Bo Svenson Movies

This low-budget Italian exercise stars Bo Svenson (in a ridiculous-looking fake beard) as a college professor who takes a group of American students to a remote Serbian village to witness an ancient Balkan religious service. Unbeknownst to the kids, Svenson has an ulterior motive: he intends to recruit Beverly (Mary Kohnert), the sole virgin of the group, to participate in the ceremony -- actually an occult ritual in which she is to become the Devil's bride. The kids learn of this treachery and try to escape aboard a moving train, but soon find that the engineer is none other than Satan himself, who causes the train to jump its tracks and speed off through the wilderness toward the village again. Most of the kids are destroyed in their attempts to avert the train's course -- all but Beverly, who has foiled the Devil's plan in her own way, thanks to an enigmatic flutist (Igor Pervic). Needless to say, the Evil One is not pleased. Released directly to video, this attractive-looking but rather hollow occult horror is related in name only to Mario Bava's penultimate Beyond the Door 2, which in turn bears almost no connection to Exorcist rip-off Beyond the Door (aka Chi Sei?). ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

This sports drama is based on the true story of professional basketball players Maurice Stokes and Jack Twyman. When Stokes (Bernie Casey), who is black, is rendered comatose and paraplegic by a head injury, his white teammate Twyman (Bo Svenson) exerts himself mightily to raise money for Stokes' physical therapy and medical treatment in the hopes that he will one day walk again. Before the injury, Twyman was just a friendly teammate. Afterwards, he became more or less a member of Stokes' family. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Director and former stunt coordinator Chuck Bail takes the help for this fast-paced action thriller about a Harvard-graduate physicist whose efforts to create a safe source of energy are thwarted by nuclear waste-dumping baddies. David Lowell (Stephen Collins) has discovered the secret to clean energy, and he's ready to share his gift with the world. In just a few days, Hayley's Comet will pass over the Grand Canyon, and David will capture the energy from the high-frequency sound waves emitted from the enormous space rock. Unfortunately, there are those who would rather continue to profit from conventional forms of energy, and they're not afraid to use force to get their way. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

This in-name-only sequel to the mediocre H.P. Lovecraft adaptation The Curse is a slight improvement on its predecessor, eschewing any trace of Lovecraft in favor of a standard nuclear-mutant-beast plot but imbuing this theme with a menagerie of brain-damaged setpieces. When the protagonist and his girlfriend stumble across an abandoned atomic test site, he's bitten on the arm by an irradiated snake-monster; in a creative but excessively grotesque twist, only the venom-infected arm begins to undergo the inevitable transformation into a fanged beast (sort of a reptilian variant on Bruce Campbell's rebellious demonic hand in Evil Dead 2), which leads to some unpleasant quirks in the young couple's relationship. Before long, the poor guy becomes a veritable snake-factory, churning out baby serpents at an incredible clip. The performances are quite good and the makeup effects (by Screaming Mad George) deserve credit for their disgusting audacity. Very weird but more fun than its predecessor, this is probably the film that Sssss! wished it could have been. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Convicted of crimes while in France during World War II, five soldiers are imprisoned by the Army. They later escape to try and make a difference in a crucial battle. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

A pair of Air Force pilots are sent to Nicaragua on a dangerous terrorist mission. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

Produced by Dan "Dark Shadows" Curtis, this TV adaptation of Mary Shelley's classic spine-chiller Frankenstein remains fairly faithful to its source. Robert Foxworth stars as Dr. Victor Frankenstein, who comes to grief when he "plays God" by creating a human being from spare body parts. The monster, played by Bo Svenson, is doomed from the start, not only by fate but by his inherited homicidal nature. Susan Strasberg and Heidi Vaughn co-star as the two unfortunate women in Dr. Frankenstein's life. Originally telecast in two parts on ABC's late-night Wide World of Mystery anthology, Frankenstein debuted January 16 and 17, 1973. It was later pared down to a traditional two-hour, single-part TV movie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having spent much of his directorial career emulating Don Siegel and John Ford, Clint Eastwood borrows a page from the catalogue of Sam Fuller in Heartbreak Ridge. Eastwood casts himself as an old-fashioned Marine Corps sergeant who is out of step with the new-fashioned military. He returns to his old outfit as a gunnery sergeant, where he runs afoul of 1980s-style superior officers to whom the words "Gung Ho" are foolish anachronisms. But through his tough tutelage, Eastwood's lackadaisical platoon is whipped into a first-rate fighting machine, favoring teamwork over such New Age gobbledygook as "self-fulfillment." Eastwood's men prove their mettle during the invasion of Grenada. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The made-for-TV family-Western Hitched is a sequel to the 1971 TV movie Lock, Stock and Barrel, with Sally Field stepping into the role originally played by Belinda Montgomery. Newly married couple Roselle and Clare Bridgeman (played by Field and Tim Matheson) head westward to seek their fortune, only to become accidentally separated. In their efforts to stage a reunion, both Roselle and Clare undergo a variety of exhilirating experiences involving outlaws, sharpsters, saloon gals, and a Native American or two. Originally telecast by NBC on March 31, 1973, Hitched was intended as the pilot for a weekly TV series, and as such was shown in tandem with another busted pilot, Savage, starring Martin Landau and Barbara Bain. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A group of hardened Nazi killers stalk their prey in Nazi-occupied France as a Jewish cinema owner plots to take down top-ranking SS officers during the official premiere of a high-profile German propaganda film. As far as Lt. Aldo Raine (aka Aldo the Apache," Brad Pitt) -- is concerned, the only good Nazi is a dead Nazi. Raine's mission is to strike fear into the heart of Adolf Hitler by brutally murdering as many goose-steppers as possible, or die trying. In order to accomplish that goal, Lt. Raine recruits a ruthless team of cold-blooded killers known as "The Basterds" which includes baseball-bat-wielding Bostonian Sgt. Donnie Donowitz (aka "The Bear Jew," Eli Roth) and steely psychopath Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz (Til Schweiger), among others. When the Basterds' secret rendezvous with turncoat German actress Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) goes awry, they learn that the Nazis will be staging the French premiere of "The Nation's Pride," a rousing propaganda film based on the exploits of German hero Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Brühl), at a modest theater owned by Jewish cinephile Shoshanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent), posing as a Gentile after the brutal murder of her family by the ruthless Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz). As the Basterds hatch an explosive plan to take out as many Nazis as possible at the premiere, they remain completely oblivious to the fact that Shoshanna, too, longs to bring the Third Reich to its knees, and that she's willing to sacrifice her beloved theater in the process. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Ironside (Raymond Burr) searches for a resourceful burglar who has figured out a method of "taming" vicious guard dogs so that he can rob stores without interference. In order to flush out the villain, Ironside adopts his own dog and sets both himself and the pooch up as bait. With the preponderance of fierce-looking German shepherds and Doberman pinschers in this episode, one wonders how the actors got through their scenes without being ripped asunder after each take! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Perhaps the most highly anticipated film of 2003, Kill Bill Vol. 1 marked the return of renowned filmmaker Quentin Tarantino after a six-year hiatus. Re-teaming the director with Uma Thurman for the first time since 1994's Pulp Fiction, the film was originally the first half of what was to be a three-hour-plus movie before being split into two films. Thurman stars as The Bride, one-fifth of a team of assassins called DiVAS. When The Bride opts to leave the outfit for a life of marital bliss, it doesn't sit well with her boss, Bill (David Carradine), so he has her former cohorts, played by Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Daryl Hannah, and Michael Madsen, show up at the nuptials, leaving behind a blood bath. Miraculously, The Bride survives a bullet to the head and, four years later, she sets out for revenge against her four assassins and their employer. The story is concluded in Kill Bill Vol. 2, released six months later. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

In the first half of Magnum, P.I.'s Season Three opener (originally telecast as a single two-hour episode). T.C.'s old war buddy Nuzo (James Whitmore Jr.) shows up in Hawaii with a dire warning for T.C. (Roger E. Mosley) and his comrades-in-arms Magnum (Tom Selleck) and Rick (Larry Manetti). It seems that the evil Soviet torture specialist Col. Ivan (Bo Svenson), who made life hell for Magnum et. al. during their time in Viet Cong POW camp, is still at large--and determined to kill his former prisoners. Unfortunately, Magnum isn't around at first to hear Nuzo's warnings, which fact proves fatal for one of his closest associates. This episode marks the final regular appearance of Jeff MacKay) as Magnum's Navy pal "Mac" MacReynolds (but not by any means the final appearance of MacKay himself!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide