Ovidio G. Assonitis Movies

In this youthful martial arts adventure, a young ninja teams up with his master to save a scientist's daughters from kidnappers. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Filmed in 1985 but not released until 1990, this film tells of a woman who flees from her husband and hitches a ride with a passing stranger. It turns out that the stranger (Mark Hamill) is a psychotic serial killer who likes to take Polaroids of his victims and then keep their eyeballs. The woman's husband, a cop, realizes who the stranger really is and sets out to rescue his wife. ~ Brian Gusse, Rovi

The story contained in this bizarre psychological drama/horror movie adds a new dimension to the term "dysfunctional family." It is set in a small town in New Mexico and is told through the eyes of "Sonny Boy," a horribly abused child who was raised by the brutal giant Slue, who rules Harmony with an iron fist and makes his money stealing and fencing televisions. Slue's "wife" and fellow gang member is the cross-dresser Pearl. They get Sonny Boy after their fellow gang-mate Weasel botches a car theft and kills the owners. He brings the car back and that's when they find the baby, whom Slue would have fed to the hogs had not Pearl begged him to let him raise the child. The kid might have been better off dead, for Slue constantly tortures the boy and even sets him afire one day. When not "toughening the boy up," Slue keeps him in a water tower and only feeds him live chickens to give him a craving for fresh blood. Seventeen years pass in this way. One day, Slue gets angry with the town mayor, loads Sonny in an ice cream truck and takes him to visit the town leader. Sonny Boy rushes in and bites the hapless mayor in the neck. From then on, Slue uses the poor teen to terrorize the town. One day, he leaves the boy briefly in a bar where Sonny meets seductive Sandy and is attracted to her. Had Slue not cut out his tongue, to keep Sonny from telling secrets to the police, he would have talked to the girl. Later Slue goes off on a business trip and Weasel and another take Sonny Boy out to kill a prospector for his gold. This is the final straw and the townsfolk finally retaliate. Sonny Boy survives the ensuing massacre and for the first time in his life is given a chance for normalcy and maybe even happiness. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Ator (Miles O'Keeffe) is a warrior summoned by the sorceress Deeva (Iris Peynado) to protect Princess Janna (Savina Gersak) from harm in this fantasy adventure. The hero battles the evil forces on the island of Malta with some fancy swordplay. Elizabeth Kaza and Tim Lane co-star in this "B" movie that is plagued by poor editing and a lack of continuity. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

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, Rovi

This strange movie is about a roller skating fanatic who leaves home, goes to San Francisco to pursue his passion, and then comes up against a troublesome relationship. Andy Steigler (Steve Tracy) gets a low-level job at a large roller rink to be close to his sport. He makes friends with some other employees as well as his landlady, Dottie Butz (Isabel Sanford), but after he meets Olivia (Dana Handler) things go downhill. His feelings are intentionally either mocked or encouraged by the mean-spirited Olivia and before he can resolve what is happening to him, he has a few odd sessions with Dr. Boxer (Christopher Lee), a man who is knowledgeable about dominating relationships. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Teetering between camp, silly, and derivative, this undistinguished horror film by Giulio Paradisi, aka Michael J. Paradise, stars several respectable actors. Mel Ferrer is an Atlanta notable who is mysteriously in communication with some demonic forces. These evil powers want him to father a child by his wife who carries the necessary genes to produce a real live earthling demon. When she refuses to go through yet another labor, the horrific shenanigans start. Glenn Ford is a detective intent on investigating the reason for the mayhem, but he soon meets a ghastly end himself -- though for some viewers, his end may not be as bad as that of the film. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Italian filmmaker Ovidio Assonitis, who had ripped off The Exorcist with his successful Chi Sei? (1974) here turns his attentions to the post-Jaws ecokill film with silly results. The titular beast kills swimmers and divers before attacking a sailing regatta (an idea which, paradoxically, was re-appropriated for the American Jaws 2). The film's most outstanding feature is its cast, which includes John Huston, Shelley Winters, and a phoned cameo by Henry Fonda. Bo Hopkins and Claude Akins are also along for the minimal excitement. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

This Italian-French co-production is not technically an "Emmanuelle" film, even though it stars that series' inspiration, Emmanuelle Arsan, and was based on one of her stories. Instead, this soft-core jungle adventure focuses on Laure (Annie Belle from La Casa Sperduta nel Parco), a priest's daughter who joins Orso Maria Guerrini's expedition to the Philippines to study the Mara tribe's rebirth ritual. What she studies instead are the male and female anatomies of her cohorts, including anthropologist Arsan and filmmaker Pier Luigi Conti, appearing under his usual pseudonym, Al Cliver. Cinematographer Roberto d'Ettore Piazzoli had worked with director Ovidio G. Assonitis the year before on the Exorcist rip-off Behind the Door, starring Piazzoli's wife Juliet Mills, . ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi