Jennifer Ward-Lealand Movies

In this comedy from New Zealand, Jodie Rimmer plays a young prostitute, who hasn't been on the job long enough to have become embittered with the world. However, she sure doesn't love her job, and when she gets wind of a major drug deal her pimp is plotting, she hatches a scheme to swipe the loot, which will give her and her fellow floozies enough of a financial cushion to quit the business once and for all. Jodie Rimmer shines here in a charming comic performance. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Housed inside the grimy walls of a horrific New Zealand asylum there sits a serial killer waiting to be determined sane enough to stand trial. The mental hospital is run by the sinister Dr. Marlowe, who looks the other way when his thuggish orderlies occasionally rough up the inmates. Into this hellish place comes the cocky Dr. Karen Shoemaker, a psychiatrist famed for having made major breakthroughs with another murderer. Though Marlowe thinks that no one could reach Simon Cartwright, the killer, Shoemaker is determined to try, so, with Marlowe watching behind a two-way mirror, she begins the first of many chilling sessions with the unrepentant Simon. A horror film that draws some of its best bits from other slasher movies, while also adding a few interesting twists of its own, this directorial debut from New Zealand director Scott Reynolds follows the winding course of these sessions, presenting pieces from Simon's grim life and graphically gory murders via flashback. As time passes, Shoemaker comes to trust the placid-seeming Simon and asks that his shackles be removed. Shortly thereafter she learns that he hears voices urgently telling him to kill and kill again. Dr. Shoemaker must then work even harder to control her dangerous patient and her growing terror. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Wrapping the greedy King Midas (Noel Trevarthen) around her little finger, the beautiful but treacherous Voluptua (Jennifer Ward-Leland) uses Midas' vast wealth to establish the Touch of Gold gambling palace. Upon realizing that the palace is actually a shrine to corruption and evil, Midas demands that it be destroyed, only to be locked up by Voluptua's minions. It is up to Hercules (Kevin Sorbo) to free the repentant Midas and foil Voluptua -- but first he is forced into a boxing match with the fearsome Segallus (Terry Batchelor) in order to rescue Midas' daughter Flaxen (Trac Lindsey), who has been strapped to an archaic booby trap. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Australian sketch comedy series Full Frontal was very much in the same vein as the earlier weekly Fast Forward, utilizing several of the same writers and performers. Though the satire was wide-ranging, the principal targets were the films, TV programs, talk shows, and musical specials carried by Australia's Seven Network, which also happened to be the home of this particular series. Talk about biting the proverbial hand. Over twenty hour-long episodes of Full Frontal were broadcast from 1993 to 1994. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide