Young, Dey

The Running Man (Special Edition)

In this action thriller based on an early story by Stephen King, Los Angeles in the year 2017 has become a police state in the wake of the global economy's total collapse. All forms of entertainment are government controlled, and the most popular show on television is an elaborate game show in which convicted criminals are given a chance to escape by running through a gauntlet of brutal killers known as "Stalkers." Anyone who survives is given their freedom and a condominium in Hawaii, so when a wrongly accused citizen (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is chosen as a contestant, all hell breaks loose. Cheesy sets and a slimy role for game-show host Richard Dawson make this violent mess of mayhem a candidate for guilty pleasure; it is the kind of movie that truly devoted Arnold fans will want to watch more than once. And check those credits--choreography by Paula Abdul! --Jeff Shannon

Flicka

Can a wild horse with a bad attitude and a not-quite-wild but pretty darn sullen teenage girl with a bad attitude be the best things that ever happened to each other? Though we guess the answer pretty early on in Flicka, it doesn't diminish the feel-good family film one bit. The film is a remake of the 1947 My Friend Flicka itself based on the bestselling (and still riveting) novel by Mary O'Hara, and starring a young Roddy McDowall as the aimless teen hero. This 2006 update changes the hero to a heroine, Katy (Alison Lohman), though the dynamic is similar, and in some ways makes the appeal of the film broader. After all, young girls love their horses, and Katy's moxie and determination, as she opens her heart to the wild filly, a touchingly and humanly conveyed. As Katy struggles with her relationship with her gruff dad (given an excellent performance by country star Tim McGraw), she finds she can gain confidence and be the person her father wants her to be--solely by being herself as she connects with Flicka the horse. The cinematography is stunning, and showcases a part of America that once was seen and celebrated often in films, and lately so rare as to be precious. --A.T. Hurley

Beyond Flicka

Flicka Family Classics Collection

My Friend Flicka (Paperback)

Flicka Soundtrack

Stills from Flicka

Sixteen year old Katie McLaughlin (Alison Lohman) is a headstrong and determined teenager trying to find her way in life. Katie forms a bond with a wild horse she names Flicka. Despite pleas from her father (Tim McGraw) not to ride Flicka, Katy sets out t

The Serpent And The Rainbow

Eight years before he scored a phenomenal hit with Scream, horror master Wes Craven made a worthy effort to "legitimize" horror with this chilling supernatural thriller, based on the best-selling book by Wade Davis. More ambitious than most horror films, this one allowed Craven to generate compelling plausibility with the fact-based story of a Harvard researcher (Bill Pullman) who travels to Haiti to procure a secret voodoo powder that places people into a state of simulated death. His investigation into the hidden world of black magic grows increasingly dangerous until he's caught in a living nightmare--a potentially deadly predicament that inspired the film's advertising tag line: "Don't bury me... I'm not dead!" Craven pays particular attention to authentic details of Haitian society and the role voodoo plays in Haitian culture, and the film gains additional atmosphere from location shooting in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Craven would, of course, continue to thrive by making more "conventional" horror films including Scream, but this remains a fascinating departure for one of the genre's most celebrated directors. - -Jeff Shannon

Red Eye (Widescreen Edition)

Veteran horror director Wes Craven lends his proven talent to the non-horror thriller Red-Eye, turning it into an above-average potboiler that makes the most of its 85 tension-packed minutes. That's a perfect running time for a movie like this, in which a resourceful heroine Lisa (Rachel McAdams, the breakout star of 2005) is trapped on a red-eye flight with creepy villain Jackson Rippner (Cillian Murphy, even more menacing than he was as the Scarecrow in Batman Begins) who's playing middle-man in the plot to assassinate a Homeland Security official. He's got her father pinned down by a would-be killer, using that advantage to coerce Lisa into phoning the luxury resort where she works and arranging to move the target into a pre-set position. It's a situation from which there is seemingly no escape, but of course Craven and screenwriter Carl Ellsworth find a way to milk the suspenseful dilemma for all it's worth, even managing to wedge in a few intriguing character details to enhance the fast-moving plot. It's still a B-movie, but it's tightly constructed and well-executed by Craven, whose previous films made him a perfect choice to maximize all that Red-Eye has to offer. --Jeff Shannon

A Chance of Snow

After finalizing their divorce, sportswriter Michael Ontkean and wife JoBeth Williams head to a Minnesota airport for separate trips to Florida. A blizzard prevents their plane from taking off, and while stranded in and around the airport, they reconsider their marriage. Offering help are Charles Durning and Barbara Barrie, an older couple. With Dey Young, Dina Merrill. 87 min. Standard; Soundtrack: English mono.

National Lampoon's Barely Legal

In the tradition of National Lampoon humor comes the story of Deacon, Matt and Fred who will do anything for even a glimpse of sex and spend their mornings pirating porno movies from Fred's after school job at the video store. But when Fred is fired the well runs dry, and our heroes come up with a new plan: make their own adult film.

Rock 'n Roll High School - Special Edition

"Do your parents know you're Ramones?" With those withering words, Miss Togar (Mary Woronov), the uptight neofascist principal of Vince Lombardi High School, addresses the four mop-haired, leather-jacketed members of America's first and most famous punk band. And you know it won't be long before the Ramones's jackhammer riffs are blaring through the public address system at maximum volume, the kids are running--not walking--wild in the hallways (without passes!), and Miss Togar's gulag is re-christened "Rock 'n' Roll High School." Then, in keeping with the outrageously nihilistic animus of punk, the high school students and the Ramones just blow the place to smithereens. It's a crowd- pleasing, fantasy-fulfillment climax that combines the apocalyptic finale of Michelangelo Antonioni's Zabriskie Point with the explosive conclusion of Alice Cooper's "School's Out." Rock 'n' Roll High School is a blast, a goofy and liberating salute to the rebel spirit behind the teen rock & roll movies of the 1950s, which always pitted the kids' insatiable appetite for fun against the adults' fear-based authoritarianism. The film is emblematic of the disarmingly silly, tongue-in-cheek humor of the youth-oriented B-pictures cranked out in the '50s and '60s by renowned low-budget exploitation mogul Roger Corman (who gave many a hungry young filmmaker, including the creators of this film, their start in the biz), and of the noisy, anarchic energy of '70s punk rock, as personified by the inimitable Ramones. In the words of the maestros' beach-blanket-buzz-saw title anthem, this movie is "Fun, fun, oh baby, fun, fun..." --Jim Emerson

"Allan Arkush had started prepping 'Disco High' when he and Joe Dante came up with a new angle . . . students defy their music-hating principal and turn the schoolhouse into a madhouse! But you just can't tear up high school to Disco music. When The Ramones joined the production, the transition was complete ...ROCK 'N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL was born!" ~~Vince Lombardi High School has quite a reputation: it's the wildest, most rockin' high school around! That is, until a thug of a principal, Miss Togar, comes along and tries to make the school a totalitarian state. With the help of the Ramones, the students of Vince Lombardi battle Miss Togar's iron-fisted rule and take their battle to a truly rockin' conclusion!~~In Memory of Joey Ramone 1951-2001~

Strange Invaders

Timelessly entertaining and worthy of cult status, Strange Invaders is beloved among sci-fi enthusiasts as an early-'80s tribute to its 1950s counterparts. It's got a touch of satire that Joe Dante fans will appreciate, but director Michael Laughlin seems more intent on honoring alien-invasion classics like The Thing and Invasion of the Body Snatchers while offering a low-budget alternative to Close Encounters of the Third Kind. There's even a quick Steven Spielberg sight gag as an affectionate sign of the times, and the film's deliberately cheap-looking style blends well with eerie special effects and gooey alien makeup. The plot is simple--Paul LeMat investigates the disappearance of his ex-wife (Diana Scarwid) in a small Illinois town that's been occupied by aliens for 25 years--but the movie's creepy atmosphere and well-chosen cast (including Nancy Allen, Louise Fletcher, and The Thing's Kenneth Tobey) make it a fine companion to the films that inspired it. --Jeff Shannon

Strange Invaders/Invaders From Mars

Strange InvadersIn 1958. all folks had to worry about were communists Elvis Presley and invaders from space. When an alien spaceship lets loose some gooey green men on a small Midwestern town Main Street USA becomes Strange Street USA! This eerie sci-fi creeper unveils an out-of-this-world plot that moves furiously towards a full-throttle inspirational climax (Time)!Running Time 99 MinInvaders from MarsA slick state-of-the-art remake (Film Journal) of the 1953 thriller classic this space-age creature feature is crawling with horrifying hordes of Martians hell-bent on stealing your soul and your planet! Starring Karen Black and packed with hair-raising terror (Chicago Tribune) and magnificent (Time Out) special effects Invaders From Mars is a nail-biting voyage of knuckle-whitening fear [that] builds to a screaming pitch (The New York Times)!Running Time 93 MinSystem Requirements: Running Time 192 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY Rating: NR UPC: 027616910820 Manufacturer No: 1006941

The Running Man

In this action thriller based on an early story by Stephen King, Los Angeles in the year 2017 has become a police state in the wake of the global economy's total collapse. All forms of entertainment are government controlled, and the most popular show on television is an elaborate game show in which convicted criminals are given a chance to escape by running through a gauntlet of brutal killers known as "Stalkers." Anyone who survives is given their freedom and a condominium in Hawaii, so when a wrongly accused citizen (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is chosen as a contestant, all hell breaks loose. Cheesy sets and a slimy role for game-show host Richard Dawson make this violent mess of mayhem a candidate for guilty pleasure; it is the kind of movie that truly devoted Arnold fans will want to watch more than once. And check those credits--choreography by Paula Abdul! --Jeff Shannon