Richard Moll Movies

Mel (Vic Tayback) makes the latest in a long line of efforts to improve efficiency at the diner by installing a computer. Alas, our hero has made a fatal error, as proven when clumsy Vera (Beth Howland) gets her hands on the computer and neatly erases all evidence of Mel's existence! This episode originally aired as a last-minute replacement for the long-delayed "Vera's Secret Lover." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An emotionally damaged cop investigating a spree of prostitute killings discovers that the dark side of Las Vegas is decidedly more grim than he ever suspected in director David Heavener's gruesome thriller. When a series of teenaged prostitutes fall to the blade of a murderous madman and authorities are left scratching their heads, Detective Bradley Cooper (Heavener) hits the streets in hopes of taking the killer down. Detective Cooper has problems of his own, though, and upon uncovering what he believes to be the truth behind the ruthless killings, he soon realizes just how deadly knowledge can be. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

In the modern-day retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk, a young man named Jack (J.D. Daniels) is looking for a way to help out his financially stressed single mother. Finding a handful of magic seeds, Jack plants them and soon discovers that a gigantic beanstalk has sprouted, leading into the sky and to a strange but remarkable world of giants and adventure. The supporting cast includes Margot Kidder and Richard Moll. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr plays a prehistoric, social outcast who, along with other misfits, forms his own tribe and finds various comic adventures. This spoof is mostly without dialogue besides the expected neanthropic grunt. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

In this youthful film, to juvenile delinquents must spend a year in a military academy. They immediately begin driving their superior officers crazy. The film is also titled Combat Academy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

It probably takes an intimate acquaintance with East Germany's famously awful car, a smoky, noisy two-cylinder lawnmower on wheels, the Trabant 601, to fully appreciate the jokes in this extremely popular, celebrity-filled comedy. In the story, Gunther (German television star Thomas Gotttschalk) is an East German inventor who has journeyed with his homely car to an inventor's convention in Hollywood: he has figured out a way to get his Trabbi to run on turnip juice and zoom like a sports car. When his odd car is stolen, he tries to get it back, but L.A. and it's culture are alien to him and he is very much a fish out of water, despite the friendly advice he receives from Billy Dee Williams as a knowledgeable parking-lot attendant. Look for cameos by Milton Berle and Dom DeLuise, among others. This Trabbi film is a sequel to the enormously popular comedy Go, Trabi, Go. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Professional weirdo Clint Howard plays one of his more interesting oppressed-geek roles in this occult revenge thriller about a tormented military-school nerd (apparently in his mid-thirties!) whose personal computer provides the only solace from the endless taunts and pranks of his fellow cadets. He also has an intense fascination with the occult, leading him to investigate an arcane tome secreted within an ancient, crumbling chapel. In an attempt to decipher the text, he feeds it into the computer, which translates the writings into actual working spells. As Clint's mind reels with the possibilities of sweet revenge against his cruel classmates and teachers, the demonic forces once trapped within the book begin to exert control over his mind and body. Before long, he is able to summon an army of snarling devil-pigs (no, that's not a misprint) to do his evil bidding. Though this is essentially a gender-bent rip-off of Carrie, there is enough in the way of spooky atmosphere and well-staged shocks to keep less discriminating horror fans interested. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Incorporating themes from horror films of both the '50s and the '70s, this suspenseful TV movie stars Cornel Wilde and Jennifer Salt as an archaeologist and his daughter, who discover a strange skull on display at a roadside tourist trap. After the museum owner is killed during an attack from an unseen foe, the pair are subsequently pursued across the American Southwest by a tribe of humanoid creatures that bear a striking resemblance to the gargoyles of myth, leading to a manic game of cat-and-mouse across the desert. This enjoyably spooky film essentially riffs on this one-note premise for over 70 minutes -- sort of an inversion of Night of the Living Dead's claustrophobic scenario -- and fortunately comes off quite well thanks to superb use of the desert locations, an eerie score, uniformly good performances, and Emmy award-winning monster costumes from Stan Winston. A young Scott Glenn appears as a roguish biker who throws in with the good guys after taking a shine to the professor's daughter. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Seven teens on the way to a party discover that they're in danger of losing their heads to a vengeful ghost that won't stop killing until he's gathered enough gourds to make a complete collection in this low-budget shocker featuring Night Court's Richard Moll. Local legend around the "lost" town of Wormwood states that on All Hallow's Eve one-hundred years ago, a local lunatic tortured the town youngsters by submerging them in boiling oil. When the local townspeople discovered what was happening to their children, they ripped the man from his home and chopped off his head. Now, every seven years, the killer returns to claim another seven heads. Tonight is the night he is set to return to Wormwood, and as the unsuspecting teens make their way through the wilderness they wander right into town square. It's a foreboding place where bones line Main Street and the locals cower in fear of the supernatural wrath to come. Will these seven teens be able to keep their heads until the dawn sends this headless demon back to hell, or is it time for the savage specter's reign to finally come to an end? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

At the end of Highlander, Juan Ramirez (Sean Connery) died and Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) was rendered mortal. "Highlander 2: The Quickening begins in 1999 when Connor solves the problem of an ever-depleting ozone layer on the earth by devising a giant shield around the entire planet. The earth is saved, except for the fact that it is now a continual 99 degrees, and the earth is plunged into 24 hours of darkness. 40 years later, Connor is an elderly man with liver spots, heading out for the opera. Then there is a flashback of Connor recalling his halcyon days on the planet Zeist hundreds of years earlier. Back on Zeist, Connor and Ramirez led a futile coup against the ruling dictator, Katana (Michael Ironside), that caused them to be banished to Earth. Back in the future, Katana sends a pair of wacky goons to kill Connor. When Connor lops off their heads, he is now young again...and immortal. Just the right time to meet the attractive scientist Louise Marcus (Virginia Madsen), who has discovered that the shield around the earth is no longer needed since the ozone layer has repaired itself. But, unfortunately, the shield is in the clutches of an evil cartel who wants to control the earth's resources. Connor and Louise team up to battle the cartel while Katana sends out more emissaries to get Connor. Ramirez, although supposedly dead, also makes an appearance in the 21st century -- garbed in full Scottish regalia. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

A mild box-office hit for New World Pictures, this lightweight attempt at horror parody from Friday the 13th producer Sean S. Cunningham stars former Greatest American Hero William Katt as a best-selling pop-horror novelist (a la Stephen King) who suffers an insurmountable case of writer's block after separation from his soap-star wife (Kay Lenz) and the disappearance of their young son. Hoping to purge his personal demons by writing his Vietnam War memoirs, he moves into the massive mansion once occupied by his deceased aunt (who hanged herself in her bedroom), and finds himself surrounded by demons of a completely different kind. Katt takes the weirdness in stride, attempting to face down marauding monsters, interdimensional trap-doors and other supernatural horrors while concealing his predicament from the neighbors (except for a befuddled George Wendt, who tries gamely to play along with Katt's hare-brained monster-fighting schemes). Despite the filmmakers' admirable efforts to maintain the manic pace with multiple storylines, their attempt to bring all the plot elements together for the climactic payoff results in a jangled mess. Surprisingly entertaining when viewed as a live-action cartoon, but virtually impossible to take seriously as a horror film. Followed by three sequels. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

When a tour bus driver plans to save his daughter from her captors, a Belgian circus performer, the Americans on his European bus tour lend a help hand. ~ All Movie Guide

While at the bank to make a deposit, Laverne (Penny Marshall) finds herself in the middle of a robbery. In the course of events, she manages to get herself handcuffed to bank robber Louis Armstrong (played by Night Court's future "Bull", Richard Moll). As a result, she is forced to go on the lam with the fleeing bandit, and inevitably finds herself in the line of fire during the climactic showdown with the Law. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide