Alex Stevens Movies

A convict agrees to go undercover and gather evidence on a notorious crime lord in order to win an early release from prison in this tough, gritty crime drama. Much of the tension develops from the inner conflict of Jimmy Kilmartin (David Caruso), who feels torn between his desire to win freedom for the sake of his family and his belief in a code of honor that sees ratting on others as an unforgivable sin. His misgivings are compounded by fear when he learns that his target is to be the notorious Little Junior (Nicolas Cage), a violent eccentric with a hair-trigger temper. Luckily for the ex-con, Junior takes a shine to Jimmy, welcoming him into his inner circle. While this pleases the investigators, it means further trouble for Jimmy, who would undoubtedly be killed were his deception ever discovered. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

Director Abel Ferrara liberally employs his blackjack intensity in this lunatic gang romance that comes across as a cross between Mean Streets and West Side Story. The New York City street gangs of Chinatown and Little Italy are rattling their sabers and they become drawn when a Chinese restaurant opens up on the Italian side of Canal Street. In the middle of all this tension and violence, beautiful Chinese teenager Tyan-Hwa (Sari Chang) falls in love with Tony (Richard Panebianco), a pizza delivery boy. Of course, continuing with in the West Side Story vein, the parents of the two lovebirds are against the match. Not only that, but the Mafia and the Chinese mob conspire to separate the lovers in order to maintain an uncertain peace in the community. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

This stylishly photographed drama is set in the Lower East Side area known as "Alphabet City." There 19-year-oldJohnny has become a drug lord in charge of the neighborhood gangs and pushers. Unfortunately, he too has a boss and when he asks Johnny to burn down the tenement building that houses his mother and sister, the boy refuses and decides to go straight for the sake of his wife and child. This doesn't set well with his boss who sends gangsters out to kill him. Of course, the gangsters have to catch Johnny first. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Larry Cohen wrote the screenplay to this updating of Mickey Spillane's notorious 1947 novel. Cohen was originally engaged to direct the film as well but was pulled from the director's chair after a week's worth of shooting because he had already run up the budget by $100,000; he was replaced by television director Richard T. Heffron. In this 1982 I, the Jury, Mike Hammer (Armand Assante) is a Vietnam veteran who wears hip duds and drives around in a bronze Trans Am in much the same way as Robert Mitchum's Philip Marlowe was refurbished for Michael Winner's re-make of The Big Sleep. After a cheesy rip-off of a James Bond-style credit sequence, the story kicks in. One-armed detective Jack Williams (Frederick Downs) is murdered. Jack was Hammer's best friend, and Hammer decides that he will become a one-man vigilante squad and seek vengeance on the person responsible for his death. He enlists the aid of his vivacious secretary Velda (Laurene Landon) and is also helped and hindered by police-chief Pat Chambers (Paul Sorvino). Hammer latches on to the killer's trail, then the film veers in a radically different direction from the book, introducing government conspiracies and mind-control techniques by the CIA and the Mafia. Also introduced is Hammer's love interest Charlotte Bennett (Barbara Carrera), an administrator of a kinky sex clinic (depicted as a psychiatrist in the original novel). ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

The title of this David Cronenberg sci-fi horror film refers to a group of people who have telekinetic powers that allow them to read minds and give them the ability to make other people's heads explode. The children of a group of women who took an experimental tranquilizer during their pregnancies, the scanners are now adults and have become outcasts from society. But Darryl (Michael Ironside) decides to create an army of scanners to take over the world. The only person who can stop him is his brother Cameron (Stephen Lack), who wants to forget that he was ever a scanner. Winner of the International Fantasy Film Award at the 1983 Fantasporto Film Festival, Scanners was followed by a pair of sequels, neither of which involved Cronenberg. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

Released theatrically as God Told Me To, this inventive film from "B"-movie auteur Larry Cohen was later re-named Demon after television distributors refused to air it under the original title. The convoluted, tabloid-flavored storyline (predating the kind of stories frequently featured on The X-Files) involves a series of motiveless murders committed by various New York residents: a sniper picks off targets from a water tower; a mild-mannered father murders his entire family; and a cop (Andy Kaufman, of all people) opens fire during a St. Patrick's Day parade. The only consistent pattern to the crimes involves the perpetrators' calm admissions of guilt, explaining, "God told me to." While investigating the murders, devoutly-Catholic police detective Peter Nicholas (Tony Lo Bianco) is increasingly troubled by evidence of a Christ-like figure named Bernard Phillips (Richard Lynch) who appeared to each of the killers and can't seem to shake the feeling that his own fate is inexplicably linked to this mysterious being. As he comes closer to the truth, his worst fears are confirmed -- particularly after a telling conversation with Bernard's tormented mother (Sylvia Sidney), who reveals the horrifying secret of her son's unnatural birth. Cohen has often used the "B"-movie format to address rather lofty concepts, and this is certainly no exception -- tackling no less than the existence of God and the nature of human beliefs -- but clumsy editing and an outrageous FX-heavy finale tend to obscure this film's unique vision. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

This detective-themed action-adventure film spoofs The Big Sleep, which was based on the novel by Raymond Chandler. Burt Reynolds plays McCoy, a hard-nosed private detective. The story has more tangles than a bowl of spaghetti, but it begins when McCoy is called to the house of Hume (Ron Weyand), an eccentric diamond dealer, and is given the task of recovering some stolen gems. McCoy is beaten by a gang of thugs to warn him off the job, and this lets him know that he's onto something really big. By the end of the film, McCoy will have hooked up with a gorgeous blonde (Dyan Cannon), driven a tank through a warehouse wall, and delivered numerous crooks to the police. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Sandra Peabody and Brother Theodore star in this sleazy thriller set in Times Square, where a sadistic madman has been carving up pretty massage girls. As the victim begin piling up, a team of renegade detectives set out to capture the killer, and stop the bloodshed. Chris Jordan and George Dzundza co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

This is the second full-length motion picture feature based on the popular television soap-opera/horror melodrama Dark Shadows. The first film was House of Dark Shadows. This film lacks the grand guignol glee provided by Jonathan Frid and Joan Bennet. However, it has a new storyline, not a rehash of one previously explored in the television series. Here, artist Charles Collins (David Selby, who performed the same part in the TV series) brings his new bride to live in the family mansion, which he has just inherited. The gentle and sensitive young Collins, the last of his clan, has troubled sleep. He dreams of the past, of his family, and of the house. Perhaps his dreams are not just dreams? Increasingly deranged by these visions, it begins to look like he will re-enact the atrocities committed by his family in the past. It is interesting to note that the film uses the mansion of 1890s railroad robber/baron Jay Gould for its setting. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

A frightened Carolyn (Nancy Barrett) shies away from Jeb (Christopher Pennock), so he keeps his distance, not wanting to force her to love him -- at least not at first. Arriving at the Old House for a showdown with Barnabas, Jeb is attacked by the werewolf (Alex Stevens). This episode was first telecast on February 9, 1970. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Although Grant Douglas (David Selby) -- who has briefly been persuaded that he is truly Quentin Collins -- manages to fend off the werewolf, ancient artist Charles Tate (Roger Davis) dies of shock. Olivia Corey (Donna McKechnie) finally admits to Julia (Grayson Hall) that she is Amanda Harris, the woman "created" on canvas by Tate back in the 19th century. Amanda further reveals that, just before killing herself in 1897, she made a pact with a mysterious Mr. Best (Emory Bass) that would allow her a second chance to win Quentin's love sometime in the 1960s. Originally telecast on January 6 1970, this was officially designated as the 922nd episode of Dark Shadows; episodes 920 and 921 were never produced nor telecast, due to ABC's extended coverage of the 1970 New Year celebrations. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This offbeat comedy finds a rotund, daydreaming projectionist (Chuck McCann) who fantasizes that he is the super hero Captain Flash. He imagines his nemesis to be Renaldi (Rodney Dangerfield), whom the projectionist refers to as "the Bat." Renaldi demands the lobby floor to be so clean he can eat off it. The film uses superimposition of older films, the first to employ such techniques. The projectionist imagines Rinaldi to be in league with the forces of evil like Hitler, Mussolini and space aliens. He is under the delusion that he must save a female co-worker (Ina Balin) from the clutches of the evil Bat. The projectionist summons such heroes as Errol Flynn, Gary Cooper and the US Marine Corp to save her from imagined danger. This is the first feature length film for director Harry Hurwitz, who also appears as an usher. This also marks the film debut for Rodney Dangerfield, who had recently changed his name from his given name of Jack Roy and opened a nightclub. The film premiered at the Rochester Film Festival in 1969. It has earned cult status over the years and is in the archives of the Museum Of Modern Art in New York. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi