Renee O'Connor Movies

An astronaut doctor and his fellow space traveler return to planet Earth after an extended mission only to find that the human population has been enslaved by a race of evil aliens in director Josh Becker's kitchy tale of terror from the skies. Ivan Hood (Bruce Campbell) and his partner, Kelly (Renee O' Connor), have been away on a mission in deep space for 40 years. Of course, quite a lot can change over the course of four decades, and when Ivan and Kelly discover that the Earth has been overrun by finger-eating bugs from outer space, they set out to start a revolution designed to take back the planet. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A young woman attempts to cure her phobia of the boogeyman by checking herself into a mental health facility, only to realize too little too late that she is now helplessly trapped with her own greatest fear. Editor-turned-director Jeff Betancourt takes the helm for this Ghost House Pictures shocker scripted by Brian Sieve and starring Tobin Bell, Danielle Savre, David Gallagher, Michael Graziadei, and Mae Whitman. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Darkman is up to his old tricks. He's robbing from the criminals and keeping for himself so he can further perfect his synthetic skin which dissolves after 99 minutes in the light. His old arch-nemesis, Robert Durrant (Larry Drake) returns, having survived the helicopter crash in the first film. Durant attempts to rebuild his crumbling empire by devising a new particle gun to sell on the market. After Durant kills a young scientist for his warehouse, Darkman goes on a rampage, vowing to destroy Durant once and for all. Darkman concocts masks of his enemies and infiltrates Durant's gang, turning everyone on themselves. This sequel is above the typical direct-to-video quality and director May has captured Raimi's comic-book style, but the energy that propelled the original is sorely missing here. Welcome back is Drake who once again astonishes with a gleefully maniacal performance, rightfully stealing the show. Replacing the title character is Arnold Vosloo, who coolly plays Darkman without the enraged melodramatics Liam Neeson brought to his portrayal of the tormented hero. This sequel was actually filmed after Darkman III: Die, Darkman, Die but was released on video first despite the fact that Universal thought it looked good enough to release into theaters. ~ Sean D. MacLaggan, All Movie Guide

Waylaid and left for dead by an enemy agent, U.S. intelligence officer Harlan Erickkson (Stacy Keach) awakens with amnesia. Because his assailant had switched clothes and identification with him, Erickkson now believes that he's the enemy spy. The authorities think so too, and lock up Erickkson for nearly 20 years. Upon his release, Erickkson, still suffering from memory loss, is inexorably drawn to his home town. Once we meet his family, we can understand why Erickkson has blocked out his prior existence! The film segues from an espionage melodrama to a "family skeleton" affair straight out of Faulkner. Veronica Cartwright and Genevieve Bujold, cast respectively as Keach's bibulous sister-in-law and a local radio deejay, do what they can with impossibly written roles. False Identity was directed by star Stacy Keach's brother James. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The second of five made-for-TV movies starring Kevin Sorbo as legendary muscleman Hercules, this one pits the title character against his most fearsome enemy--his own immortal stepmother, Hera. Using a number of disguises, the villainess does her best (or worst) to thwart Hercules in his search for the lost city of Troy. Before long, it is apparent that our hero is surrounded by nothing but enemies, save for the beautiful and mysterious Deineira (played by future Xena: Warrior Princess regular Renee O'Connor)--but can even she be trusted? Anthony Quinn is seen as Hercule's Olympian father Zeus. Hercules and the Lost Kingdom was syndicated in the US beginning in early May of 1994. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comic episode set in "the present," the production team responsible for the weekly series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys -- whose members bear striking resemblances to the series' principal characters -- are threatened with unemployment by studio boss Hollinshoffer (Robert Trebor) unless they can come up with some fresh new story ideas. Hoping to work in atmosphere of peace and quiet, the staff heads to Camp Wannachuck, a summer retreat presided over by perky counselor Sunny Day (Renee O'Connor) and the less-than-perky (and appropriately named) Norma Bates (Tamara Gorski). Before long, however, the production team is plagued by a series of murder attempts, and it falls to Kevin Sorbo, the actor who stars as Hercules (or is he the genuine article?) to save the day -- and to supply the staff with enough storylines to last them at least another season-and-a-half. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) draws what seems to be the easiest duty of the week: tracking down the Academy Award statuette stolen from a veteran screenwriter. Meanwhile, Sipowicz's colleagues investigate the brutal slaying of a wealthy family, and Janice (Amy Brenneman) is again ordered to infiltrate the Mob. This last turn of events doesn't sit well with Kelly (David Caruso), who has a bitter confrontation with Janice. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the early '90s, Brian Bosworth made the seamless transition from football bad boy to onscreen bad ass. In Stone Cold, the Boz plays cop Joe Huff, a brute force specialist. The FBI contracts him to take down a biker gang known as the Brotherhood, who have been implicated in drug trafficking and several murders. Joe assumes the personality of John Stone and goes undercover. His mission seems not to bust the gang but rather to kill with excessive force. Before he can take the law into his own hands, however, he has to get in with the gang's leader, the impressively tough Chains. The Boz doesn't disappoint, and he gets his chance in the final confrontation where he takes on several score of the Brotherhood in the street battle to end all street battles. ~ Brian Whitener, All Movie Guide

This eighth adaptation of the timeless Mark Twain novel casts Elijah Wood as Huckleberry Finn, the half-literate son of a drunk who runs away from home and follows the Mississippi River with an escaped slave named Jim (Courtney S. Vance). Along the way, the duo encounter adventures with colorful characters like The King (Jason Robards) and the Duke (Robbie Coltrane), two con men who impersonate British visitors in order to swindle two sisters out of their fortune, and Susan Wilks (Laura Bundy), the spunky 12-year-old girl who gives Huck his first kiss. Jim also re-educates Huck away from the racist views that he has grown up with. Not the most in-depth version of Twain's tale, The Adventures Of Huck Finn is a solid retelling of the classic story. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

Created by John Schulian and Robert Tapert, the New Zealand-filmed Xena: Warrior Princess was a spin-off of the tongue-in-cheek "sword and sorcery" series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. As introduced on Hercules, Xena (Lucy Lawless) was a fierce and formidable villainess, the leader of a vast army bent on destruction and devastation. There was some justification for this: As a child, Xena had witnessed the destruction of her home village and the brutal murder of her brother at the hands of a despotic warlord. At first forming her army to protect other peasants like herself, she became consumed with a lust for power and was soon conquering for the sake of being the conqueror. But through her association with the virtuous Hercules, Xena experienced an epiphany, casting off her former evil ways and devoting the rest of her life to making amends to her victims and protecting the innocent -- a task complicated by the many enemies she had made during her Warrior Princess years, who neither forgave nor forgot, and by the unsavory alliances she had forged during those same years. No sooner had Xena "seen the light" than she rescued the citizens of a village besieged by yet another evil warlord. Among those saved was young and beautiful Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor), an aspiring "bard" (writer and artist) who became Xena's constant companion, first because she idolized the former warrior princess and was eager to experience adventure first-hand, but ultimately because she was Xena's devoted friend and confidant.
In the course of the series' six seasons, Xena and Gabrielle journeyed through Greece, Italy, Scandanavia, Africa, India, and China, with side trips to the Underworld -- ruled by Xena's erstwhile crony Hades -- and to the future, in which the two heroines found themselves in reincarnated form. Predicated on the theory that anything is possible in a fantasy series, both Xena and Gabrielle were "killed" and "resurrected" on several occasions, and both bore children who grew up to become their nemeses: Xena's daughter Eve (Adrienne Wilkinson) reached adulthood as the much-feared warrior queen Livia, the lover of war god Ares (Kevin Smith), while Gabrielle's offspring Hope (Amy Morrison), whose father was "force of darkness" Dahak, would have to be killed at her mother's hand in order to save Mankind (Xena also had reason to despise Hope; it was she who killed Xena's long-estranged son, Solon). In one memorable instance, Xena briefly assumed the form of another woman -- a metamorphosis necessitated by a real-life accident which sidelined Lucy Lawless for several weeks. Lest this all sound a bit grim and morbid, it must be noted that the series, like its predecessor, Hercules, had a healthy, irreverent sense of humor, as encapsulated by the light-hearted "disclaimers" which appeared at the end of each episode. There was also time to spoof such modern-day phenomena as beauty contests, spaghetti Westerns, Danny Kaye films, theme parks, pro wrestling, Broadway musicals, and even such TV shows as You Are There and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There was also a cheerily contemptuous disregard for the time line of "real" history, with Xena and Gabrielle crossing the paths of Julius Caesar, Ulysses, Genghis Khan, Cleopatra, David and Goliath, Brunnhilde, and many other past "celebrities," both genuine and imaginary. Generally, the series' jocular treatment of Myth, Mysticism, Religion, and Reality was accepted in the spirit in which it was intended; but on one occasion, an angry protest from a Hindu extremist group obliged the producers to remove the fourth season episode "The Way" from the series' rerun package.
Of Xena's many recurring characters, the best known and most often seen included Xena and Gabrielle's clumsy, wannabe warrior friend Joxer (Ted Raimi); Xena's mortal enemy, the blonde female warrior Callisto (Hudson Leick); troublesome traveling salesman Salmoneus (Robert Trebor); self-proclaimed king of thieves Autolycus (Bruce Campbell); Amazon princess Ephiny (Danielle Cormack), who enabled Gabrielle to join her all-female tribe; teenaged Amazon Amarice (Jennifer Sky), who became to Gabrielle what Gabrielle was to Xena; healer and shaman Eli (Timothy Omundson), Gabrielle's spiritual mentor; and an impressive array of "immortals," including the aforementioned Ares and Hades, goddess of love Aphrodite (Alexandra Tydings), sea deity Poseidon (Charles Siebert, who also directed several episodes), and the puckish Cupid (Karl Urban, who also played Julius Caesar). And, of course, the star of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Kevin Sorbo, made a few courtesy calls on Xena. Syndicated in the U.S. beginning September 15, 1995, Xena: Warrior Princess was subsequently telecast in practically every English-speaking country in the world, then went on to virtually every other country where television existed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

During a typical 24 hours in the life of a former Warrior Princess, Xena (Lucy Lawless) must prevent a warlord from destroying a village, stop a battle between two giants, and contend with a villager named Hower (Murray Keane) who has fallen in love with her. All the while, she must also try to keep Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) from driving her crazy. And, oh yes, she even finds time to fly a kite. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this Xena-styled spin on the spaghetti Western genre, a wounded man surrenders a parchment map leading to the lost treasure of the Sumerian Empire. Inasmuch as that treasure includes ambrosia, the substance that can turn humans into immortals, Xena (Lucy Lawless) and Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) decide to go prospecting. In order to find the treasure, Xena is forced to team up with a pair of unsavory characters -- one of whom had been her fiancé back in the Bad Old Days. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After battling Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) in the previous episode "The Quest," ferocious Amazon warrior Velasca (Melinda Clarke) manages to become an immortal god by consuming mass quantities of ambrosia. As the unkillable Velasca prepares to destroy Gabrielle, Xena (Lucy Lawless) realizes that only an Immortal can battle another Immortal. Thus, she summons her arch enemy Callisto (Renee O'Connor), now a god herself, to save Gabrielle from harm. Callisto agrees -- but first, she demands a stiff and daunting price for her services. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide