Zoran Hochstätter Movies

Boys will be boys, and that's not always a good thing, as this dark drama with comic overtones reveals. Matt (Keith Carradine) and Harley (David Keith) were best friends in high school, but since then their lives have followed a very different course. Matt drifts from job to job, swilling beer and making trouble wherever he lands, while Harley is a building designer with a nice home and an attractive wife, Fox (Janet Gunn), who wants to have a baby, though Harley isn't so certain he wants to be a parent. One day, Matt walks off his job at an Alaskan oilfield and heads to California, appearing on Harley's doorstep; Harley has neither the heart nor the desire to turn Matt away, and soon Matt is giving Harley a new taste of the bachelor lifestyle as they head out drinking, carousing, and chasing women from dusk till dawn. But Fox soon becomes wary of the way Matt is bringing out the less wholesome side of Harley's personality, while Harley notices Matt's behavior is advancing past good-natured rowdiness into something more sinister. Matt's fondness for fast sex with prostitutes and his sudden friendship with a gangster (Jan Triska) leads Matt down a dangerous road that proves to have disastrous consequences for the two friends. Cahoots was the first feature film for writer and director Dirk Benedict, who is best known for his career as a television actor, having starred in the TV series Battlestar Galactica and The A-Team. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Set in the Seattle "grunge music" scene of the early 1990s, this comedy-drama tackles serious issues of sexual politics and identity, representing a departure for director Kristine Peterson, previously relegated to such low-brow horror and thriller genre fare as Critters (1991) and Kickboxer 5 (1994). The leaders of the all-girl punk band No Exit are Shelly (Molly Gross) and Suzy (Marisa Ryan), who are also involved in a passionate sexual relationship and living together. While Suzy is a lesbian and feminist activist, Shelly is more conflicted and is led on missions to get revenge on a right-wing radio talk show host and the man who once raped Shelly. After bumping into him at a show, Shelly becomes enamored once again of her ex-boyfriend Jimmy (Jason Bortz), the publisher of an alternative comic 'zine mulling over an offer to become a corporate sell-out with a job at Microsoft. As No Exit is about to land a recording contract, the meltdown of Shelly and Suzy's love affair threatens the band's future. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

In this police drama, a policewoman risks her life to protect a key witness in a gangland killing. The cop and her charge hide out in a woman's shelter and this leads to a brutal attack. Despite the violence and fear, nothing will prevent the witness from her day in court. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this soft-core thriller features attractive people groping each other, frequently. ShannonTweed and John Laughlin are married, but they are not happy. They live on a very expensive, but remote ranch. Tweed is a powerful businesswoman yet neglectful wife. Poor Laughlin turns to kinky sex to combat her frigidity. A swinging couple suddenly appears at the door claiming their car broke down. They were really hired by Laughlin to warm up his wife. Plenty of fondling ensues, but Tweed remains unmoved. Laughlin starts getting ugly. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The depraved shenanigans at a sex clinic provide the plot of this erotic crime thriller from B-movie director Jim Wynorski. There is something sinister going at the Callister Sex Institute, a surrogate and sexual healing clinic run by therapist Scott Callister (Jay Richardson) and his bisexual wife Dr. Jessica Callister (Delia Sheppard). While investigating allegations of malfeasance, an undercover operative, Monica Waldman (Gail Harris) has been raped and murdered. Her boss, private eye Barry Mitchum (Nick Cassavetes) is determined to nail the Callisters, and so is Kay Egan (Tanya Roberts), whose sister committed suicide after being sexually assaulted at the clinic. After Barry and Kay discover they're after the same goal, they join forces to expose the Callisters, with Kay even going so far as to use her body in an effort to help Barry. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

In this straight-to-video sequel to the 1988 horror film, Patrick O'Bryan returns as Spike, again battling the supernatural in a college town. The majority of the plot deals with pretty Robin (Debbie James), a coed who learns that her dean, Prof. Grubeck (Rene Assa), is a rotting ghost who uses astral projection to kill. One amusing scene has Leslie Ryan watching It's a Wonderful Life on her TV, which then sucks her in and turns into Night of the Living Dead. Directed by exploitation veteran Jim Wynorski, the film is full of obligatory in-jokes and a familiar genre cast including Monique Gabrielle and George "Buck" Flower, but isn't very scary or imaginative. Brigitte Nielsen appears briefly. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

One of a few abortive attempts by B-movie legend Roger Corman to recapture the questionable glory of his 60s Edgar Allan Poe films as well as his 70s sexploitation romps, this is definitely the least entertaining of the lot. Taking massive liberties with Poe's tale, the plot involves lovely young Lenora (Nicole Eggert) being possessed by the ghost of her mother (Eggert again), who was tortured and crucified as a witch when Lenora was an infant. After a series of flashbacks, it is also revealed that Morella had intended to sacrifice her child as part of a Satanic ritual designed to give her eternal life. Lenora's creepy governess Mrs. Deveroux (Lana Clarkson) is revealed as Morella's partner in crime, as she conspires to make Lenora's possession complete -- just in time for her to collect a sizable trust on her 18th birthday. Conceived primarily as softcore exploitation, this makes Corman's earlier bastardizations of Poe's works seem positively inspired by comparison. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

A beautiful horticulturist visits her stepfather to discover the mystery behind her mother's untimely death. Her stepfather wants to kill her to create his immortality serum, but the Swamp Thing comes to her rescue. The two become an unlikely couple, hunted by the insane Dr. Arcane. ~ All Movie Guide

In Transylvania Twist, producer Roger Corman and director Jim Wynorski make Mel Brooks movies look like Noël Coward drawing-room comedies. The film begins with nubile innocent Patty (Monique Gabrielle) being chasing through the woods by the Greatest Horror Hits of the 1980s --with Jason, Freddy Krueger, and Leatherface all vying for a piece of her. Robert Vaughn has the hammiest role as a vampire named Lord Byron Orlock. His ravishing niece Marissa (Teri Copley), an American singing star, arrives at Lord Byron's castle in Transylvania after the death of her father. Accompanying her is Dexter Ward (Rick Altman), her wise-cracking Donald O'Connor-inspired sidekick. What happens next involves a frantic search for a mysterious book that will raise "the evil one" from the dead. The flimsy plot serves as a handy clothesline on to which to hang self-referential parodies of the horror film genre, with time out for some clever editing of an appearance by long-dead Boris Karloff. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In this taut thriller, a young man is tormented by a terrible recurring nightmare of a knife-wielding hunter, wearing the mask of a snarling wolf, who places the razor-sharp blade at his neck. Just as the wolfman is about to cut his throat, the man awakens in a cold sweat. A decade before, his parents were murdered by a similar slasher on Christmas Eve. As time passes the dreams become more intense and soon he becomes totally paranoid, seeing the fearsome apparition when he is awake. His girl friend and his best pal do all they can to keep him sane, but it is to no avail, until the truth is finally discovered. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Divided into three different films by three graduates of the Ljubljana Academy (for training in the media), Trije Prispevki K Slovenski Blaznosti addresses the issue of madness from different perspectives. In the first story, a young boy watches his mother decline after she is abused by his father. The boy later suffers indignities at school and later yet kills a gang leader who attacked him. That act gets him some time in reform school, which then leads to his final alienation from society once he is released. His only solace in a hostile world is a young woman with whom he begins an intimate relationship. In the second story, reality and fantasy are mixed together in a version of the tale of Orpheus, whose music convinced Satan to release Orpheus' wife from Hades, but on a condition that becomes impossible to fulfill. In the last story, a young man is overcome by suicidal urges until he meets an innocent and stable woman and begins to regain his hope. All three stories are good beginnings for the newly-minted filmmakers. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The classic rock group The Who are featured in this 1979 documentary about the career of the group. It is enhanced by rare footage of the performers, including a television interview with the later-deceased Keith Moon. Highlights include footage from many of the band's early performances. Among the many songs featured are "Magic Bus," "Won't Get Fooled Again," "My Generation," "Young Man's Blues," "Happy Jack," and excerpts from the innovative rock-opera Tommy. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide