Christopher Duddy Movies

A mysterious magician has some very unpleasant secrets in this gory tale of terror. Edmund Bigelow (Kip Pardue) is the publisher of Cacophony Gazette, a journal that covers the cutting edge of art and performance in California. Jaded Bigelow thinks he's seen it all until he and his girlfriend Maggie (Bijou Phillips) take in a show by Montag the Magician (Crispin Glover), who with the help of his sidekick the Geek (Jeffrey Combs) delivers a stomach-turning show in which he brings volunteers on stage and dismembers them, only to have his victims stagger off stage at the end of the show, shaken but still very much alive. Bigelow soon becomes obsessed with Montag's show and wants to know more about him and his illusions, but he suspects that there might be more to the magician's show than he imagined when maimed bodies start appearing all over L.A., and with the help of his pals Jinky (Joshua Miller) and Dr. Chong (Brad Dourif) they discover the bizarre secret behind Montag's hold over his audience. Based on a cult-favorite gore film from Hershel Gordon Lewis, The Wizard of Gore also features several members of the contemporary burlesque troupe the Suicide Girls as Montag's volunteers. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Bay Area digital-effects wizard David Lee Fisher offers an enticing visual remix of the 1920 German expressionist classic with this innovative updating that places contemporary performers against scanned backdrops of the original and offers a detailed new script to create an exciting new vision. As the annual fair descends upon the sleepy burg of Holstenwall, Germany, Francis and his best friend Alan are unwittingly enticed into attending an exhibition by malevolent hypnotist Dr. Caligari that will have a sinister, life-changing effect on the pair. When the dreadful doctor awakens psychic sleepwalker Cesare (Hellboy's Doug Jones) from his profound slumber to predict Alan's future, the resulting prophecy is endlessly more terrifying than the frightened friends could have ever imagined. In the days that follow, the citizens of Holstenwell fall prey to a grisly series of unsolved murders that prompts Francis to launch a thorough investigation. With the killer fast closing in on Francis' unsuspecting fiancée Jane, the brave husband-to-be must uncover the secret of Dr. Caligari's strange powers before his one and only love suffers a particularly grim fate. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Fresh from Iowa, Holly (Melissa Joan Hart) and Calvin (Ryan Browning) arrive in New York, there to pursue careers as actors. Alas, money is mighty tight for the new arrivals, and decent housing is well night impossible to find. Eventually, Holly is forced to move in with her eccentric, cat-crazy Aunt Agatha (Lynne Marie Stewart), who lives in a rent-controlled apartment in the middle of an upscale neighborhood. When Aunt Agatha dies of natural causes, a desperate Holly hits upon a brilliant idea: she and Calvin will pretend that Auntie is still alive, the better to remain in the apartment for a minimal price. The couple enlist the apartment building's feckless elevator operator Dennis (Andrew Kavovit) as their co-conspirator, then spend much of the rest of the movie trying to keep their landlord's suspicious son Vincent (Joseph D. Reitman) from stumbling upon the truth. Filmed in 2002, Rent Control did not make its ABC Family Channel debut until September 9, 2005, by which time the made-for-cable film had been extensively re-edited to accelerate its pace. The film has since been released abroad under its working title Aunt Agatha's Apartment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide