Ellen McElduff Movies
- 1986
Dead End Kids is not a belated entry in Leo Gorcey/Huntz Hall manifest, but instead the film adaptation of Mabou Mines' off-Broadway play. The full title is Dead End Kids: A Story of Nuclear Power, and that is essentially that. Scientific articles, interviews and eyewitness accounts are woven together to trace the history and consequences of nuclear energy. The cast includes David Byrne and Phillip Glass, who also wrote the film's music. Though its visual style cannot be described as cinematic, Dead End Kids is one of the best of the many filmed "readings" on the subject of nuclear power that appeared in the mid-1980s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ellen McElduff, George Bartenieff, (more)
The Working Girls in this New York-based film are laboring away at the World's Oldest Profession. Molly (Louise Smith), a Yale grad whos lives with her lesbian lover, turns tricks to keep food on the table. She approaches each day with fear and loathing, carrying out her responsibilities with crisp, businesslike efficiency. Her coworkers include Gina (Marussia Zach), who hopes to stay a hooker just long enough to finance her own business, and Dawn (Amanda Goodwin), an outspoken college student who harbors dreams of becoming a lawyer. The film covers a single day in the lives of these three ladies, neither judging nor apologizing: a job's a job, the film seems to be saying, whether it's punching a clock or rolling in the sack with an elderly stranger. Director Lizzie Borden's matter-of-fact approach to her material (based on six months' worth of interviewing genuine prostitutes) places Working Girls head and shoulders above the usual lachrymose "ladies of the evening" drama. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louise Smith, Ellen McElduff, (more)
- 1985
- R
Independent filmmaker Mark Rappaport paints a wicked picture of the New York Yuppie scene in Chain Letters. The story involves nine upwardly mobile Manhattanites, all of whom receive a chain letter. Depending on their decision to either pass the letter on or to break the chain, the various characters encounter romance, fulfillment--and sudden death. Mark Arnott, Reed Birney, David Brisbin and Randy Danson are the four letter recipients whom we're supposed to care about most. Director Rappaport also handled writing and coproducing chores on Chain Letters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mark Arnott, Reed Birney, (more)
He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake, and it's best not to get on his bad side in this quirky thriller that's gained a loyal cult following. Harry Straddling (Brandon Maggart) was traumatized as a child, when late at night on Christmas Eve, he walked into the family living room and saw his father, dressed as Santa Claus, having sex with his mother. Now grown to adulthood, Harry is malignly obsessed with the holiday season, particularly the myths of Santa Claus; he works for a toy company, he sleeps in a Santa suit, his apartment is stuffed with Christmas memorabilia, and he spies on the neighborhood children, keeping track of who has been good and bad. Harry's insistence that the toy company maintain high manufacturing standards does little to endear him to his co-workers, and his brother Phillip (Jeffrey DeMunn) thinks Harry has started to go off the deep end. One day, Harry snaps, and after dressing up as Santa, he steals a truckload of toys and delivers them to a mental hospital as presents for the young patients -- all well and good. But when Harry is then confronted by a group of people who don't believe he's Father Christmas, Harry reacts with violence, setting off a murder spree. Terror in Toyland (which was first released as You Better Watch Out and is now available on video as Christmas Evil) also features Patricia Richardson, who makes her film debut in a small role more than a decade before she gained fame on the TV series Home Improvement. Danny Federici of Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band also has a cameo, as an accordion player at a community center dance. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brandon Maggart, Diane Hull, (more)
- 1979
Impostors is a low-budget, hard-to-figure independent film by director Mark Rappaport. The actors intentionally parrot lines in an emotionless fashion as the story about two seemingly murderous, vaudeville magicians unfolds. Chuckie (Charles Ludlam) and Mikey (Michael Burg) borrow from models like Peter Lorre characters or the Marx Brothers in their antics. Their assistant Tina (Ellen McElduff) is of a dual sexual persuasion, apparently. One of her liaisons (Peter Evans) turns out to be a bit of an imposter himself but a lot can be forgiven because of the cash that comes with him. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Ludlam, Michael Burg, (more)
