Lori Lethin Movies

In 1982, Crippen High School was the scene of a gruesome series of dismemberment murders, but the killer was never identified. Five years later, Cosmic Pictures arrives at the long-abandoned campus to make a low-budget horror movie based on the tragedy, and suddenly the terror begins anew. The police department arrives at the school to find the building and grounds covered in gore and human body parts, the remains of the unfortunate film crew. The only survivor of this new massacre is the screenwriter, Arthur (Richard Brestoff), who tries to explain the horrifying events to the authorities. The troubled production's leading lady is angered over the demeaning nature of her role, the producer and director argue over the film's lack of artistic merits, and when cast members start disappearing, everyone else assumes that they're just quitting out of disgust. Who is the culprit? Is it the school's principal, appearing as himself in the film for the sake of realism? The janitor, who hopes to parlay his cameo into a pornography career? Or maybe Steven (Brendan Hughes), who was a student at Crippen during the original murder spree and finds himself reluctantly cast as the hero? This self-referential slasher parody features George Clooney in a small part as the film's first victim, and The Brady Bunch's Maureen McCormick as a policewoman with a lust for blood and hot dogs. ~ Fred Beldin, Rovi

"Not since Columbo has catching a killer been this clever!" That was the ad come-on for Diary of a Perfect Murder, a 1986 TV movie starring Andy Griffith as a homespun Georgia defense attorney. Griffith takes the case of a TV reporter (Steve Inwood) who has been accused of the murder of his ex-wife. In the tradition of Perry Mason, Matlock plays his cards close to the vest, then reveals the identity of the true murderer right in the courtroom. Sound familiar? It should: Diary of a Perfect Murder was the pilot film for Andy Griffith's still-running Matlock series. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The "brothers" in Brotherly Love are twin siblings Ben and Harry Ryder. Both are played by Judd Hirsch, in a change of pace from his Taxi duties. One of the twins is a solid citizen and family man; the other is evil incarnate. The story was adapted from a William D. Blankenship novel by the later Ernest Tidyman, whose next-to-last project this was. Filmed in Canada, Brotherly Love first aired May 28, 1985. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The A-Team has a surprisingly easy time rescuing Jennifer Teasdale (Lori Lethin), the daughter of a millionaire businessman, from a terrorist group calling themselves the GLA. The hard part comes in when Jennifer pulls a gun on the Team, demanding that they go back to the GLA's hideout to rescue her boyfriend Marcus (Kevin Major Howard)--who happens to be one of the terrorists. To add to the Team's headaches, Jennifer's father is both impatient and ungrateful, the ransom money is mislaid, and the Good Guys must race against time to prevent the Bad Guys from blowing up a dam. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A peaceful Midwestern city attempts to recover after it is destroyed by a nuclear missile strike in this powerful and deeply disturbing testament to the folly of pro-military hawks who believed that annihilation was a justifiable means of attaining power and control. The Day After originally aired on network television. At the end of the broadcast, many stations offered teams of counselors staffing 800 telephone numbers to help distraught viewers calm down. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Originally produced as part of the ABC Afterschool Special series, the Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning The Wave proved so powerful that the network chose to debut the film as one of three entries in its prime-time ABC Theater for Young Americans. Based on a real-life incident that occurred in Palo Alto, CA, in 1969 (and was subsequently chronicled as both a magazine article and a full length book), the film stars Bruce Davison as high-school history teacher Bruce Ross. Frustrated because his students evince a lack of interest in and comprehension of Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s, Ross decides to stage a dramatic "social experiment." He indoctrinates his unwitting charges in a radical new movement called "The Wave," which he claims will give them "a feeling you're part of something that's more important than yourself." Part and parcel of The Wave is a strict set of social-behavior guidelines, unquestioning loyalty to the cause, and an open contempt for those "inferiors" who have not been invited to join the movement. Not unexpectedly, The Wave gets out of hand, and soon the entire school is held in the thrall of a frightening new form of neo-fascism. Just when the experiment threatens to go too far, Ross shocks his students back to their senses by running newsreel footage of The Wave's "true leader" (guess who!). The Wave finally made its ABC Afterschool Special bow on March 30, 1983, two years after its initial nighttime presentation. ~ Rovi

As in several other films with this same theme, six young men and women head out for a hike in the woods, unaware that a crazed killer is on the loose looking for victims. About 30 years earlier, a group of gypsies were burnt to death in a forest fire, except for one small boy. Now the boy, all grown up and physically disfigured by the fire, is out to vent his rage on anyone who enters the forest. With a weak script, no characterizations, and lots of padding featuring wildlife (the animal kind) in the forest, this film might only be noted for the fact that it was one of the last movies in which Jackie Coogan appears. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

British sailors John Mills and Richard Attenborough would like to take Neopolitan lass Lisa Gastoni out on a date. But Gastoni can't leave the house unless her baby brother tags along. During a rowdy evening on the town, Mills is forced to sneak the infant on board his ship. When Gastoni and Attenborough arrive to claim the kid, they find that the ship has already sailed. Essentially a British Abbott & Costello picture, Baby and the Battleship manages to deliver a sufficient supply of hearty chuckles. The film was based on a somewhat subtler novel by Anthony Thorne. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi