Mario di Leo Movies

Xena (Lucy Lawless) goes to the rescue of an old friend's daughter, who has been kidnapped by the warlord Xerxes (Kevin J. Wilson). In order to infiltrate the dungeon where the girl is held, Xena pretends to be one of Xerxes' minions. Before long, she is enmeshed in an organized revolt against the warlord, led by a mysterious and charismatic figure known only as the Black Wolf. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An ISN TV crew covers a "typical" 36 hours in the life of Babylon 5. The crew's visit unexpectedly coincides with a dangerous upsurge in Narn hostilities against Centauri. As written by J. Michael Straczynski, this episode deliberately invokes memories of CNN's coverage of the Persian Gulf War, with Kim Zimmer bringing a slyly satiric spin to the role of commentator Cynthia Torqueman. "And Now for a Word" was originally telecast on May 3, 1995. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on Sara Flanigan Carter's semi-autobiographical novel, the made-for-cable Sudie and Simpson is about a White 12-year-old girl called Sudie who becomes friends with a shy, lonely Black adult named Simpson who has been ostracized from their rural Georgia town. Eventually, the small community becomes enraged about their friendship, and Simpson is unjustly accused of child molestation. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

In this drama, an angry, bereaved husband decides to get his own kind of justice after the man who killed his wife and son is freed on a legal technicality. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Divided into four separate independent films originally made as a television pilot, Nightmares begins with "Terror in Topanga," a story about a young woman who goes out one night to buy a pack of cigarettes, knowing full well that the infamous "canyon killer" is on the loose -- and sure enough, a subtly menacing store clerk (Anthony James) begins to loom large in the woman's journey. The second story, "Bishop of Battle" is a sequence with animation that details the saga of a video games champion who comes up against a supernatural opponent. The next vignette, "The Benediction" is about a priest who gives up on his faith and takes off down the highway, only to be confronted with a demonic minivan and good reasons for remaining a believer. The last story, "Night of the Rat" has the rodent that ate Manhattan looming large over the home of a young couple, but never fear, the husband is blasé enough to handle anything, or so he thinks. As might be expected, the low-budget production and facetious scripting of a few of these sequences work against the intended scary effect of the stories. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This superbly chilling haunted-house opus stars Richard Crenna as a therapist who, with wife Joanna Pettet, selects a lavish mansion for use as a drug rehab clinic. No sooner have the staff and their assistants set up housekeeping when a nightmarish force emerges from a trap door in the basement, and the house begins preying on the occupants in horrendous ways, from freak electrical bursts to sudden flash fires (leading to some extremely graphic scenes of people being burned alive). Director Gus Trikonis keeps the tension unbearably high and drives the plot on the strength of an excellent cast -- especially Victor Buono in a magnificent but brief role as the Devil himself. Amazingly, some prints of the film deleted his appearance altogether. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a troubled 17-year old socialite runs away from her home in New York to Rio. There she falls for a troubled architect. The architect, devastated since his girlfriend was killed, is unable, or unwilling to speak. The girl tries to help him by suggesting he see a psychiatrist, but he, believing that she only wants him to rejoin the fast life, refuses. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide