Russ Terlecki Movies
- 2008
Writer/director Jeff Fisher, who cut his teeth directing episodes of such popular reality shows as The Simple Life and The Real World/Road Rules Challenge, make his feature directorial debut with this slasher satire about a television crew being stalked by a murderous psychopath. Up and coming television director Jake Tanner is out of a job. The reality show he was working on, "Back to the Ranch," has been cancelled, and now his agent has landed him a job as replacement director on yet another reality show - this one tracing the unlikely winning streak of a North Dakota high school hockey team. The first order of business for Jake is to contend with demanding celebutante Blanca Champion, who has been hired on as a production assistant. But Blanca doesn't seem to be taking the job too seriously, because when she's not taking cat naps or hitting on the local teenage boys, she spends most of her time researching an upcoming film role that she hopes will be her big breakthrough. Later, when Tanner's crew-members start disappearing, Blanca proves to be the least of his worries. The body count is piling up fast, but who could be responsible? Is it the bible-thumping ex-convict from the backwoods, the short-fused hockey coach, or perhaps the producer with an unhealthy fixation on ratings? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Wesley, Kaley Cuoco, (more)
- 2008
The December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake qualifies as one of the most formidable natural disasters in modern history; the death toll far exceeded 275,000 (with many of the casualties documented as simply lost instead of dead) and thousands upon thousands of small towns and villages in the far east were annihilated or damaged to nearly irreperable levels. Alison Thompson's social activist documentary The Third Wave chronicles the experiences of four volunteers who traveled to one such town - Peraliya, Sri Lanka - to assist in any way possible. The film begins by documenting the heartbreak, confusion and devastation in that geographic area, but quickly spirals into a tale of uplift about the community renaissance initiated when a cadre of determined men and women join forces and work toward an improved way of life for the disadvantaged. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
John Savage and Mary Catherine Stewart star in Pet Sematary director Mary Lambert's foreboding tale of a mysterious Victorian home, and one particularly vengeful doppelganger. Shortly after moving into a sprawling Victorian home with her controlling father (Savage) and former beauty-queen mother Stewart), frightened teen Emma (Elisabeth Moss) begins seeing ghastly visions of her deceased twin sister. As the visions become increasingly vivid Emma begins to wonder if she is slowly going insane, eventually confiding her dark secret in her mentally handicapped older brother Frankie (Tom Malloy). When Frankie proves unable to comprehend the true depth of his sister's fear, Emma gradually begins to suspect that her parents have begun practicing a diabolical form of Wicca in order to resurrect their deceased child. Now the only one who will listen to Emma is kindly local police detective John Trevor (Jason Lewis, yet while the attic of the her picturesque Victorian home may finally provide an answer to all of Emma's questions, it could also prove the very place she meets a grim demise. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Lewis, John Savage, (more)
Wrong Turn director Rob Schmidt takes the helm for this thriller inspired by the grim true-life exploits of an alphabet-obsessed New York serial killer and starring Timothy Hutton, Cary Elwes, Eliza Dushku, and Michael Ironside. When Rochester, NY-based police investigator Megan Paige (Dushku) discovers that ten year old Carla Castillo was brutally raped and murdered in nearby Churchville, she becomes convinced that the department is dealing with a serial killer. Paige is a driven detective whose devotion to her job often crosses the border into obsession. Her fiancé, Kenneth Shine (Elwes), is a lieutenant with the Rochester Police Department, and as both jockey for the same promotion, the cracks in their relationship begin to show. Later, when Megan becomes haunted by visions of Carla and fails to solve the case, a concerned Captain Gullikson (Tom Noonan) takes her off of the case. Suffering a nervous breakdown shortly thereafter, Megan is diagnosed with adult onset of paranoid schizophrenia and placed in a psychiatric hospital, where she promptly breaks off her engagement to Kenneth.
Two years later, Megan has returned to the precinct as a records clerk, and Kenneth is now the head of the department. Over time, Megan begins developing a friendship with wheelchair-bound Richard Ledge (Hutton). When a local girl named Wendy Walsh is abducted, raped, and murdered in Webster, Megan convinces Kenneth to let her ride along with Detective Steven Harper (Tom Malloy) as an advisor to the case. But the gruesome nature of the case once again prompts strange visions for Megan. Now she is haunted by two murder victims, and to make matters worse, she's beginning to develop embarrassing involuntary ticks and stops taking her medication. As the hallucinations get worse and the case starts to run cold, Megan struggles to find the one piece of evidence that will lead them to the killer before her dark side takes over once again. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Two years later, Megan has returned to the precinct as a records clerk, and Kenneth is now the head of the department. Over time, Megan begins developing a friendship with wheelchair-bound Richard Ledge (Hutton). When a local girl named Wendy Walsh is abducted, raped, and murdered in Webster, Megan convinces Kenneth to let her ride along with Detective Steven Harper (Tom Malloy) as an advisor to the case. But the gruesome nature of the case once again prompts strange visions for Megan. Now she is haunted by two murder victims, and to make matters worse, she's beginning to develop embarrassing involuntary ticks and stops taking her medication. As the hallucinations get worse and the case starts to run cold, Megan struggles to find the one piece of evidence that will lead them to the killer before her dark side takes over once again. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eliza Dushku, Cary Elwes, (more)
