Thom Bray Movies
- 1990
In this made-for-TV mystery a troubled psychologist must somehow reach a traumatized 8-year old boy who witnessed a family murder. The trouble is the boy cannot distinguish between reality and fact. According to him, the killer is Captain Hook from Peter Pan. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Friday the 13th director Sean S. Cunningham helmed this sea-monster opus about a team of engineers on an undersea missile platform who disturb the slumber of a huge, killer crustacean, which soon develops a taste for human-flavored snacks. The rubbery-looking beastie is quite a laugh, but there are some genuine freak-outs as it chomps away at the crew -- that is, while they're not reducing their own numbers through sheer incompetence. In the end, it's B.J. & the Bear's Greg Evigan (alas, minus chimp) who saves the day. One of a dozen-or-so subaqueous Alien clones (half of which were produced by Roger Corman) designed to trade on the building hype of James Cameron's long-awaited The Abyss, this soggy little picture managed to reach theaters first. Not that it's the least impressive of the lot -- actually, it succeeds on its own terms as a thoroughly intense and fast-paced "B"-monster flick, aided by good performances (Evigan is a likable, sensitive hero, and Miguel Ferrer quaffs the scenery as a high-strung jerk). At least it's better than Leviathan, which tells essentially the same story but wastes considerably more money. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Taurean Blacque, Nancy Everhard, (more)
- 1989
- R
This muddled attempt at creating a new supernatural serial killer franchise (in the mode of Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street series) features perennial movie thug Brion James as sadistic mass murderer Max Jenke, who hacked up more than 100 victims with a meat cleaver before his eventual capture by dedicated cop Lucas McCarthy (Lance Henriksen). Unwilling to cease his homicidal spree after his death, Jenke had been conducting bizarre experiments in soul-transference prior to his capture; his execution in the electric chair subsequently transforms his evil essence into electrical current. In this new form, the seemingly unstoppable maniac launches a supernatural siege against McCarthy and his family until the tormented cop finally faces him down on his own nightmare turf. Originally conceived as another House sequel, this film consists of long periods of tedium punctuated by outbursts of graphic gore and surreal effects. This condition is partially the result of footage being shot by two separate directors; it seems as if neither of them knew what the other was doing. James is amusingly sleazy as the cackling madman, but his one-note material is not compelling enough to merit a recurring character. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lance Henriksen, Brion James, (more)
- 1988
Soap opera queen Susan Lucci stars as an orphan adopted by a mobster family who grows up to be a star attorney, but still dreams of getting revenge on the killers who murdered her parents. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
Proving that you can never guess what you'll find when you clean out the basement, a man of the cloth discovers that ultimate evil has made a hiding place in his cellar in this tale of terror. Father Loomis (Donald Pleasance) is a priest who discovers a strange object in a church basement -- a canister filled with a swirling and volatile green substance. With the help of Professor Birack (Victor Wong), Loomis discovers the startling truth about his find -- it seems that Satan, who is actually an alien life form, had a son, and the essence of the devil's spawn is trapped inside the canister. The evil spirit has been guarded by a group calling themselves "The Brotherhood of Sleep," but the spirit has the ability to free itself whenever it decides the time is right...and it seems that time is just around the corner. Prince of Darkness was directed by horror master John Carpenter; he also wrote the screenplay under the pseudonym Martin Quatermass. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Pleasence, Jameson Parker, (more)
Director of the first Police Academy movie, Hugh Wilson is also responsible for the action comedy-caper Burglar. Bernice Rhodenbarr (Whoopi Goldberg) is a retired cat burglar who works at a bookstore. Bad cop Ray Kirschman (G.W. Bailey) blackmails her, so she agrees to do a job for Dr. Cynthia Sheldrake (Lesley Ann Warren) in order to get the money. While she is doing the robbery, she accidentally stumbles onto the scene of a murder. Since she is the prime suspect, Bernice is forced into many chase scenes as she plays detective to find out who the real murderer is in order to clear her name. She is aided by her only two friends: the hapless dog groomer Carl Hefler (Bob Goldthwait) and the drunken floozy Frankie (Elizabeth Ruscio). Along the way, she almost gets killed by numerous tough guys while being closely followed by two stupid cops (Anne DeSalvo and John Goodman). ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Whoopi Goldberg, Bobcat Goldthwait, (more)
- 1987
Dorian Beecher (Thom Bray), the new poetry instructor at Cabot Cove's most exclusive prep school, tries to impress the girl of his dreams, Sarah Dupont (Karlene Crockett), by telling her that Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) is his mother. Meanwhile, Nate Findley (Barry Williams), the school's riding instructor and Dorian's rival for Sarah's affections, plots to scare off Dorian by taking a page from Washington Irving's "Legend of Sleepy Hollow." Unfortunately, Nate's impersonation of the fabled Headless Horseman becomes a bit too realistic when his head is lopped off by an antique sword--owned by poor Dorian! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
The weekly TV series Riptide was kicked off on January 3, 1984 with a 2-hour "movie premiere"--which is TV Guide talk for "pilot film." Cody Allen (Perry King) and Nick Ryder (Joe Penny) are hip, handsome Southern California detectives. Teaming up with their service buddy, computer geek Murray Bozinsky (Thom Bray), the boys set up their own agency, using a cabin cruiser as headquarters (shades of Surfside Six). In the pilot, the detectives tackle the mystery of a yacht hijacking, which an eyewitness insists was a case of sabotage and murder. Also appearing in this initial Riptide adventure are regulars-to-be Jack Ging as Lt. Quinlan, Anne Francis as charter-boat skipper Mama Jo, and Gianna Russo as restaurant owner Straightaway. Riptide ran from 1984 through 1986, after which Joe Penny and Perry King continued their Hollywood hunkdom, while Thom Bray became the voice of John Arbuckle on the cartoon series Garfield. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
Perky social worker Laura Mathews (Pam Dawber) takes up the cause of a group of senior citizens, whose dilapidated apartment building has been targetted for demolition. While on a blind date, Laura falls in love with Richard Wylie (James Naughton)--who, alas, turns out to be the very building inspector who condemned the building. But help is on the way in the unlikely shape of Laura's ex-boyfriend, a hotshot attorney. Populated with the sort of "cute" oldsters that generally infest TV movies of this nature (the old ladies swear and play cards, the old men keep unusual pets and pursue eccentric hobbies, etc.), The Last of the Great Survivors premiered January 3, 1984 on CBS. ~TV Guide/Marrill/Internet/Expert ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
Edward Asner stars as Saturday Review editor Norman Cousins in this made-for-TV biopic, which first aired May 15, 1984. Stricken with a degenerative spinal illness in 1964, Cousins refuses to accept the prognosis that he must spend the rest of his life as a virtual vegetable. He battles his illness by using the most potent weapons at his disposal--a healthy sense of humor, the love and support of his wife, and confidence that he will endure. This sort of spiritual battle is not that easy to film, and some of the scenes--Cousins laughing at the opening titles of a Marx Brothers film, for example--sorely test the acting skills of Ed Asner. But both Cousins and Asner emerge triumphant from Anatomy of an Illness, which was based on Norman Cousins' own book on the subject. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
Originally made for television, the story focuses on a reporter trying to track down a killer while he wins his wife back. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1983
Quincy (Jack Klugman) and his psychologist fiancee Emily (Anita Gillette) combine their expetise to determine if 18-year-old Julie Bonner (Megan Wyss) was killed by her boyfriend Joby Kenyon (Thom Bray), or if she committed suicide. The fact that Julie's body was moved before its discovery by the authorities indicates that someone may be trying to cover up the truth. It is up to Emily to conduct a "psychological" autopsy of Julie by interviewing everyone with whom she came in contact in the hours before her death. The key to the solution may be in the hands of Julie's stockbroker father (Dick Gautier), who seems to have more time for his daughter now that she is dead than when she was alive. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
In this drama, a college professor gets romantically involved with a student until he learns that she earns tuition working as a part-time hooker. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
In this gory (the special effects are especially well done) slice-n-dicer, the happiness and the sanity of a W.W.II vet is destroyed when he returns home and finds his girl in the arms of another at the town's annual dance. Outraged, he kills both with a pitchfork and the town does not hold the dance again for the next 35 years. The story jumps to the future and the town prepares to hold the dance again. Unfortunately, the vet hears about the dance and comes back to do a little more killing. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vicki Dawson, Christopher Goutman, (more)
