure Raynor is never born and take off after his pregnant mother who is going to bear him later that year. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mark Hamill, Rae Dawn Chong, (more)
This murder mystery from director Carl Schenkel stars Christopher Lambert (Highlander) as Peter Sanderson, an expert chess champion. When a woman Sanderson has recently slept with is among several women brutally murdered at a chess tournament, he becomes a suspect. But when the murderer contacts Sanderson and informs him that he's set up a maniacal human chess game, he realizes that he'll have to beat the murderer to stop the killings and clear his own name. Diane Lane plays a psychologist who falls for Sanderson, and Tom Skerritt is the local sheriff investigating the case. Knight Moves won the Critics Award at the 1992 Cognac Film Festival. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Lambert, Diane Lane, (more)
When an experiment to send three volunteers to another dimension fails, only one comatose survivor is brought back. However, when the scientists discover that the volunteer carried a deadly creature back with her, they must struggle to destroy the creature before it destroys them. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jan-Michael Vincent, Paul Koslo, (more)
- 1985
- R
A lesser "teens on the loose" farce, Breaking All the Rules is set in a Canadian amusement park. The main characters are park worker Carl Marotte and his pal Thor Bishopic, who fancy themselves God's gift to women. The boys manage to impress the impressionable Carolyn Dunn and Rachel Hayward, especially after winning a stuffed toy at one of the booths. Since there has to be a plot somewhere, the toy contains a valuable diamond, stolen by three humorless crooks. The ensuing chase whisks our protagonists into a break-dancing contest, where the storyline is resolved in laff-riot fashion. Though four writers are credited for the screenplay of Breaking All the Rules, one gets the impression that it was being improvised as it went along. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carl Marotte, Thor Bishopric, (more)
