Janet Baldwin Movies
- 1982
- R
This plodding horror bore from Prom Night director (and one-time softcore porn-maker) Paul Lynch slogs through Friday the 13th territory with a tale of standard teen slasher-fodder falling victim to a shambling subhuman killer. This particular crop of annoying kids has stolen Daddy's boat for a sex-and-drug-filled orgy on a remote island. Sadly for them, the island is inhabited by packs of wild dogs and a shaggy Mongoloid. The Bigfoot-like behemoth is apparently the spawn of a savage coupling between a slavering rapist and a former female resident of the island. It lopes about, chopping and bludgeoning the teens (who are particularly obnoxious, even for a film of this sort). Whatever interest this deathly dull flick may have mustered is completely obscured by some of the murkiest cinematography on record; the fact that nearly every scene is shrouded in complete darkness may prove a blessing in disguise. The film's ad campaign sported the slogan "God help us," which could easily have been a plea from the film's financial investors. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janet Julian, David Wallace, (more)
- 1977
- R
Piper Laurie (the mother in the horror film Carrie) appears here as the mother of a deranged deaf-mute girl. The mom runs a drive-in theater which shows mostly horror films. The girl is deranged because she is possessed by the spirit of her long-dead dad, a gangster who was gunned down by the mob. The vengeful spirit uses his daughter to gain vengeance on his assassins, many of whom now work at the drive-in. One by one the mobsters bite the dust as the demonized little girl extracts revenge for her deceased daddy. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Piper Laurie, Stuart Whitman, (more)
- 1973
John Walton (Ralph Waite) is accused of stealing some valuable silver goblets from wealthy neighbor Mrs. Claybourne (Diana Webster). Her evidence? Well, for starters, John is the only visitor that Mrs. Claybourne has had in weeks--and even more damning, he has suddenly and inexplicably come into a large sum of money. Too angry and proud to defend himself, John is on the verge of a lengthy jail term until the truth is revealed in a surprising fashion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Future General Hospital star Leslie Charleson appears in this episode as Christy Todd, a pushy journalist (aka "the Baby Barracuda") who insists upon accompanying the paramedics as they go about their rescue rounds. The virulently feminist Christy causes nothing but trouble for the male staffers as they deal with a boy suffering from hemlock poisoning and a perilous situation involving an overturned truck surrounded by live power lines. Also, the team extracts a man (Dick Van Patten) caught in a garbage disposal, and another poor soul who is trapped in a sofa bed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Michael Ritchie, better known for his gentle satires of American social institutions, enters Don Siegel territory in the unusual crime thriller Prime Cut. Lee Marvin is surly collection agent Nick Devlin, who is hired by Chicago racketeer Jake (Eddie Egan) to collect an overdue payment from Kansas cattle baron Mary Ann (yes, Mary Ann!) (Gene Hackman). When Devlin travels west to get Jake's money from Mary Ann, he finds the cattle king mixed up in complex drug deals and pimping wild women -- two of which are Poppy and Violet (Sissy Spacek and Janit Baldwin -- both in their film debuts). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lee Marvin, Gene Hackman, (more)
