Stephen Greenberg Movies

Five years ago, the husband of Jean Brooks (Mädchen Amick) purportedly committed suicide. Thus, Jean is startled when ex-cop-turned-private eye Eddie Fate (Andrew Walker) shows up with the news that her husband has been alive all these years -- and has only recently been murdered. A trip to Chicago opens Jean's eyes to her husband's motives for his deception (which didn't start out as sinister, but sure ended up that way) -- and places her own life in peril, courtesy of an insane sister-in-law and some slimy-looking drug dealers. Filmed in 2004 under the title Jean's Fate, Lies and Deception was first seen on Canadian TV a few weeks before its April 25, 2005, American cable debut on the Lifetime channel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When John Davenport (Scott Valentine) married his lovely wife, Diana (Katherine Kelly Lang), he was totally unaware that she had been wed before. And beyond that, John had no idea that Diana's ex-husband, Drew D'Arcy (John Enos III), is a dangerous psycho. But Davenport soon wises up when, with help of a phony parole office, Drew begins stalking Diana and ultimately kidnaps her. Alerting the authorities to this abduction, John finds that no one will believe him -- especially since he himself has recently been implicated in a murder. Thus, John must tackle the challenge of rescuing Diana himself, leading to a nail-biting climactic showdown in the desert. For all its melodrama and grimness, this film has as astonishing amount of humor, mostly invested in the "sick" comments made by Drew D'Arcy and his partner in crime. Originally filmed for theatrical play but ultimately released directly to home video, Till the End of Night made its TV debut courtesy of the Lifetime cable network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When a private detective takes on a missing person assignment trying to find an Italian aristocrat's uncle, she discovers a conspiracy of murder and drugs. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

Sarah Pillsbury and Midge Sanford, the producing team responsible for the theatrical-movie "sleeper" The River's Edge, were the mentors of the made-for-TV Seeds of Tragedy. Filmed in semi-documentary fashion, the story involves a single cache of cocaine, from creation to consumption. The coca leaves are initially harvested by poor farmers in the Peruvian Andes. The coca moves forward to a small-time Amazon trader; then it is powdered under the supervision of a Colombian gangster, and finally it winds up on the mean streets of LA. Partially filmed in Mexico with a cast of relative unknowns, Seeds of Tragedy was an unusually potent entry in the Fox Network's "Monday Night Movie" series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This Peter Maris action begins at New Mexico State Penitentiary, where a spew of toxic gas from the crash of a tanker truck leads to the evacuation of the prison by the warden (George Kennedy). In the ensuing confusion, anti-social cons Kuttner (Lee De Broux) and Patch (James Tolkan) kidnap prison psychologist Maria Slayton (Kim Delaney) and hit the road with a bus full of prisoners. The group first heads for Mexico but decides instead to take over the town of Sonora and hold its citizens as hostages. The National Guard sends in a state police lieutenant (Yaphet Kotto) and his tough-as-nails Lieutenant Colonel Johnson (Jan-Michael Vincent) to handle the situation. But the National Guard's ineffectual methods leave the situation more volatile than it was before. It is left to two citizens of Sonora -- sheriff Ike Slayton (Brad Davis) and his army pal Bill (Ken Foree) -- to take matters into their own hands and save the town from the kill-crazy prisoners. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

A Vietnam War veteran (John Schneider) renounces the military for a priest's habit, but after his wife and daughter are killed by terrorists in Rome (and the government does nothing), the hero returns to violent means. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

This existentialist vampire tale essentially revolves around two characters: The Vampire (Cyril O'Reilly) and his intended victim, a young, brooding and suicidal stripper (Starr Andreeff). Selecting her as his prey primarily because of her desire to die, the morose supernatural predator chooses to spend an entire evening with his equally angst-ridden quarry -- a night in which the two have the opportunity to share their dreams, fears and desires. Good acting and an imaginative premise set this film apart from many low-budget vampire yarns of the period, but the talk-heavy "My Dinner With Dracula" script wears out its welcome after about an hour, and fails to realize the potential for erotic chemistry between the characters. Remade (for no apparent reason) as To Sleep with a Vampire in 1992. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Two teens just out of high school are the computer experts who run across a Soviet plot to steal the plans of a high-tech helicopter in this routine spy thriller. The Russians monitor the NASA launching pad from an offshore trawler. They recruit one of the local students to infiltrate the computers and monitor the top secret plans. Stock footage of rocket launches and military planes are included in this feature directed by Monte Markham, who also plays Colonel Mark Denton. Mostly the feature shows people at the computer and lacks the excitement of other films of the genre. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

The sequel to Saturday the 14th, this horror-comedy traces the adventures of nice-guy teen Eddie Baxter (Jason Presson) as he saves the world from the brink of supernatural destruction. After moving into a decrepit, inherited mansion with his family -- a collection of oddballs who eat nothing but junk food yet cling to a Leave It to Beaver sense of normalcy -- Eddie is the only one to notice the mysterious mists that spill up from the basement and engender odd behavior in everyone but himself and lovable old Gramps (Ray Walston). The entire family, from Eddie's dad (Avery Schreiber) to his freeloading Aunt Alice (Rhonda Aldrich), soon begins conducting late-night chocolate-fudge sculpture classes in the kitchen. Chairs begin eating people, Aunt Alice spouts werewolf-style facial hair, and monsters begin issuing forth from a crack in the basement floor. Soon, a leggy blond vampire named Charlene (Pamela Stonebrook) has taken up residence in the Eddie's room; she tells the boy he's set to inherit the mantle of darkness from a fiend known as The Evil One (Leo V. Gordon) at the stroke of midnight on Saturday the 14th. As signs and portents proliferate, Eddie must decide whether to reject temptation or bask in his newfound powers. Help arrives unexpectedly in the form of Leonard Cavendish (Phil Leeds), Gramps' deceased best friend. Saturday the 14th Strikes Back co-star Avery Schreiber spent much of the '80s being distracted by the hearty crunch of Doritos snack chips in a long-running series of TV commercials. Audiences will remember Ray Walston from his role as Uncle Martin in the '60s TV show My Favorite Martian, while veteran comedy player Phil Leeds would go on to play tooth-obsessed Judge Happy Boyle on the '90s Fox comedy Ally McBeal. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide