Harvey Bernhard Movies
From the makers of The Alien Saga comes The Omen Legacy, an AMC documentary covering all four films in the thrilling series on the coming of the antichrist. The special follows the filmmakers as they break box-office figures with the first film, only to see each one after become more commercially and creatively stunted (the nail in the coffin being the fourth made-for-television Omen IV: The Awakening). Featuring interviews with director Richard Donner, producer Harvey Bernhard, and writer David Seltzer, among others, Legacy offers theological dissections of the series biblical groundwork, along with rare behind-the-scenes stories of the infamous Omen "curse." Included are most of the graphic, visceral kills from each film, making it also a breezy best of for fans of the more grisly scenes. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
In this made-for-TV apocalyptic horror saga, the deceptively adorable daughter of late devil-boy Damian is adopted by a kindly couple who have no idea who she is. The husband is a politician and the daughter decides that the best way for her to spread evil around is to boost his career at every opportunity. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Faye Grant, Michael Woods, (more)
In this hit '80s hybrid of the horror movie and the teen flick, a single mom and her two sons become involved with a pack of vampires when they move into an offbeat Northern California town. Lucy (Dianne Wiest) and her sons, Michael (Jason Patric) and Sam (Corey Haim), move to Santa Carla to live with Lucy's lovable but curmudgeonly father (Barnard Hughes). Lucy gets a job from video store-owner Max (Edward Herrmann), then begins dating him, while Sam hangs out with Edward and Alan Frog (Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander), a pair of vampire-obsessed comic-shop clerks. Soon Michael falls in with some actual vampires after becoming enamored of one of their victims: Star (Jami Gertz), a gypsy-like vixen who is trying to hold onto her humanity even though vampire leader David (Kiefer Sutherland) wants to play Peter Pan to her Wendy. When Michael visits the cavernous hangout of David and his cronies and unwittingly drinks from a wine bottle full of vampiric blood, he becomes an unwilling member of the bloodsucker biker gang. Soon, it's up to Sam and the Frog brothers to destroy David and his ilk without killing Michael and Star. Shot on location in the coastal California town of Santa Cruz and directed by Hollywood pro Joel Schumacher, The Lost Boys became a pop-culture phenomenon thanks to its attractive young stars, offbeat soundtrack, and hip, clever marketing campaign; the film's tagline -- "Sleep all day. Party all night. Never grow old. Never die. It's fun to be a vampire." -- perfectly captured its knowing mixture of attitude and gore. The effects team who transformed Sutherland and company into snarling blood-suckers would go on to provide equally gruesome effects for Blade, another revisionist vampire flick, more than a decade later. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Patric, Corey Haim, (more)
In medieval France, knight Rutger Hauer and lady fair Michelle Pfeiffer both run afoul of evil-bishop John Wood. Through the auspices of bishop's confessor Leo McKern, Hauer and Pfeiffer are placed under a curse. During the night, Hauer takes the form of a wolf, while Pfeiffer assumes the form of a hawk by day. The two lovers can only meet one another as humans at dawn and dusk. The only mortal in a position to rescue Hauer and Pfeiffer from their fate is nebbishy pickpocket Matthew Broderick, who acts as liaison between the lovers. With the help of the guilt-ridden McKern--and a convenient solar eclipse--Broderick endeavors to set things aright. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matthew Broderick, Rutger Hauer, (more)
Leonard Maltin wasn't alone when he noticed similarities between Goonies and the 1934 Our Gang comedy Mama's Little Pirate. Adapted by Chris Columbus from a story by Steven Spielberg, the film follows a group of misfit kids (including such second-generation Hollywoodites as Josh Brolin and Sean Astin) as they search for buried treasure in a subterranean cavern. Here they cross the path of lady criminal Mama Fratelli (Anne Ramsey) and her outlaw brood. Fortunately, the kids manage to befriend Fratelli's hideously deformed (but soft-hearted) son (John Matuszak), who comes to their rescue. The Spielberg influence is most pronounced in the film's prologue and epilogue, when the viewer is advised that the film's real villains are a group of "Evil Land Developers." The musical score makes excellent use of Max Steiner's main theme from The Adventures of Don Juan, not to mention contributions by the likes of Richard Marx and Cyndi Lauper. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, (more)
- 1982
Tom Burman's innovative prosthetic special effects (used to greater effect in later horror films) are the saving grace of The Beast Within. The premise concerns a couple honeymooning in Mississippi. Caroline (Bibi Besch) is brutally raped by a hairy, sub-human monster and gives birth to a child named Michael (Paul Clemens), who appears normal until he hits his teens. At 17, Michael begins to feel strange, and his parents take him back to Mississippi to find out if his problems are related to Caroline's long-ago rape. Once in Mississippi, Michael transforms into a ravenous insect-like creature that roams the countryside, disemboweling innocent victims and feasting on their torsos. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronny Cox, Bibi Besch, (more)
The second sequel to the 1976 horror hit The Omen finds Damien Thorn assuming the full mantle of the Antichrist and preparing for a final, all-out battle with "the Nazarene." Now in his thirties, Damien (Sam Neill) has elevated the family business, Thorn Industries, into the world's biggest multinational corporation. A little bit of black magic paves the way for Damien to become ambassador to England and the head of an international youth council. He soon uses this platform to amass an army of followers to do his bidding. But when Damien notices the confluence of three stars in the sky on March 24, he gets worried about the second coming of Christ. So he orders his minions to kill all the babies born on that day, warning them: "Fail, and you will be condemned to a numbing eternity in the flaccid bosom of Christ." Damien even orders his faithful private secretary, Harvey Dean (Don Gordon), to commit infanticide on his own kid, just because the guy's wife gave birth on the wrong day; a nasty incident involving laundry-room implements soon follows. Meanwhile, Damien romances Kate Reynolds (Lisa Harrow), a beautiful television anchorwoman who feels like a moth drawn to Damien's charismatic flame -- even after he brutally sodomizes her to show her how the world looks through his eyes. Things come to a head when Brother DeCarlo (Rossano Brazzi), one of a secret cabal of monks who have assembled the seven Daggers of Meggido in hopes of assassinating Damien, reveals to Kate that the Antichrist has taken her son (Barnaby Holm) under his wing. Although The Final Conflict was the final theatrical installment of the Omen series, the made-for-TV Omen IV: The Awakening appeared a decade later. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sam Neill, Rossano Brazzi, (more)
Satan's son comes of age in this horror sequel. Shortly after the events of The Omen, a pair of anthropologists uncovers an ancient crypt that depicts the face of the Antichrist -- that of Damien Thorn (Jonathan Scott-Taylor), recently orphaned scion of a wealthy industrialist. Before they can warn the world of the child's evil lineage, both men are buried under tons of rubble. Seven years later, 13-year-old Damien attends military school alongside his cousin, Mark (Lucas Donat), and spends lots of time with his adoptive parents, Uncle Richard (William Holden) and Aunt Ann (Lee Grant). After the boy's Great Aunt Marion (Sylvia Sidney) tries to convince the Thorns that Damien is a malevolent influence on Mark, she dies suddenly, and, unbeknownst to the family, horrifically. Ravens, it seems, are the harbingers of Damien's power, and in addition to Aunt Marion, they visit a long procession of characters who get too close to Damien's true identity. The most horrible death is suffered by Joan Hart (Elizabeth Shepherd), an investigative reporter who's digging into the boy's life; she gets flattened by a truck after having her eyes devoured by those menacing birds. Meanwhile, executive Paul Buher (Robert Foxworth) climbs the corporate ladder at Thorn Industries and takes young Damien under his devil-worshiping wings. Sgt. Neff (Lance Henriksen), one of the boy's instructors, also helps initiate Damien. As the pile of bodies gets bigger -- and closer -- Uncle Richard begins to suspect the truth, and, like his brother before him, plot the death of Damien. The existence of another sequel, 1981's The Final Conflict, gives a good indication of the outcome. Although Damien: Omen II is his only Hollywood feature credit, Scott-Taylor appeared frequently in the theater and on television; he once even portrayed Damien's arch-nemesis, Jesus, on-stage. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Holden, Lee Grant, (more)
Satan's son has arrived on Earth and He's not about to let human parents get in the way. When his wife Katherine's (Lee Remick) pregnancy ends in a stillbirth in a Rome hospital, U.S. diplomat Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck) substitutes another baby, whose mother died. Little Damien (Harvey Stephens) thrives, but, at his fifth birthday party, his nanny mysteriously dies; Father Brennan (Patrick G. Troughton) also expires after warning Thorn that he has adopted Lucifer's son. While sinister new nanny Mrs. Baylock (Billie Whitelaw) assiduously protects Damien, Thorn's fears escalate when photographer Jennings (David Warner) shows him pictures from Damien's party with marks suggesting how the nanny and Brennan would die. Thorn seeks out Bugenhagen (Leo McKern), an exorcist who confirms Damien's identity and tells Thorn that the only solution is to kill his adopted son. As the bodies pile up, Thorn tries to do his duty, but trust the law to get in the way of saving the world from future Armageddon. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, (more)
- 1974
- PG
Thomasine and Bushrod was intended as the African American counterpart to Bonnie and Clyde, the difference being that the story in this case is utterly fictional. Vonette McGee plays Thomasine, and Max Julien (who also wrote and coproduced the film) is Bushrod. They are a pair of thieves, operating in the southwest between 1911 and 1915. Fancying themselves as Robin Hoods and the White Establishment as the Sheriff of Nottingham, Thomas and Bushrod steal only from Caucasian capitalists, then distribute the booty to Mexicans, Native Americans and poor whites. George Murdock is the redneck sheriff who dogs their trail. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A box-office success during the early '70s, this blaxploitation flick traces the life of a Bay Area pimp facing drug dealers, crooked cops and fellow pimps ready to settle a few scores. Richard Pryor makes a small appearance as Slim. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Max Julien, Richard Pryor, (more)
