Gwyneth Strong Movies

Lesbians on ice provide the focus of this British drama. Steffi and Natalie are amateur skaters at the same rink in London. Steffi and her partner, a journalist, are going to write a mainstream article about lesbian participation in the June 1994 Gay Games in New York. Steffi's partner bows out just before they are to go so Steffi tries to get Natalie involved. Natalie has two things against her. One, she is an average skater. Two, she is straight. Steffi successfully seduces Natalie one weekend and Natalie falls in love. Trouble erupts when Natalie discovers that Steffi and her lover were only using her to get a story. Natalie drops out the night before their trip to New York. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A young boy comes to fear that his blind mother may become the next victim of a serial killer in this complex psychological thriller. Unfolding at first as a traditional suspense tale, the film follows the terrified boy's attempts to determine the killer's identity, a task his policeman father has failed to achieve. Things take a more provocative and puzzling turn when the boy's penchant for fantasy is revealed, forcing the audience to question whether what has been shown has been real or merely a product of the boy's imagination. As a result, much of the anxiety in Afraid of the Dark emerges not from the violent shocks, but from the uncertain reality and the tantalizing, disturbing hints of the child's psychology. This purposeful ambiguity may strike some viewers as confusing and alienating, despite the film's assured performances and striking imagery. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

In this suspenseful thriller, David Parker (Bryan Brown) is a married businessman with three children, a mistress in Germany, and a brother dealing drugs -- a combination of relationships that will eventually prove fatal to several people. After David leaves his London home and family behind for a short business-trip to Munich, he is held captive for more than a week by ten men and one woman, their identities disguised by masks. David starts to suspect Jillian, his mistress (Hannelore Elsner) is involved because when he goes to the police with his story once he is released, he discovers he was never reported missing. Why did Jillian remain silent about his disappearance for eleven days? And there were no ransom demands. After awhile the police inspector assigned to David's case (Kurt Raab) and David's wife (Cherie Lunghi) begin to doubt the kidnapping itself. At that point, David launches into a full-scale investigation on his own that sets into motion a series of killings and a strong suspicion of drug-world involvement. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

More widely seen in Britain as Nothing but the Night, this atmospheric chiller -- based on the novel Children of the Night by John Blackburn -- stars the ubiquitous Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing as a Scotland Yard inspector and a forensics expert sent to investigate a series of mysterious deaths among the elderly caretakers of a Scottish orphanage. Their probing uncovers a diabolical plot perpetrated by members of a Satanic cult, involving the use of an experimental serum which contains the genetic memories of its departed members. The caretakers have been injecting the serum into their young charges in order to use their bodies as healthy vessels for the Satanists' return, and the resulting possession transforms them into sadistic murderers. Although Christopher Lee acted as co-producer on both this film and the superb mystical classic The Wicker Man, it bears little resemblance to the latter, playing more like a Hammer-style variant on the American-made Brotherhood of Satan, released the previous year. Also known as The Resurrection Syndicate. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide