Austin Stoker Movies
Supporting actor, onscreen from the '70s. ~ All Movie Guide- 1990
- R
A young college boy finds himself entangled in a deadly scheme when he meets up with an unbalanced heiress with murder on her mind. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1988
- PG13
When a shady businessman (Alex Cord) attempts to dodge the law by sailing off to a remote island paradise, he brings along a bunch of young spring break revelers. However, when a cat escapes from a dangerous scientific experiment and makes its way on to the boat, the passengers soon discover that it is harboring a deadly secret. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Kennedy, Alex Cord, (more)
- 1982
- PG
In this horror outing, a California archaeologist has obtained the sarcophagus of King Tutankhamen and has taken it to his lab to be x-rayed. Unfortunately, the radiation levels he uses are too high and something begins to happen inside the coffin. Suddenly the mummy within storms out. Inside all the wrappings is an alien creature, the one who killed the king. He begins searching for the crystals he needs to return to his home planet. Frustrated, he begins a killing spree. Unlike movie mummies of old, this fellow is quite agile and can easily capture his human prey. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Murphy, Nina Axelrod, (more)
Cops, secretaries, and prisoners stuck in a soon-to-be-shuttered L.A. police station fight off a horde of murderous gang members in director John Carpenter's homage to Howard Hawks. When police officer Bishop (Austin Stoker) is left in charge of Precinct 13 on the last day it's open, he isn't prepared for the onslaught of a murderous street gang who have come into the possession of an enormous arsenal of guns. Finding himself trapped in the precinct with a pair of secretaries (Laurie Zimmer and Nancy Loomis), a few civilians and a handful of prisoners, Bishop is unable to call for help because the phones have already been disconnected and the precinct is in a run-down, out-of-the-way neighborhood. Holding out for a rescue, he and his fellow prisoners band together to barricade themselves in and hold the bandits at bay. But as the casualties mount and the supplies run low, they must choose between a daring escape attempt, a fiery offensive, or certain death. The sophomore feature from auteur-in-the-making John Carpenter, Assault on Precinct 13 reunited the director with Douglas H. Knapp, his cinematographer on 1974's Dark Star. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Austin Stoker, Darwin Joston, (more)
- 1975
The SWAT team scours the city in search of an elusive assassin named Bravo (Christopher George). Although under normal circumstances the situation would be tense, indeed (the life of a prominent senator is at stake), and on this occasion the team is racing against time in more ways than one: Unbeknownst to himself, Bravo has contacted a deadly and highly contagious disease. Comedienne Rose Marie makes the first of several guest appearances as Hilda. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Forrest, Rod Perry, (more)
After a series of violent, sexy blaxploitation films like Coffy and Foxy Brown, Pam Grier returned in this more sedate PG-rated actioner. Grier plays Chicago P.I. Sheba Shayne, who returns to her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky to save her father's loan business from vicious gangsters. Austin Stoker co-stars with D'Urville Martin (Dolemite) and Charles Kissinger, who appeared in all of director William Girdler's films. Highlights include a chase through a carnival funhouse, but without the usual exploitation elements, there's little to recommend this film except for Grier completists. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pam Grier, Austin Stoker, (more)
- 1974
- PG
Also known as Twisted Brain, Horror High is a no-budget fright flick set in -- you guessed it -- a high school. Nerdy student Pat Cardi is picked on by everyone in the free world: his parents, school bullies, pretty girls, even the school janitor. Spending a lonely evening in his basement lab, Cardi creates a serum that turns him into a monster. Here's the crayons...fill in the blanks as to what happens next. None of the supporting cast members of Horror High have ever been heard from again. Could it have been foul play or foul acting? You be the judge! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In the wake of the 45-million-dollar gross of the original Airport (1970), Universal was all but required by an act of Congress to produce Airport '75. Charlton Heston heads the all-star cast as Alan Murdock, the former test pilot who must keep a disabled 747 from crashing in flames. The crisis begins when a businessman (Dana Andrews), flying his small private plane, suffers a fatal heart attack and the plane smashes into the cockpit of the 747. Following Murdock's radioed instructions, stewardess Nancy Pryor (Karen Black) takes over the controls. The special-guest passenger lineup includes Helen Reddy as a singing nun (a character wickedly satirized in the 1980 parody Airplane!), Myrna Loy as an alcoholic, and Sid Caesar as a garrulous passenger. While Airport '75 yielded only 25 million dollars at the box office, the franchise continued, spawning Airport '77 a few years later and Airport '79 two years after that. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charlton Heston, Karen Black, (more)
- 1974
The plot is set in motion by a corrupt banker who has stolen several million dollars in US bonds. Also playing key roles in the intrigue are a mob fence and a professional assassin. Truly, crimefighting makes strange bedfellows: In his efforts to capture the banker and foil the other villains, NYPD lieutenant Kojak (Telly Savalas) is forced to team up with a cat burglar (Henry Darrow). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
An intriguing blend of 70's "blaxploitation" and Exorcist clone, William Girdler's Abby is an effective and chilling film that incorporates elements of ancient African spiritualism into the conventions of the demon-possession genre. The story begins in Nigeria, where Professor Williams (Blacula's William Marshall) discovers a suggestive-looking fetish artifact in a cave once used by members of the sinister cult of "Eshu." When the relic is opened, it releases a foul-tempered Eshu demon which quickly kills several people and pursues Williams all the way back to America, where it soon enters the home of the professor's son Reverend Emmett (Terry Carter) and takes possession of the Reverend's proper and lovely wife Abby (Carol Speed). Emmett first begins to suspect something is amiss when Abby attempts suicide during a church picnic, but only after she begins vomiting in church and tormenting his congregation does he realize that her condition may not be mere insanity, and he consults his father for help. By the time the two men finally corner Abby in a sleazy bar, she has already seduced and killed several men. The exorcism is performed right in the bar, as dashiki-clad Williams incorporates both Western and African religious rituals to purge the foul spirit from Abby's body. Although Warner Brothers sought legal action against this film for its similarities to The Exorcist, this is no more of a rip-off than countless Italian variations on the formula, and its strong use of African religious traditions gives it a strength lacking in many low-budget blaxploitation films of the era. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Marshall, Carol Speed, (more)
- 1973
- G
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The fifth and last of the original series of motion pictures based upon author Pierre Boulle's imaginative novel Monkey Planet, this science fiction film was the least-liked by the series' legion of fans. Roddy McDowall returns as Caesar, the rebellious intelligent chimp of the previous film, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972). Caesar led his brethren in a revolution against their human masters earlier, but humanity has since nearly destroyed itself in a nuclear apocalypse, and survivors are second-class citizens within ape society. Now a beneficent ruler of his people, Caesar encourages a fragile, peaceful coexistence with humans, despite the protests of militaristic gorilla leader General Aldo (Claude Akins). When Caesar learns that recordings of his murdered parents may exist in the Forbidden City, he journeys to the irradiated wasteland with the human MacDonald (Austin Stoker) and the wise orangutan Virgil (Paul Williams). Although Caesar finds what he's looking for, he also attracts unwanted attention: mutant humans who still dwell underground in the devastated war zone follow the search party back home, leading to a climactic battle and Aldo's tragic challenge of Caesar's authority. Suffering greatly due to penny-pinching studio 20th Century Fox's low budget, Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) is most notable for a cameo by director John Huston as an ape named "The Lawgiver," who appears in a wraparound segment. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roddy McDowall, Claude Akins, (more)
- 1970
Ricardo Montalban heads a team of undersea explorers dealing in below-the-surface scientific research. At the moment, a mysterious pollutant is killing all the fish off the coast of a fictional East African nation. The cause is a sunken ship that is leaking a deadly nerve gas. Montalban must race to neutralize the gas before mustache-twirling villain Jose Ferrer grabs the toxic fuel for his own evil purposes. Montalban's team includes a beautiful woman (Kate Woodville), who exists solely for the benefit of wetsuit-watchers in the audience. Filmed as the pilot for a TV series, The Aquarians was produced by Ivan (Sea Hunt) Tors in Florida and the Bahamas. It has also been telecast under the alternate title Deep Lab. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
