Diane Salinger Movies

One year after unsuspecting road trippers Jesse and Nicole were drilled, ripped, and splattered into oblivion, the same psychopath responsible the gruesome deaths of those two young girls returns to refine his torture skills on the three travelers who have come searching for them. Forever roaming the old highway in his Winnebago full of creepy living corpses, the killer finds himself struggling against the forces of the undead when Jesse and Nicole's ghosts return to exact their bloody revenge. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The Hollywood dreams of two runaway lovers are suddenly transformed into living nightmares when a momentary pause at an abandoned roadside rest stop turns into a struggle for survival against a predator who sadism knows no boundaries in this tense nail-biter from X-Files writer and executive producer John Shiban. The west coast was a long way off, and when Jess and Nichole decided to stretch their legs at a deserted rest stop they could never have anticipated the terror that awaited them. Now Jess has disappeared, and a savage stranger with a penchant for cruel games has turned up in her place. This is no coincidence, however, and before the day is over Nichole will be forced to fight for her life against a murderous maniac whose creative use of power tools will have her screaming for mercy. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

1934. The Dustbowl. The last great age of magic. In a time of titanic sandstorms, vile plagues, drought and pistilence - signs of God's fury and harbingers of the Apocalypse - the final conflict between good and evil is about to begin. The battle will take place in the Heartland of an empire called America. And when it is over, man will forever trade away wonder for reason. See the conflict of good vs. evil played out against a pair of vivid and unusual backdrops: a traveling carnival working the American Dustbowl circuit, and an evangelical ministry in California.

A girl poised on the brink of adolescence finds herself shouldering a whole new set of responsibilities in this made-for-TV drama based on the autobiographical book by Esmeralda Santiago. In 1961, Mami Santiago (Wanda De Jesus) decides to leave her life in a Puerto Rican farming community behind and move herself and her six children to New York City in search of a better life -- and better medical care for her ailing son. Mami's oldest daughter, Esmerelda (Ana Maria Lagasca) -- Negi for short -- not only has trouble adapting to her new environment, but doesn't quite fit in at her new school, where she's lumped in with other Spanish speaking students with whom she shares no common culture. Negi's burden is intensified by the fact her mother and siblings are counting on her to learn English and serve as the family's interpreter. One of Negi's teachers senses her creative gifts and arranges for her to audition for the Performing Arts School in Manhattan, but as Negi struggles to learn a monologue in a new language she has yet to master, she isn't sure if she has what it takes to make the grade. Esmeralda Santiago penned the screenplay for Almost A Woman from her own memoir; the film was first broadcast as part of the award-winning PBS anthology series Masterpiece Theater. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

After a member of Kira's former Shakaar Resistance group is killed, she receives a recording warning that several more of her old comrades-in-arms will die. Unable to stop the carnage, Kira comes to the terrifying conclusion that she is next on the hit list (and, by extension, so is her unborn child). Racing against time, she must expose the identity of the vendetta-seeking assassin, and what she learns is both shocking and saddening. First broadcast January 6, 1997, "The Darkness and the Light" was scripted by Ronald D. Moore from a story by Rene Echevarria. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When a woman hopes that a night of passion will grow into something deeper, she finds that her new beau may have some secrets in this erotic thriller. Ever since her divorce, Michelle Sanderson (Ally Sheedy) has tried to focus on her career in advertising, but she's become terribly lonely, and when she meets handsome stranger Jack Gillman (A. Martinez), without thinking, she joins him at his apartment for a long night of lovemaking. The next morning, she discovers that Jack is gone, along with his furniture; when she comes back later in the day, a man named Michael Joslyn (Frederic Forrest) is living at Jack's place and claims to know nothing about him. Jack eventually calls Michelle, and she sees him again; he tells her that he runs a construction business and that his wife passed away not long ago. However, Michelle later encounters Michael and his wife (Diane Salinger), and she discovers that they were the parents of Jack's late wife -- and that they're convinced that Jack is responsible for her death. One Night Stand marked the directorial debut of actress Talia Shire, best known for her roles in the Rocky films. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Duncan Regehr guest stars as Shakaar, a celebrated Bajoran resistance leader. Upon being appointed head of the Bajoran government, Kai Winn (Louise Fletcher) asks Kira to help her recover some much-needed agricultural equipment, currently in Shakaar's possession. Instead, Kira defiantly casts her lot with Shakaar's cause and becomes an outlaw herself. First made available to local syndication on May 22. 1995, "Shakaar" was written by Gordon Dawson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A legendary theatrical family gather for one final show at their East Hamptons estate in this verbose comedy-drama. Swedish actress Viveca Lindfors takes center stage as Helena, the family matriarch, who has made the difficult decision to sell the estate due to financial problems. A mixed group has come for what will be the last of the family's annual summer performances, a gathering that naturally brings conflicts and rivalries to the surface. Much of the trouble centers on Oona (Victoria Foyt), a financially successful Hollywood actress seeking artistic approval from such theatrical colleagues as avant-garde director Ivan (André Gregory) and gay playwright Jake (real-life dramatist Jon Robin Baitz), who each has difficulties of his own. As in all of writer/director Henry Jaglom's films, the focus is on conversation over action, as the various characters share personal torments and debate their individual philosophies. The talky, intellectual dialogue will be seen by some viewers as witty and perceptive and by others as pretentious and slow-moving. Regardless of one's opinion of Jaglom's idiosyncratic style, Last Summer in the Hamptons is distinguished by the presence of Lindfors in her final film, giving a career-capping performance that addresses the problems of older actresses and looks back fondly on the star's own history. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

When a private detective takes on a missing person assignment trying to find an Italian aristocrat's uncle, she discovers a conspiracy of murder and drugs. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

For sheer abject self-indulgence this side of an Eric Schaeffer movie, one need look no further than the films of Henry Jaglom. Jaglom's vanity productions require an intense Stalin-like loyalty to the filmmaker and his films going in, otherwise a viewer is lost. So when, in Venice/Venice, Henry Jaglom appears as a filmmaker named Dean at the Venice Film Festival, there promoting a film resembling a Henry Jaglom film, a viewer must give himself up to the force or walk out of the theater. Dean is the kind of pretentious Hollywood type who likes to wear his heart and his distribution contract on his sleeve, so when adoring European journalist Jeanne (Nelly Alard) inexplicably smiles at him the right way, filmgoers will come to understand why the film business is so attractive to wimpy film geeks. Jeanne and Dean fall in love and take a walking tour of Venice, but Jeanne pays no attention to the city, since she religiously hangs on every word Dean has to say regarding love, films, and destiny. Since there are more pearls of wisdom to be gloaned from this Bel-Air Gandhi, Jeanne willingly follows Dean back to Venice, California. Realizing that she has already spent too much time basking in the brilliance of Dean's sun, Penny (Melissa Leo), Dean's California girlfriend, obligingly offers to pack up and leave when she sees Dean returning to Southern California with Jeanne in tow. When Henry Jaglom talks, they all listen. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Woody Allen's character study of a well-kept, upscale Manhattan woman (Mia Farrow) takes the title character on a journey through a Wonderland of her own making, in which she learns some truths about herself, her relationships, and the universe in general. Alice leads a comfortable life, except for some nagging aches and pains, but when she visits the mysterious Dr. Yang (Keye Luke), he discovers that what really ails Alice is her own lack of true human experience. Alice has been married for sixteen years to Doug (William Hurt), an emotionally detached stockbroker, and she lives a perfectly maintained life in a perfectly maintained apartment, with a pair of children and the requisite support staff. All that changes when a chance meeting with a neighbor (Joe Mantegna) leads Alice to consider an affair. Dr. Yang, seizing the opportunity, gives Alice herbal potions that make her both invisible and seductive, allowing her to free herself from her inhibitions. Plunging into her new fantasy world, Alice ultimately comes to terms with her family, her husband, and her life. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

The 1988 TV movie Maybe Baby stars Jane Curtin as Julia, a 39-year-old career woman, married to upwardly mobile 57-year-old Hal (Dabney Coleman). Julia and Hal had originally agreed not to have children, but after heeding the tick-tock of her biological clock, Julia has changed her mind. At first resistant to the concept of parenthood, Hal goes along with his wife's new agenda, confident that at her age the chances of pregnancy are slim. But Julia does get pregnant--and suddenly begins to harbor second thoughts. Maybe Baby ends with Julia settling upon her third thoughts, and deciding to shoulder the burdens of late motherhood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide