Bruce Abbott Movies

Once again tampering with mother nature to disastrous results, Dr. Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) continues his research in director Brian Yuzna's second sequel to the 1985 splatter classic Re-Animator. Currently serving time in a maximum security prison for his previous exploits, West's limited prison-cell experiments are suddenly interrupted by the arrival of Howard Phillips (Jason Barry), the new prison doctor and the brother of the girl who suffered from West's experiments 13 years earlier. Knowledgeable of West's previous experiments and eager to assist the mad doctor in continuing his studies, the naive Phillips discovers that West's continued studies have revealed a more effective means of bringing back the dead -- the removal of an individual's Neuroplasm, or soul, and the injection of it into a newly reanimated corpse. An electrical phenomenon discharged at the moment of death, with the discovery of the Neuroplasm West may have finally discovered the missing link to effectively bringing life to death. Or not. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Set in a future American metropolis, Metro City, this sci-fi-thriller features a policewoman heroine who like the hero in Robocop was brought back from the dead and turned into a super-human fighter. Unlike the aforementioned robot-man, however, she is brought back not with hardware, but with special drugs and a heavy duty training program. The woman dislikes the drugs because of the nightmares they create, but she is dedicated and so completes her regimen so successfully that she is called the Demolitionist and sent out to clean up the city's crime-fouled streets. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This B-movie from director Rodman Flender (The Unborn) was originally broadcast on Showtime's Roger Corman Presents series. Joan Severance stars as a cop who becomes a leather-clad superhero named Black Scorpion when her father is murdered in a barroom shooting. The murder is part of a seemingly random crimewave engineered by an asthmatic villain called the Breathtaker, who wears a big metal suit like comic book bad-guy Dr. Doom. Breathtaker is planning to turn the whole city into his wheezing slaves by way of poisoned gas masks, and Severance must stop him. In between, she gets former car-thief Argyle (Saturday Night Live alumnus Garrett Morris) to build her a super Scorpion-mobile and tries to keep her identity secret from former partner/lover Bruce Abbott (Re-Animator). ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

Moving its production unit from Spain to Hollywood for its second season, Dark Justice serves up 22 new episodes in which the benevolent vigilante group The Night Watchman, secretly commandeered by Judge Nick Marshall, mete out punishment to criminals who have otherwise evaded capture by using the intricacies of the legal system for their own advantage. This year, Bruce Abbott replaces Ramy Zada in the leading role of Judge Marshall, though Dick O'Neill and Clayton Prince return as the Judge's versatile operatives Moon and Gibs. Also carried over from season one is Carrie-Ann Moss as Marshall's faithful "Girl Friday" Tara, though she would only appear in a handful of episodes. New to the Night Watchman team is sexy private eye Kelly Cochrane (Janet Gunn), who tumbles to Marshall's secret identity but who joins his team after he tracks down the "dirty cops" who have ganged-raped her right outside the Federal courthouse. Another new face is that of Joanne Haas as Kari-Lynn, a toothsome waitress who occasionally assists the Night Watchmen in their various schemes and scams. The move from Spain to Tinseltown enables the producers to hire more easily recognizable actors for guest-star appearances. Among those showing up in Season Two of Dark Justice are Elyssa Davalos,Erin Gray, andahl Bergman, David Groh, Joseph Campanella, Priscilla Barnes and Lauren Tewes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Dillinger is a messily directed, haphazardly edited TV movie, which takes a revisionist squint at the criminal career of the 1930s' Public Enemy Number One. Mark Harmon captures some of the charisma but little of the ruthlessness of John Dillinger, while Sherilyn Fenn gives an anachronistic interpretation of the gun moll who eventually betrays Johnny D. to the Feds. Vince Edwards is supposed to be FBI founder J. Edgar Hoover, but comports himself more like a grouchy crossing guard. The film is rife with poorly staged gun battles (including the Biograph Theatre finale), shot in a shivery "MTV" fashion which suggests that the camera operator has St. Vitas' Dance. Most of Dillinger was lensed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; the 1930s-style exteriors were well chosen, though the interior scenes at FBI headquarters look like they were filmed inside the Milwaukee Public Library--which indeed they were. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this crime drama set during the 1940s an honest detective and his task force take on the mob in old Chicago. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Kathleen Quinlan is Trapped in this made-for-cable thriller. Cast as a junior executive, Quinlan finds herself electronically locked inside a high-rise office building. Think she's all alone? Mais non, monsieur. There must needs be a homicidal maniac (Ben Loggins) on the premises, else the movie would be only 12 minutes long. Trapped premiered June 14, 1989, over the--you guessed it--USA Cable network. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the late '80s, good-time girl Stacy (Lea Thompson) and her timid friend, Melissa (Victoria Jackson), decide to hit a health spa for singles in hopes of spicing up their unfulfilled sex lives. Afraid of AIDS, Stacy has gone celibate, while Melissa has only ever managed to get it on with two lame guys. Arriving at the resort, the women spend their time working out, flirting with staff members, making friends and enemies with their fellow singles, and avoiding the attentions of the oafish Vinny (Andrew Dice Clay). When a cruel psychologist plays mind games with Melissa, she finds solace with Vinny, then flees the spa, interrupting an incipient romance between Stacy and a cute aerobics instructor. Wendy Goldman and Judy Toll adapted their own stage play, while Casual Sex? provided director Genevieve Robert her only feature credit to date. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

Mutants pose a problem to humans in a post-holocaust world. ~ Rovi

Based on a 1983 novel by Dan Jenkins, Baja Oklahoma is set sometime in the 1950s. Texas barmaid Lesley Ann Warren wants more than anything to be a rich and famous country-western songwriter. Unfortunately, she spends most of her time sorting out her many dead-end romances. Just when she thinks she's ready for the big move to Nashville, along comes her erstwhile old flame Peter Coyote. Deftly stealing every scene she's in is Swoosie Kurtz as Warren's hot-to-trot best pal. Willie Nelson, who cowrote the film's title song with Dan Jenkins, makes a guest appearance, along with such other C&W favorites as Emmylou Harris and Bob Wills Jr. Actress Alice Krige is superb as songstress Patsy Cline-far better, incidentally, than Jessica Lange in Sweet Dreams. Playing the supporting role of Warren's daughter is Julia Roberts, who was later touted as the film's star when Baja Oklahoma was released to video. Made for the HBO cable service, the film debuted February 20, 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This action movie chronicles the exciting exploits of a crack crime fighting force. They are notorious for their unusual tactics when dealing with criminals. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Trailer-park teenager Lance Guest regularly escapes from his humdrum existence by playing the video game Starfighter. His expertise at this recreational endeavor attracts the attention of affable stranger Robert Preston. Before he knows what's happening, Guest is whisked by Preston into the outer reaches of the galaxy! It turns out that the Starfighter game is being played in deadly earnest in outer space, and that Guest is expected to join Preston's Star League, then do battle with the wicked Kodan forces. Guest's principal ally is the lizardlike Grig (Dan O'Herlihy--and we didn't recognize him either). His great rival is the traitorous Xur (Norman Snow). The contrast between Guest's earthbound life as the son of single-mother Barbara Bosson and his new position as Starfighter is daunting at first, but soon the boy is manning a spacecraft and zapping the baddies as though he's been doing it all his life. The Last Starfighter was clearly designed with "sequel" in mind: giveaways include the resurrection of a "dead" character and the surprisingly casual escape of the villain. While the film didn't stir up enough business to warrant a sequel, the Starfighter video game remained a much-sought-after commodity by joystick-happy "warriors" all over the country. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi