Roger Corman Movies
A former engineering student, Roger Corman entered the picture business as a messenger and ended up a producer/director after a stint as a story analyst and a brief detour to Oxford University. After returning to Hollywood, he saw an opportunity to make money and gain experience by making low-budget films to feed the drive-in and neighborhood theater circuits, which had been abandoned in large part by the major studios. Working from budgets of as little as 50,000 dollars, he quickly learned the art of creating bargain-basement entertainment and making money at it, producing and directing pictures for American International Pictures and Allied Artists. Five Guns West, Apache Woman, The Day the World Ended, It Conquered the World, Not of This Earth, The Undead, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Doll, Machine Gun Kelly, The Wasp Woman, and Sorority Girl were only a few of the titles, and they were indicative of their subjects. These films were short (some as little as 62 minutes) and threadbare in production values. (Reportedly, distributor Samuel Z. Arkoff used to look at the film footage at the end of each day of shooting and call Corman, telling him, "Roger, for chrissake, hire a couple more extras and put a little more furniture on the set!") But his films were also extremely entertaining, and endeared Corman to at least two generations of young filmgoers.During the early '60s, Corman became more ambitious, and made the serious school desegregation drama The Intruder. Adapted for the screen by his brother Gene Corman from Charles Beaumont's novel, it was the only one of his movies to lose money -- because few theaters would book it -- although it was one of the finest B-movies ever made. Corman also began working in color, most notably on a series of adaptations of Edgar Allen Poe stories starring Vincent Price that won the respect of younger critics and aspiring filmmakers alike. Corman also employed many young film students and writers during this period, including Francis Ford Coppola, Curtis Harrington, and author Robert Towne. His output decreased as his budgets went up, and Corman moved away from directing and into producing. In the 1970s, '80s and '90s, Corman was still producing exploitation films (such as Humanoids From the Deep), but his New World Pictures also distributed several important foreign movies, including Ingmar Bergman's Cries and Whispers and the groundbreaking Jamaican crime drama The Harder They Come. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 1995
This softcore exploitation effort from the Roger Corman stable is a peculiar attempt to reinvent Bram Stoker's story as a T&A film featuring marauding babes in rat-pelt bikinis. The story posits an Amazonian group of Victorian-era lesbians who have formed a colony under Queen Adrienne Barbeau. Barbeau is sort of a Pied Piper to a group of vicious rats used in the women's murderous raids on men who have wronged them. In one such attack, the women capture writer Bram Stoker (Kevin Alber), who is recruited to chronicle the women's activities. But the plot is really secondary here. The main point of this film is to show scantily-clad women running around in bikinis, having swordfights and performing topless veil-dances. Barbeau is particularly over-the-top, saying things like "I am the Queen of the vermin!" and sporting hairdos which get progressively bigger and sillier as the film goes on. An amusing second-rate attempt at a Hammer-style historical horror film, this is a fun, trashy timekiller for genre fans. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
"Houston, we have a problem." Those words were immortalized during the tense days of the Apollo 13 lunar mission crisis, and the suspense, fear, and excitement of those days are captured in Ron Howard's epic recreation of the 1970 crisis. When the commander of the original mission Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinise), bows out due to possible exposure to measles, astronaut Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) leads command module pilot Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) and lunar module driver Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) on what is slated as NASA's third lunar landing mission. All goes smoothly until the craft is halfway through its mission, when an exploding oxygen tank threatens the crew's oxygen and power supplies. As the courageous astronauts face the dilemma of either suffocating or freezing to death, Mattingly and Mission Control leader Gene Kranz (Ed Harris) struggle to find a way to bring the crew back home, all the while knowing that the spacemen face probable death once the battered ship reenters the Earth's atmosphere. Even though the outcome, in which all three astronauts miraculously survived, is historical fact, the film derives suspense from the situation itself and from the actions of the heroic astronauts and the men on the ground. Howard's taut direction, a solid ensemble of players, and eye-opening special effects all add to the overall impact of the film, which has been hailed as one of Hollywood's best historical dramas. In 2002, the movie was released in IMAX theaters as Apollo 13: The IMAX Experience, with a pared-down running time of 116 minutes in order to meet the technical requirements of the large-screen format. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, (more)
- 1995
- R
A handful of brave survivors must contend with an unusual sort of post-apocalyptic crisis in this science fiction drama. The earth has been decimated in the wake of World War III; while massive thermonuclear attacks wiped out most of the major cities, an experimental biological weapon was released that spread two artificial viruses, one of which would infect men and another which would infect women. When the two viruses are brought together during sexual intercourse, the result is instant and painful death for both parties, and the deadly spread of this weapon has meant that humanity as we know it is doomed to eventual extinction. However, Calloway (Richard Lynch), the leader of a battalion of all-male ravagers who plunder the post-nuke plains for whatever they can find, discovers a community where men, women, and children are actually living together in something resembling civilization. It seems that a scientist was able to develop a serum that rendered the twin viruses harmless; however, the inventor is killed as Calloway and his men raid the village. The inventor's son, Joe Knight (Bryan Genesee), survives, and he must learn the secrets to his father's formula. He gets some unexpected help from McCabe (James Brolin), a renegade peacekeeper on the run from Calloway, and Shara (Kehli O'Byrne), who with McCabe is eager to discover the formula for the serum and begin repopulating the world. Roger Corman served as executive producer for this project. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Brolin, Bryan Genesse, (more)
When an ex-con manages to schmooze her way into being a high-priced nanny for a rich family, she promptly tries to control the family's two adorable moppets. Unfortunately for her, the kids are none too keen on starting an early career in a sweat shop, and with Home Alone-like aplomb, they manage to thwart her intentions. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- 1995
Sometime in the future, cyborg units are threatening to take over the Earth. After their use is outlawed, four female androids are smuggled onto the planet, and it's up to Jack Ford (Marc Singer) to track them down. His efforts to do so take him on a journey from Phoenix to the underwater city of New Angeles, and finally into the nefarious realm of a megalomaniacal kingpin and his army of thugs. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marc Singer
- 1995
This documentary examines the first films of some top Hollywood directors, featuring interviews with the filmmakers and clips of their early student films, as well as some of their blockbuster hits. The program explores how each director learned from early mistakes, and seeks to illuminate the personalities and motivations of these successful "auteur" directors. Volume one covers Roger Corman, Taylor Hackford, Spike Lee, Paul Mazursky, Oliver Stone, and Robert Zemeckis. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide
- 1995
- R
When a woman hopes that a night of passion will grow into something deeper, she finds that her new beau may have some secrets in this erotic thriller. Ever since her divorce, Michelle Sanderson (Ally Sheedy) has tried to focus on her career in advertising, but she's become terribly lonely, and when she meets handsome stranger Jack Gillman (A. Martinez), without thinking, she joins him at his apartment for a long night of lovemaking. The next morning, she discovers that Jack is gone, along with his furniture; when she comes back later in the day, a man named Michael Joslyn (Frederic Forrest) is living at Jack's place and claims to know nothing about him. Jack eventually calls Michelle, and she sees him again; he tells her that he runs a construction business and that his wife passed away not long ago. However, Michelle later encounters Michael and his wife (Diane Salinger), and she discovers that they were the parents of Jack's late wife -- and that they're convinced that Jack is responsible for her death. One Night Stand marked the directorial debut of actress Talia Shire, best known for her roles in the Rocky films. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ally Sheedy, A. Martinez, (more)
- 1994
- R
This made-for-TV western stars Kelly Preston as Rebecca Carver, who is travelling west with her husband Matthew (Charles Powell), trying to outrun the draft for the Civil War. Needing to rest for the night, they stop at a trading post run by Barkley (Dan Haggerty), where they encounter a pack of buffalo hunters as well as several Cheyenne braves who seem to know Barkley well. Worried that there could be trouble and afraid of the Indians, Matthew warns the hunters about the Cheyenne, which soon leads to a furious battle leaving only two survivors -- Rebecca and Hawk (Pato Hoffmann), a Cheyenne warrior who was severely injured in the fighting. With no one to protect her, Rebecca realizes that her survival may depend on Hawk, so she nurses him back to health; the two make their way across the prarie as they try to escape the bitter onset of winter, and find that their mutual distrust soon grows into love. Roger Corman served as executive producer. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kelly Preston, Pato Hoffmann, (more)
- 1994
This prison thriller is told in a series of flashbacks that lead to doubts about the guilt of a Death Row inmate. Mimi Rogers stars as Regina, a prisoner waiting for the date of her execution for the murder of her husband, James (John Terry). Curious about his beautiful charge, a prison guard, Colin (Billy Zane) begins questioning Regina about the crime and gets conflicting responses from her about the method of James' death and whether or not she truly intended to murder him. What becomes clear, however, is that James became possessive and abusive of his wife, fixating on an earlier romance that Regina's never gotten over. As she's led off to her death, the truth about what happened to James is finally revealed. Reflections on a Crime (1994) was alternately entitled Reflections in the Dark. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mimi Rogers, Billy Zane, (more)
- 1994
- PG
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Anxious to quit smoking, a married couple tries hypnosis. When their opportunistic children see how well it works, they decide to use the techniques to improve the quality of their lives. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joanna Kerns, Robert Hays, (more)
- 1994
Angel of Destruction stars female martial-arts expert Maria Ford in the title role. In the tradition of the "B" westerns of Yore, Ford sets out to avenge her sister's murderer. She's essentially a woman of peace, though she leaves a lot of her opponents in pieces. There's gore galore before she corners the killers, and it is for this reason, rather than the frequent glimpses of the leading lady's bare torso, that the film is rated R. The saving grace of Angel of Destruction, for non-chopsocky fans, is the fact that Maria Ford actually has a soupcon of acting ability. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Some teen girls take to the road in this made-for-cable remake of the 1956 original. Set in 1957, three guy-crazy friends take to the road in a stolen car, trying to track down one of their ex-lovers before he goes off into the Navy. The film is part of Showtime's "Rebel Highways" series of remakes. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Rudd, Julie Bowen, (more)
In this "sequel" to Roger Corman's 1971 Von Richtofen and Brown (produced by Corman himself), a toy World War I plane belonging to a young boy (Tobey Maguire) is possessed by the spirit of the deceased Red Baron. The possessed plane begins killing people with real bullets from a toy machine gun. The boy turns for help to his grandfather (Mickey Rooney) -- who just happens to be the man who actually shot down the Red Baron in World War I. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mickey Rooney, Tobey Maguire, (more)
- 1994
Inside a top-secret chemical weapons base, a master criminal takes a Congresswoman hostage. Only one man can stop the lunatic from unleashing the forces of evil against an unsuspecting American population. That man is Ryan Cooper, government special agent and one-man killing machine. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
Director Dan Golden's remake of Marcus De Leon's 1992 erotic thriller Kiss Me a Killer stars Maria Ford as the femme fatale who lures a country-western singer into murdering her sadistic bar-owner husband. Executive producer Roger Corman, who also released De Leon's film, made a career of re-using similar storylines with slight alterations and passing them off as new films. This one falls short of its predecessor due mostly to Golden's workmanlike direction and the hackneyed backdrop. Golden's next job for Corman, however, was a surprisingly witty adaptation of Bram Stoker's The Burial of the Rats (1995). ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
Alex (Theresa Russell is a government agent who trades sex for state secrets. Will (Scott Glenn) is a taciturn demolition expert troubled by a violent past. When the two find themselves being pursued by the same nefarious spy ring, bullets start flying and bedsprings start creaking. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- 1994
Unreleased to the general public and infamous for its poor quality within geek circles, this Roger Corman adaptation of the Marvel Comics supergroup is an interesting cult item that ranks up there with the dismal Captain America feature and the cheap Hulk TV movies. The story of the film goes back to the late '80s when Marvel Comics were licensing out their characters for mild profit in a time when the comic industry was failing. Enter a German company called Neue Constantin and producer Bernd Eichinger, who held the rights for almost four years before their contract was about to run out. In order to retain the rights to future remake/options and get out of paying a five-million-dollar fee, Neue were forced to put something to film, so they made a deal with Roger Corman's New Horizons studio to make the film quick and on the cheap for $1.5 million. Once the film was finished, Eichinger bought out Corman's interest, then turned around and sold it to 20th Century Fox, who were then prepping a 50-million-dollar adaptation with director Chris Columbus. The film then dove into virtual obscurity, save for the comic convention bootlegs and later through the internet. The storyline follows the basic framework of the comic, with the exception of a few minor details, including the introduction of a new villain, The Jeweler, who directly becomes responsible for the team's mishap in space and takes liberally from another one of the comic's famous villains, The Mole Man. In reference to its underground popularity, Corman now regards it as his most profitable film that never saw release, while Marvel president Avi Arad reportedly burned Fox's only print. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alex Hyde-White, Jay Underwood, (more)
- 1993
Kickboxing champ Jerry Pelt (Jerry Trimble) is the One Man Army of the title. Not that he dons khaki or anything, it's just that Jerry proves more than a match for a batalion of bad guys. It seems that a small-town bigwig has arranged for the murder of Jerry's grandfather. With the law on the villains' side, Jerry has no recourse but to kick, poke and jab away. There's hardly an original moment in One Man Army, but who goes to these movies for their plots? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
With the Philippines again standing in for Vietnam, this low-budget actioner stars David Carradine as a ruthless, renegade American army colonel who disobeys orders to sneak his crack team into Cambodia to destroy a Viet Cong supply train. But when he steps over the line and after much convoluted mayhem orders the slaughter of innocent Cambodian villagers, his right hand man turns upon him and a deadly conflict ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
A Navy SEAL gets himself tossed into a seething Filipino prison after his attempts to stop a gang rape fail and he is accused of killing the girl. This low-budget martial arts actioner chronicles his struggle to survive and escape the hellish jail. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Night of the Living Dead meets Gone with the Wind, in which the Blue and the Gray have to battle the Ghoulish and the Undead. When the Confederate army accidentally unleashes a supernatural voodoo baddie, the spirit starts organizing an army full of dead soldiers, and soon a take-no-prisoners Civil War battle ensues -- one not found in the Ken Burns documentary. This film stars reigning straight-to-video king Corbin Bernsen. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- 1993
Horror virtuoso John Carpenter hosts this goofy horror anthology, originally produced for Showtime as a gory stepchild of HBO's Tales from the Crypt series. Playing an emaciated, eye-rolling "coroner," John introduces the audience to a triptych of creepy vignettes in the EC horror-comics mode while paddling about in the guts of assorted cadavers and cracking jokes more gag-inducing than anything oozing on the slab. Two of the stories are directed by Carpenter himself: "The Gas Station" is a retread (pun intended) of Halloween-style scare tactics as a pretty gas-station attendant watches various oddballs pass by her window after hearing that an escaped killer is on the loose; "Hair" is a morbid, hilarious look at man's obsession with his own virility in which Stacy Keach turns to a bizarre hair-growth clinic (run by David Warner & Debbie Harry) which promises instant results, but at a horrific price. The third segment, directed by Tobe Hooper, involves a baseball player (Mark Hamill) who receives an eye transplant after a car accident and soon begins having optical flashbacks revealing (you guessed it) the identity and tendencies of the eye's former owner -- a serial killer. The second segment is by far the most entertaining, featuring a wonderfully neurotic performance by Keach, but the first and last chapters are too derivative to offer much for the discriminating horror buff, although the same fans will enjoy several cute cameos from other genre directors, including Wes Craven, Sam Raimi and Roger Corman. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- 1993
- PG
In this comedy-adventure for the family, Heather (Jennifer Love Hewitt) is a girl who can't stand her foster parents, so one day she runs away from home in order to track down her real mother. However, Heather's stepmother wants her back -- not because she cares about her, but because Heather is worth several million dollars, and she wants to make sure that she doesn't lose her meal ticket. Private detective Nick Frost (Howard Hesseman) is hired to find Heather and bring her back home, but it turns out that the stepmother has a trick up her sleeve -- once Nick finds Heather, rather than pay him, stepmom calls the FBI and tells them that Nick has kidnapped her daughter. Home for Christmas was originally released under the title Little Miss Millions. Jennifer Love Hewitt was 14 at the time -- a year away from her star-making role in the TV series Party of Five. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1993
- R
In this futuristic kick-boxing outing set in the next century, astronaut Laker Powell comes back from his latest mission and discovers that his brother, a pro kick-boxer has been slain. It is a violent time and the police are too overwhelmed with cases to pay much attention, so he decides to investigate the case himself. He soon finds himself having to use his own considerable kickboxing skills to survive the grim streets. The film features harsh language, graphic violence, nudity, and sexual situations. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
One of the more popular features from Roger Corman's "B"-factory Concorde/New Horizons, Carnosaur perpetuates the grand Corman tradition of zeroing in on a big-budget Hollywood studio moneymaker, then dashing off a quick-and-dirty poor man's version before moss gets a chance to grow on the larger film's concept. This bargain-basement spin on Jurassic Park was actually based on a novel by John Brosnan (under the pseudonym Harry Adam Knight). It features Diane Ladd (whose daughter Laura Dern took the high road on Spielberg's film) as a kooky mad scientist whose experiments on human and dinosaur DNA result in dual disasters -- first, a rubbery midget Tyrannosaurus bred from dinosaur and chicken DNA (imagine the barbecue potential!) which escapes the lab and goes on the requisite bloody rampage; and second, a specially-engineered virus with the ability to replace human beings with dino-babies. Although this exploitation quickie doesn't waste too much time delivering the standard Corman cargo (blood and breasts), the mayhem is too often derailed by endless genetic techno-babble from Ladd, whose freaked-out performance is the film's sole plus. The downbeat ending is pure '80s, and paves the way for the inevitable sequels. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Diane Ladd, Raphael Sbarge, (more)
