Joel Bender Movies

Twenty years after the brutal slaying of five students at an abandoned resort hotel, a group of fearless students return to the site of the original crime only to discover that the murderer is still on the loose and waiting to strike again. The year was 1984: A group of five students broke into the Royal Crescent Hotel as part of a local rite of passage. Days later, their bodies were found mutilated. The killer was believed to be a local drifter, though no one was ever caught or convicted of the murders. At the time, the press made no mention of the fact that the bereaved parents insisted that the police hire a psychic to locate the murderer, and that after handing one of the student's personal objects the clairvoyant claimed to have seen the killer's face. Though the psychic had claimed that the killer was still inside the hotel, a comprehensive sweep of every floor yielded to clues to his whereabouts. Later that same night, the psychic died in her sleep, effectively rendering the case cold. Flash forward twenty years later, and another group of students conducting a so-called "Tour of Fear" break into the hotel on a mission to visit each of the five rooms where the high schoolers had been slain. Upon discovering a severed hand in one of the rooms, the students unleash a terrifying force that has haunted the hotel grounds for nearly a century. Now, if they can only solve the mystery of a world-class hotel that once hosted royalty before mysteriously plunging into disrepute, perhaps that can escape with their lives and save their immortal souls from eternal damnation. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Directed by former CIA officer Michael Sellers, Vlad chronicles the far-reaching consequences of a professor's (Child's Play veteran Brad Dourif) request that his students visit the tomb of the infamous Vlad Drakul (aka Vlad the Impaler). Known as one of the cruelest figures in world history, Drakul's reputation for dismembering his victims ultimately led to the belief that he himself may have been a vampire -- he was, in fact, the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula. With this in mind, four foreign-exchange students, along with their Romanian tour guide (Billy Zane), venture into the bowels of Drakul's final resting place. When the students come into contact with a legendary necklace, they realize that its rumored ability to traverse throughout time and space is no myth. Vlad features performances from Kam Heskin, Monica Davidescu, Nicholas Irons, and Paul Popowich. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

In the last of five made-for-TV movies starring Kevin Sorbo as legendary superhero Hercules, the title character has settled down in a peaceful existence as a farmer with his beloved mortal family. Though Hercules tries hard to teach his children nonviolence, his mighty strength must come back into play when a disgruntled Minotaur begins kidnapping the local citizenry. In his efforts to defeat the monster, Hercules is reunited with his old friends Iolaus (Michael Hurst) and Deianeira (Tawny Kitaen). It ultimately falls to Hercules' Olympian father, Zeus (Anthony Quinn), to prove that the misunderstood Minotaur is not so much a villain as a victim of low self esteem. Many of the action highlights are lifted from Sorbo's four previous Hercules films. Syndicated in the U.S. beginning in late November, 1994, Hercules in the Maze of the Minotaur served as the pilot for the weekly series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A spoiled rich girl leaves her pop's protection and gets a job in an L.A. bar where she meets and falls for an unknown musician. She's out to prove to daddy, that she can cut it on her own. ~ All Movie Guide

This cheap but enthusiastic riff on Stuart Gordon's cult classic Re-Animator stars Ron Kay as a mad scientist who hits on a method of providing the aged and terminally ill with fresh, healthy young bodies for an exorbitant fee. The requisite young physiques are obtained by kidnapping local teenagers and imprisoning them in his dungeon/laboratory prior to the brain-transfer process. Complications arise thanks to a romantic dalliance between the doc's newest accomplice and his female assistant, as well as the increasing threat from several unruly mutants (the result of botched prior experiments) who have developed a craving for human flesh. There's plentiful gore, imaginative makeup effects and some attempts at black humor, but nothing to rival Gordon's over-the-top horror classic. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

In this unremittingly serious, undistinguished, yet well-acted tale of the supernatural, two different men are possessed by spirits of Native Americans after they separately wander into a sacred burial ground, angering the spirits enough for them to retaliate. When John (Gabriel Walsh) and Sybil (Susan Strasberg) come home with their son after a trip to the Mojave Desert, they bring an unusual stone back as a memento of the trip. The stone seems to cause strange noises and other inexplicable phenomena, and then one day their son is killed by a truck driver in a freak highway accident. As the father's mental condition deteriorates from that point onward, it is revealed that both John and the truck driver are possessed by angry spirits of Native American warriors, and unless the spirits are exorcised, the two men are destined to meet in a battle to the death. Director John Bender cuts back and forth between the truck driver and the father, which might confuse (or even irritate) some viewers since in the beginning there is no explanation of how or why the two men are connected. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide