Kathryn Meisle Movies
A teenage girl incurs the wrath of a psychotic killer after discovering the whereabouts of a young boy who's been missing for five years in this horror thriller from Malevolence writer/director Stevan Mena. Six-year-old Martin (Spencer List) was playing in his front yard when he was coaxed into a truck by reclusive maniac Graham Sutter (Brett Rickaby). In the years that followed, Sutter kept Martin locked up in a deserted Pennsylvania pig farm, all the while forcing the young boy to witness and participate in the most cruel forms of torture imaginable. Five years later, 17-year-old Allison Miller (Alexandra Daddario) is jogging in the country when she catches a glimpse of the young boy in one of the factory windows. Informed by her uncle Jonathan (Michael Biehn) that the factory has been abandoned for years, curious Allison returns shortly thereafter in an attempt to find the young boy, only to realize that once she has gotten in, she may never make it out alive. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michael Biehn, Alexandra Daddario, (more)
At the Millennium Building in NYC, the elevators have a problem... they just can't stop killing people! Pregnant women, skater dudes -- they're all on the menu for these possessed motorized beasts. As elevator repairman Mark Newman (James Marshal) delves deeper into the mystery, everyone from his boss to the building manager stand in his way. His only help comes from Jennifer Naomi Watts, a nosy reporter that smells a cover-up when she sees it. As the "accidents" pile up, the President and FBI get involved as the heroic couple come face to face with technology gone horribly, horribly wrong. Down is a direct remake (shot for shot at times) of director Dick Maas' early 80's cult flick The Lift. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi
- Starring:
- James Marshall, Naomi Watts, (more)
- 2000
- G
- Add Sally Hemings: An American Scandal to Queue Add Sally Hemings: An American Scandal to top of Queue
This miniseries details the complex real-life relationship between Thomas Jefferson (Sam Neill), author of the Declaration of Independence and his slave Sally Hemings (Carmen Ejogo). Fuelled by recent DNA evidence of the Hemings-Jefferson relationship, the miniseries sidesteps much of Jefferson's political life and instead focuses on the love story. Though she acquired her freedom at age 16 while traveling with Jefferson to France, she faithfully remained with her lover throughout his life in spite of emotional consequences to both her brother and her children -- who were doomed to be sold as slaves. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sam Neill, Carmen Ejogo, (more)
Rosewood is the true story of an almost unknown incident in a small Florida town, (fictionalized, but faithful to the known facts, as documented in a 1994 report by the Florida Legislature). The town was inhabited almost entirely by quiet, "middle-class" African- Americans (most of them home and land owners and better off than average at the time.) On New Year's day, 1923, the town was wiped off the face of the earth by angry whites from a neighboring community. Based on palpably false testimony by a single white woman against one "Black" stranger, many of the men of Rosewood were hunted down and lynched, or shot, or burned. The rest of the town's residents fled into the swamps and never returned. At the time, official reports stated that two to six people from the black community were slain. Neither the perpetrators nor the victims spoke of the incident again, which was promptly forgotten until 1983 when a reporter stumbled across the old story and began investigating. Interviews with surviving victims indicated that the previous reports were wrong; in reality, between 70 and 250 people were killed in Rosewood during the four-day attack.
The film is a human story, about human envy, greed and lust, about the totally insane psychology of a mob, but also about the courage and decency of common folks facing an unbelievable onslaught of evil. The courage of the black residents is self evident, and the decency on the part of a few white neighbors is reluctant, until they realize that they can't live with themselves if they don't help the woman and children to escape. The most notable black heroes are Sylvester (Don Cheadle) -- a music teacher and the best-educated man in town -- and Mann (Ving Rhames) -- a stranger on horseback with Samson-like strength who becomes the focus of white hatred and black resistance. The penny-pinching, adulterous town grocer John Wright (John Voight), one of the few white residents, also plays a key role in saving lives, but before he does, he must resolve painful racial issues and make a difficult personal choice. Eventually, though, he sees enough of the mob's evil to know what he must do, and with the help of the reluctant owner-operators of the Gainesville railway, he does it. John Singleton's powerful epic film does not present a "comfortable" view of the circumstances of this grim, little-known page from American history. ~ Michael P. Rogers, Rovi
The film is a human story, about human envy, greed and lust, about the totally insane psychology of a mob, but also about the courage and decency of common folks facing an unbelievable onslaught of evil. The courage of the black residents is self evident, and the decency on the part of a few white neighbors is reluctant, until they realize that they can't live with themselves if they don't help the woman and children to escape. The most notable black heroes are Sylvester (Don Cheadle) -- a music teacher and the best-educated man in town -- and Mann (Ving Rhames) -- a stranger on horseback with Samson-like strength who becomes the focus of white hatred and black resistance. The penny-pinching, adulterous town grocer John Wright (John Voight), one of the few white residents, also plays a key role in saving lives, but before he does, he must resolve painful racial issues and make a difficult personal choice. Eventually, though, he sees enough of the mob's evil to know what he must do, and with the help of the reluctant owner-operators of the Gainesville railway, he does it. John Singleton's powerful epic film does not present a "comfortable" view of the circumstances of this grim, little-known page from American history. ~ Michael P. Rogers, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jon Voight, Ving Rhames, (more)
- 1992
- PG13
Screenwriter Craig Bolotin takes a first stab at directing with That Night, a romantic reminiscence of teen love in 1960s Long Island based on a novel by Alice McDermott. Alice (Eliza Dushku) is a reserved, introspective 12-year-old girl who idealizes her neighbor, high-school student Sheryl (Juliette Lewis). Through Alice's point-of-view, we witness the deterioration of Sheryl's life after the death of her father. After becoming pregnant after a fling with the blunt Rick (C. Thomas Howell), Sheryl is whisked away to a home for unwed mothers. Observing Rick's torment, Alice crawls out of her shell to help him track down Sheryl and reunite the two lovers. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- C. Thomas Howell, Juliette Lewis, (more)
- 1990
An outwardly decent and upright family man is found in Central Park, beaten senseless by a baseball bat. The police investigation reveals that the victim was a customer of wealthy socialite Laura Winthrop (Patricia Clarkson), who keeps solvent by running an expensive "escort service." At her subsequent trial, Winthrop may beat the rap thanks to the power of public opinion; after all, isn't prostitution a victimless crime? But the D.A.'s office has a trump card in the form of one of Winthrop's girls, who has tested positive for AIDS. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Although it took eight years for cult director Frank Henenlotter to revisit the twisted world of Duane Bradley (Kevin Van Hentenryck) and his basket-bound, mutant former Siamese twin Belial, this sequel picks up the plot mere moments after the original Basket Case ended, finding the psychically-linked brothers mangled but very much alive after the rather aggressive tiff that pitched them out a Bowery flophouse window. They manage to elude the authorities, escape the hospital (to avoid having to explain the dozen-or-so murders committed by gnarled, lumpy Belial), and eventually find sanctuary at the palatial home of Granny Ruth (jazz songbird Annie Ross), an eccentric activist who rallies the cause of "Unique Individuals" like Belial who have been ostracized by society for their horrific appearance and behavior. (Unique, indeed... Ruth's tenants run the gamut from a boy with 18-inch teeth to a woman who looks like a
hammerhead shark in a summer frock.) Although the pair soon grow quite accustomed to their new home, they are eventually forced to confront their murderous past, thanks to a tabloid reporter and a cynical cop, both of whom come to regret sticking their noses into places where such appendages tend to get bitten off. Henenlotter deserves credit for exploring new terrain in this interesting follow-up, but his reliance on outrageous makeup effects diminishes the effectiveness of the "Monsters Are People Too" theme -- it's hard to work up much empathy toward Ruth's charges, depicted as mute automatons by actors wearing 70 pounds of foam latex on their heads. Not that Henenlotter doesn't return to grotesque form now and then -- particularly for the most disgusting love scene on record and the effective shock ending, which paves the way for yet another sequel. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
hammerhead shark in a summer frock.) Although the pair soon grow quite accustomed to their new home, they are eventually forced to confront their murderous past, thanks to a tabloid reporter and a cynical cop, both of whom come to regret sticking their noses into places where such appendages tend to get bitten off. Henenlotter deserves credit for exploring new terrain in this interesting follow-up, but his reliance on outrageous makeup effects diminishes the effectiveness of the "Monsters Are People Too" theme -- it's hard to work up much empathy toward Ruth's charges, depicted as mute automatons by actors wearing 70 pounds of foam latex on their heads. Not that Henenlotter doesn't return to grotesque form now and then -- particularly for the most disgusting love scene on record and the effective shock ending, which paves the way for yet another sequel. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kevin Van Hentenryck, Annie Ross, (more)
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