Frank Donner Movies
Filmmaker Amy Berg recounts a harrowing story of child abuse and how a serial child molester went free for the better part of two decades in this documentary. Oliver O'Grady was a Catholic priest who served in a number of parishes in Southern California during the 1970s and '80s. O'Grady was also a habitual child molester who abused dozens of youngsters who were entrusted to his care, and while his superiors in the church were aware of O'Grady's crimes as early as 1973, they opted to simply move him from one congregation to another rather than turn him in to authorities or strip him of his ordination. In Deliver Us From Evil, a number of O'Grady's victims and their families discuss his crimes and the repercussions they feel to this day. O'Grady himself also appears in the film, speaking candidly about his career as a sexual predator and recounting his misdeeds in detail. (After finally being convicted of child sexual abuse, O'Grady served time in prison and now lives in Ireland, where he is still looked after by Catholic clergy.) Berg also offers a look into the history of the Catholic Church and how its leadership has often protected those within the hierarchy at the expense of their worshipers. Deliver Us From Evil was named Best Documentary Feature at the 2006 Los Angeles Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Former Legends of the Hidden Temple host Kirk Fogg goes from Nickelodeon game show to gritty street thriller as the director and star of this stylish mystery about a drug-addicted, former undercover cop searching for his missing girlfriend in the dangerous Los Angeles underworld. Porter (Fogg) has just been involved in a drug deal gone horribly awry, and now he and girlfriend Rachel (Sarah Lahti) are attempting to lie low in a warehouse currently being used as a porno studio. When Porter learns that Rachel has cut a deal with the sleazy producer who runs the studio in order to bankroll the couple's flight from the city, he shamefully numbs himself with drugs as Rachel turns tricks in front of the camera for cash. Later, Porter makes a hazed-out attempt to prevent his girlfriend from completely debasing herself that ends with him blacking out and being left for dead on the banks of the L.A. River. Though he attempts to go to the police in hopes that they will help him locate Rachel, the officers all know about Porter's sordid history and fail to grasp the true gravity of the situation. Realizing that in order to save Rachel's life he will have to go it alone, strung-out Porter steals a car and hits the streets in a frantic bid to rescue his girlfriend before she becomes another inner-city statistic. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kirk Fogg, Sara Lahti, (more)
Informed by a Chicago police detective that her sister Diane has recently gone missing in Tijuana, Mexico, successful lawyer Nadine Roberts (Poppy Montgomery) travels south of the border on a desperate mission to locate her lost sibling, and instead finds her sanity slipping amidst an unsetting series of strange circumstances. Immediately after learning that her sister has disappeared, Nadine informs her husband James (Adam Kaufman) that she will be leaving for Mexico, and will not return until she discovers what fate befell Diane. While Tijuana Detective Campos (Jose Yenque) is adamant that Nadine return home immediately and leave the search to the authorities, she outwardly rejects his advice -- instead choosing to navigate the labyrinthine streets with instinct as her only guide. Later, after waking in a strange hotel room, Nadine has a series of bizarre run-ins with such mysterious figures as idiosyncratic hotel clerk Victor (Danny Pino) and enigmatic Old Tijuana matriarch Mrs. Gonzalez (Patricia Reyes Spindola). Driven near the point of insanity due to the indecipherable language spoken by Victor and Mrs. Gonzalez, Nadine is momentarily snapped back to reality due to the surprise appearance of her husband James. But no one can be trusted when the only thing dividing dreams from reality is a single, spare thread, and now Nadine is about to discover what really lies in that mysterious zone between life and death. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Poppy Montgomery, Adam Kaufman, (more)
