John Showalter Movies

Rushed to the clinic after collapsing on the street, 15-year-old faith healer Boyd (Thomas Dekker) is diagnosed with a brain abnormality. House (Hugh Laurie) recommends immediate surgery, but Boyd refuses, claiming to be worried that he'll lose his headling powers if he goes under the knife. Of course, Boyd is hiding the real reason why he wants to avoid an operation, but in the meantime he lays hands on terminal cancer patient Grace (Tamara Braun)--who is convinced that she's cured, placing the doctors in this week's ethical dilemma. And in a less solemn moment, Boyd tries to help Dr. Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) by claiming that God wants Wilson to join House's weekly poker game! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

From the prolific (if not particularly inspired) "B"-movie cheese factory of Charles Band, this sci-fi/horror morsel is set during a nuclear/biological war, and involves an AWOL military team (including the ubiquitous Linnea Quigley) as they take shelter from the relentless acid rain in an abandoned research facility. As it turns out, the building is not abandoned at all but the happy home of legions of greasy, oversized rats and an outrageously drippy man-in-a-rubber-suit monster. The K-Y-covered creep is clearly one of Alien's countless bastard offspring... but the similarities don't stop there, as several intrepid troopers take to the air vents to flush out the belligerent beastie. Veteran exploitation director David De Coteau tries to keep things interesting by rounding up practically every science fiction and horror cliche ever invented (there's even a killer baby that's a dead ringer for the It's Alive! tyke) and drenching everything with blood, slime and alien saliva -- but the abundant goop still can't disguise the fact that there's nothing worthwhile underneath. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide