REAPING, TERROR, DR. JECKYL & MR. HYDE & MEET JOHN DOE

Movie description

In this thriller from director Stephen Hopkins (LOST IN SPACE, UNDER SUSPICION), Oscar winner Hilary Swank is Katherine Winter, a college professor who refutes mysteries and so-called miracles with scientific evidence. When science teacher Doug Blackwell (David Morrisey) invites Katherine and her former teaching assistant/current colleague, Ben (Idris Elba), to his hometown of Haven, Louisiana, to investigate a river whose water has turned blood-red following the mysterious death of a local boy, the cynical professor is forced to find her own faith. The river of blood is just the first in a series of strange occurrences in Haven. It seems that each of the 10 plagues from Exodus is being manifested, in order. The citizens of this Bible Belt town are convinced that 12-year-old Loren McConnell (AnnaSophia Robb) is responsible for her brother's death and for the strange events. Soon, Katherine finds herself questioning everything as memories from her past suddenly infiltrate the present in her search for the truth. The Deep South setting is both beautiful and creepy--particularly Doug's classic antebellum mansion, and the swamps where the McConnell family lives. Swank is reliably solid as Katherine, a woman of faith who lost everything important to her and turned to science for answers. Young AnnaSophia Robb, a young actress to watch, has a captivating screen presence. Brits David Morrissey and Idris Elba (THE WIRE) round out the main characters, with Morrissey a convincing Southern gentleman and Elba a man who overcame his tough life on the streets to become a professor. Stephen Rea also appears as Father Costigan, a link to Katherine's sad past.

Credits

Producer:

Herbert W. Gains, Robert Zemeckis, Susan Downey

Cast:

AnnaSophia Robb, David Morrissey, Hilary Swank

Movie description

Horror legend Boris Karloff and a young Jack Nicholson team up in this disjointed but enjoyable Roger Corman quickie. Nicholson plays Lieutenant Andre Duvalier, an officer under Napoleon who finds himself lost along a stretch of beach, where he is seduced by the beautiful Helene (Sandra Knight), who may or may not be a ghost. His obsession leads him to the gloomy castle of Baron Von Leppe (Karloff), a recluse haunted by the ghost of his dead wife, Ilse, who Andre suspects is actually Helene, or vice versa. Longtime Corman regular Dick Miller plays Stefan, Von Leppe's trusty servant, and Dorothy Neumann is a witch who may be using Helene as a tool for revenge. All the characters do lots of skulking around the gloomy sets and outdoors along the beautiful Big Sur coastline, where the exteriors were filmed. Corman shot the interior scenes in two days, on sets left standing from his previous film, THE RAVEN. Though a little short on coherence, it's a lot of fun, and it's great to see Karloff and Nicholson together in a sort of passing of the torch. A nicely ominous mood maintains itself with the help of Ronald Stein's robust score.

Movie description

Reporter Ann Mitchell (Barbara Stanwyck) is fired from her job by an unscrupulous newspaper tycoon and retaliates by printing a fake suicide note to the editor signed by a fictional "John Doe." The letter is picked up by the public as a rallying point, as Mr. Doe claimed to be so distraught by the problems of society that he'd rather end his own life in protest. But the tycoon uses the publicity as part of a secret plan, hiring a down-on-his-luck unemployed man (Gary Cooper) to impersonate Doe--establishing him as an American symbol and creating a new political movement in the process. Frank Capra's endearing classic also stars the great character actors Walter Brennan and James Gleason