795 Bride Of Reanimator ( 1991 )

 This  sequel  to the 1985 film reunites most of the key cast but it's  shockingly bad; it's no surprise it went straight to video. In  its gore and special effects, it outdoes the previous film in sheer volume  but  if  you're looking for a coherent plot  or  even consistency of motivation  - Dan  Cain (Bruce Abott in particular -, this is the wrong film for you. There  are  still one or two good jokes here and there but  it's not worth wading through the manure to find them.

Fabiana Udenio ( as Francseca )

Sex : Francesca has sex with Dan then is repeatedly assaulted by the zombiefied cop

Death : Survives

Fabiana was born in Argentina ut raised in Italy where she became a teen model. She made her film debut in a German picture in 1978 but moved to the US in the eighties. She has regularly worked in TV and  is  currently  in  the  series FUBAR.

Kathleen Kinmont ( as Gloria )

Sex : Glora is stripped for resuscitation

Death : Gloria dies of an unspecified terminal illness

Kathleen was cast after Barbara Crampton declined to return although she plays a different character.

794 Silence Of The Lambs (1991 )

 This  is  one  of  the  most  seminal films  of  the  nineties , winning "the Big Five" Oscars ( the most  recent  film to  do  so ) and rehabilitating  the  horror genre singlehandedly.  A promising young FBI agent is assigned to visit a  hyper-intelligent  psychiatrist turned serial cannibal, Hannibal Lecter ( Anthony Hopkins ) in the  hope  of  eliciting insights into the mind  of  a  still-at-large serial killer known as Buffalo Bill. Lecter agrees to  help if she'll  divulge some personal secrets.to  him. The  film is stylish and  gripping with  a pervading sense of dread  compensating for  the limited amount of actual gore. The deductive logic gets a bit bumpy towards the end but otherwise it's near-perfect.

Jodie  Foster ( as Clarice Starling )

Sex : Clarice gets semen thrown in her face by Lecter's cellmate

Death : Survives

Jodie made her first appearance in a commercial at the age of three and soon joined the Disney stable. She was the premier child actress in the seventies ; in the second half of which she started appearing in provocative roles  in films like The  Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane and Taxi Driver. Shortly after starting university at Yale, she atracted unwelcome publicity when her stalker tried to assassinate Ronald Reagan  in 1981 and for the next few years she was box office poison. Her career spectacularly revived in 1988 with an Oscar for her role in The Accused and  this  film brought her another one. She  has had  successes and  failures  since, with forays into producing and directing , but remains an A-lister.

Kasi Lemmons ( as Ardelia )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Kassii was born in Missouri and started acting on TV in the late eighties. She made her first film appearance in Spike Lee's School Daze. She  harboured directing ambitions,  got her first chance with Eve's Bayou in 1997 and has made few onscreen appearances since. Her work as a director has been showered with woke-y awards but she has yet to score at the box office.

Brooke Smith ( as Catherine )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Brooke was  from  New York , the  daughter of  a  Hollywood publicist  and  this  was  her  third  film. This  remains  her  most  high profile  role but  she  has  worked steadily in film and TV ever since.

Lauren Roselli ( as Staci)

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Lauren was the keyboard player in the band Book Of Love . This was the first of four films in which Jonathan Demme cast her. her only screen credits.

793 Popcorn (1991 )

 This  postmodern slasher spoof isn't nearly as clever as it thinks it is  with its  films-within-a film  structure and numerous  references to other movies.  A group of film students  and their tutors stage a horrorthon using old 50s  B-movies  at a condemned cinema where a gruesome tragedy once played out  and of course there's a hideously deformed survivor out  for  revenge. Even given it's a spoof ,you expect  some internal logic and avoidance of plotholes - the reggae band that can play during a powercut is a classic - and  I  don't  think  the  heavy  dose of Talking Killer Syndrome is  deliberate.

Jill  Schoelen ( as Maggie/Sarah)

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Jill's straight-faced  conviction in the leading  role keeps  the  film  afloat.

Freddie Marie Simpson ( as Tina )

Sex : Tina is having an affair with her tutor

Death : Killed by the maniac offscreen, means unknown

Freddie made only two films in a very brief career in the early nineties

Kelly Jo Minter ( as Cheryl )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Kelly Jo only has a small role in this one.

Ivette Solar ( as Joanie )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Ivette was a bit part actress active in the first half of the nineties.

Karen Witter ( as Joy )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Karen  was both a  medical student and a Playboy model before going into acting. She  was  mainly  a  TV actress with a two year run in One Life To Live  and bit parts in films although she was the female lead in 1989's Buried Alive. She seems to have retired now.

792 Warlock (1991)

 There aren''t too many original ideas in  this  film about a time-travelling warlock from the 17th Century ( the dreaded Julian Sands )  pursued by a vengeful hunter ( Richard E Grant ) with the aid of a modern-day plucky  heroine. There are distinct echoes of The Terminator , Highlander,  and Time After Time to  name a few. There are effective moments but mostly  this is too silly to be  enjoyable with  Sands as wooden as ever and  Grant  seemingly making up the plot as he goes along in a dodgy ( and completely  unnecessary) Scottish  accent.

Lori Singer ( as Kassandra)

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Lori was born in Texas into a musical family and she herself became  a  musical prodigy  as  a solo cellist at 13. She went to a prestigious music school  but  then moved  into modelling and then acting, inspired by her brother Marc ( best known for V). She got a good part in the TV series Fame which was written around her talents then made her fim debut in Footloose. After Short Cuts in 1993, her film career waned and she has moved into  producing documentaries  with some success.

Nancy Fox ( as Boy's mother )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Nancy is  another Texan who made an impact as a teenager in the  early  seventies in the medical comedy Temperatures Rising. Thereafter, she worked steadily in TV and  on stage but only made two films. She is still active.

Anna Levine ( as  Pastor's wife )

Sex : Warlock feels her up and determines she is pregnant

Death :  Uncertain

Anna  was born in New  York and came  up  the  hard  way with bit parts in many eighties films  before  starting to get  meatier  roles in the nineties by  which time she was known as Anna Thomson. These included The Unforgiven, True Romance and The Crow.She seems  to have retired after 2012.

791 Predator 2 ( 1990 )

 I  remember switching  this  film off when it was  first televised in the mid-nineties and it  hasn't improved with age Schwarzenegger  declined to return and instead you have Danny Glover as a cop trying to deal with the chaos as the  alien warrior  starts wiping out drug gangs  like a dreadlocked Charles  Bronson. Indeed, in its mindless violence and wafer-thin narrative and characterisation, this has far more in common with the Death Wish sequels than the original Predator.  Though up to the role physically, Glover  is no leading man and Gary Busey phones in his performance as the shady man government man- who  - guess what - wants to use the alien for miliatary purposes.

Maria Conchita Alonso ( as  Leona  Cantrell)

Sex : Leona is pregnant

Death : Survives 

Maria was born in Cuba  but went into exile with her parents in 1962  and has remained a staunch Republican.  She  first  worked as a model in Venezuela ,making the final seven in the Miss World contest in 1975.  She worked extensively in Venezuelan TV in the early eighties but moved to the US in 1982 to further her career. She peaked in the late  eighties with The Running Man and Colors  then  her  film career stalled somewhat. perhaps due to her political views, and she was seen more on TV. She is still very active and has a parallel career as a singer in the Spanish language market.

Teri Weigel ( as Mary)

Sex :  Mary is having vigorous sex with  a drug lord when a rival gang interrupt them

Death : Presumed to survive

Teri was a former Playboy  centrefold who made decorative appearances in a few  mainstream films and the TV series Married...With Children  before  moving into porn films  from which she has now presumably  reired.

790 Child's Play 2 (1990)

 This  sequel doesn't have  quite  the  same  impact  as the  first  film but  has  enough ideas to  pass muster with some  inventive effects and  a  larger  dose  of  black  humour. Andy ( Alex Vincent ) is  fostered out due to his  mother being institutionalised  but  Chucky  ( Brad  Dourif ), reconstituted by  the  company for  no  convincing reason, comes after him again

Jenny  Agutter ( as Joanne)

Sex : No

Death : Chucky slits her throat ( offscreen )

I've  covered Jenny's  career fairly  thoroughly  here

Christine Elise ( as Kyle )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Christine was born in Boston - her real surname is McCarthy-  and  this  was  her  first  film after a number of TV parts. She  has  mainly worked in  TV, most  notably in Beverley Hills 90210 for  which  she  wrote three  episodes. She  is  a  professional photographer but  still active as an actress.

789 Jacob's Ladder ( 1990 )

 English  director Adrian Lyne  made  this  well-regarded psychological horror film  which still  unsetles despite  the  frequent  plundering of its  ideas  in  subsequent movies. Tim Robbins plays  Jacob,  an  army  vet who  gets  a bayonet in the guts in Vietnam. On  his  return to civilian life in America, he  is plagued  by  disturbing  visions, flashbacks to the jungle, happy  memories and severe illness. The  viewer has  to  piece  together what is  real  and what is  hallucination  until a  very moving  scene with  son Gabe (McCauley Culkin)  finally lets  you in on the secret (well  most of it anyway ).

Elisabeth Pena ( as Jezebel )

Sex : Jezebel has sex with Jacob

Death : Survives (if she was real at all )

Elisabeth was born in New  Jersey to Cuban parents who were  involved in Latino theatre and  encoyuraged her  acting  ambitions. She made her film debut in a Spanish language film in 1979  but  first  came  to  attention in Down And Out In Beverley Hills in 1986.This  was probably  her  meatiest role in film; thereafter flitting between film and  TV  racking up an  impressive  filmography  despite a serious  alcohol problem. She  died of  cirrhosis of  the  liver in 2014  but  still  had  another four films in post-production.

Patricia Kalembert ( as Sarah) 

Sex : Sarah has sex with Jacob interrupted by Gabe

Death : Survives 

Sarah is a  dependable  actress from Connecticutt, active in film, TV and  the  theatre since the  early  eighties. In film she's remained a  supporting actress but has had big roles on TV like the titular character in Kay O Brien  and  Susannah Hart in thirtysomething.

S  Epatha  Morgan ( as Elsa )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

S  ( for  Sharon) has had a  respectable career as  a  character actress in film since 1986  but  has  made  her  real mark on TV  as Lt Van Buren in Law And  Order  , making nearly  400  appearances. She  has  also  excelled on the stage  being  nominated for a Tony Award . She  is  a  friend of Whoopi Gioldberg and directed her in  The Contradictions of Fair Hope.

 

788 Frankenstein Unbound ( 1990)

 This  overambitious  sci-fi /horror/ historical romance is  notable in film history as the last film to be directed by Roger Corman, its  poor reception perhaps prompting him to give up the director's chair on his films. Adapted from a Brian Aldiss  novel, it sees John Hurt take on a rare leading man role as Joe Buchanan , a military scientist  developing a super-weapon with the side-effect of causing time slips. He is  deposited in Switzerland  at the  same time as Byron, Shelley and Mary Godwin who is gestating her novel but Frankenstein  ( Raul Julia ) and his creature are already  real , the most obvious of many plot holes. The  slip also changes Buchanan into a  dashing hero who romances Mary and tries to save the life of a wrongly-accused girl  before  a  violent finale in a grim future . It's  decently acted with good  effects  but  the narrative is  muddled  and  the  frequent changes in tone are  jarring rather than compelling.

Bridget  Fonda  ( as Mary) 

Sex : Mary sleeps with Joe

Death : Survives

Bridget is the daughter of actor Peter Fonda and made her film debut at five with an uncredited appearance in Easy Rider.  Her first substantial role came at 24  in the comedy You Can't Hurry Love  and she was hotly tipped for  stardom. Her peak came in the mid-nineties with lead  roles in Single Whie  Female  and  The  Asssassin  but her career hit a plateaued out  regarded  as  dependable but too bland. By  the  noughties she  was  moving  into television but a combination of a car  accident  in 2003 and  engagement to Danny  Elfmann prompted her to retire from acting and she has been out of the public eye since 2002.

Catherine Rabbett ( as Elisabeth )

Sex : No

Death : Elisabeth is ripped apart by the creature, brought back to life and then shoots herself

Catherine was born in London and started out as a dancer , joining Hot Gossip and appearing on the Kenny  Everett Television Show. She got  a  publicity boost from her brief liaison with  Prince Andrew  and had a minor  role in The  Living Daylights . She is best known for her  role in You Rang M'Lord between 1988  and 1993. She had a brief stint in Emmerdale in 2009 but hasn't been on screen since.

Catherine Corman ( as Justine )

Sex : No

Death : Hanged for murder

Catherine is Roger's daughter and only  made one  other film appearance. She  is  a  respected photographer and director of shorts.

787 Soultaker (1990)

This  is  a  pretty  naff  cousin to Flatliners and  Carnival Of  Souls  with Martin Sheen's brother Joe Estevez as  an Angel of Death chasing a  group of teens who  are  supposed to have died in a car crash. Never the  remotest bit  scary, the cheesy effects, indifferent  acting and  awful eighties soundtrack make  watching it purgatorial.

Vivian Schilling ( as Natalie )

Sex : Natalie half-strips for a bath. Schilling refused to do a ful nude scene

Death : Survives

Despite being in her early twenties and having only a handful of bit parts on her c.v. , This was the  second  film that she both wrote and in which she took a leading role. Though yet to achieve real fame, she has continued to write and produce films and has also written three novels.

Cinda Lou Freeman ( as Candace )

Sex : No

Death : Killed in a car crash

This was Cinda Lou's only film.

Meschelle Manley ( as Karen )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

This was Meschelle's only film

 

786 Graveyard Shift ( 1990 )

 This has promising ingredients - a Stephen King story, an unusual setting, Brad Dourif - but manages to make a pig's ear of them. Hall ( David Andrews ) a  stereotypical drifter turns up in a decaing small town and finds work in a rat-infested textile mill under threat of closure and  run by sleazy tyrant Warwick ( Stephen Macht). Something nasty is lurking beneath the mill picking off the workers.

In some aspects, it's well made. The sets are great  and  the  bit-by-bit revelation of the creature is  textbook. The problem is the script  which is all over the place. The creature has no back story to explain its presence, Dourif's  maniacal exterminator seems bolted on as an afterthought  and Warwick's sudden descent into insanity in  the last  quarter is baffling.

Kelly Wolf ( as Jane Wiscorsky )

Sex : No

Death : Stabbed to death by Warwick

Kelly was  born in Memphis and  has acted in films TV and  theatre, usually in a supporting  role. THis  was a rare leading  role for her.

Ilona Douglas ( as Nardello )

Sex : Nardello is Warwick's current mistress

Death : Nardello falls down stairs and is devoured by the creature

Ilona was a bit part actress who appeared in four films in the nineties. She  later produced a film called Attraction.

Susan Lowden ( as Daisy Leigh )

Sex : No

Death :Survives

Susan was a bit part actress and this was her last film.

785 Night Of The Living Dead ( 1990)

 This remake of the 1968 zombie classic was made with the blessing of original director George Romero and featured many of the original crew. It was the directorial debut of SFX man Tom Savini. It follows the claustrophobic plot of the original pretty closely , the major  difference being the character of  Barbara being far more aggressive  and  capable. The relentless violence and bickering can be a bit wearing but generally it's pretty good.

Patricia Tallman ( as Barbara )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Patricia was a friend of George Romero and first appeared in his 1982 film Kightriders.  This was a rare  starring role in film but  she  was also a stunt  performer and  was  Laura  Dern's  stunt  double  in  Jurassic Park. She worked extensively across  the  Star  Trek franchise as a stuntwoman and bit part actress before landing a starring role in Babylon 5. She is still active but also devotes time to a charity for abused children.

Katie Finneran ( as Judy )

Sex : No

Death : Incinerated when a truck blows up

Katie  was  born in Miami. This was her first film role at 19. She has had small parts in big films such as You've Got Mail and Bewitched  but her  real successes have been on TV where she's had a number of recurring roles  and  the  stage, winning a Tony Award for Noises Off. She is still active.

Heather  Mazur ( as Sarah )

Sex : No

Death : Dies from a zombie bite then Barbara shoots her in the head when she zombiefies

Heather was born in Pittsburgh. This was her first screen appearance and her last for thirteen years though she was probably active on stage in the intervening period. Since her return to the screen, she has been mainly  working in TV , most recently in Tacoma FD.

784 Shakma ( 1990 )

 It's  back  to  monkey  madness with  this  horribly contrived  nonsense about a group of medical students who  trap themselves in a hospital with a berserk baboon due  to an escape room -type game organised by  their professor ( Roddy McDowall) who's clearly got nothing better to  do on a Friday evening. McDowall keeps the early  part  of  the  film  afloat  but  once he's despatched, it's  a  grinding  suspense-free bore  as the ape  kills  off  each dislikeable character in identical fashion. 

Amanda Wyss ( as Tracy )

Sex : No

Death : Mauled to death by Shakma

Amanda plays the lead girl here but she's a  pretty  disagreeable character.

Ari Myers ( as Kim )

Sex : No

Death : Mauled to death by Shakma

Ari was  born to Jewish-American parents and became a child actress and model. She made her film debut at 12 in  Author Author but  mainly  worked in TV . By  the  2000s she  was doing voice  acting and  audio books  but  she  eventually  left  acting  for  nursing.

Ann Kymberlie ( as Laura )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

This  is  the  only  film in  Ann's  very brief career.

Donna  Jarrett ( as Brenda )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

This was the first of just two screen appearances for  Donna.

783 Hardware (1990 )

 This is more obviously a nineties film directed by Richard Stamley, previously a  pop video director. Inspired by a short story in 2000 AD, though Stanley had to be taken to court to admit that, it  takes place in a poisoned ,over-industrialised future. A nomad finds a discarded robot head which is purchased by a soldier Moses ( Dylan McDermott )  as a Christmas present for his girlfriend Jill. The robot, a military killing machine manages to re-assemble itself and terrorise her. An early  example  of  the  cyberpunk  genre, this  has enough good ideas and visual style to make it worthwhile even if the script could do with a polish.

Stacey Travis ( as Jill )

Sex : Jill has sex with Moses while being spied on by her pervy neighbour

Death : Survives

Stacey should have had top billing over McDermott  for  this  as she has more screen time  and  proves hersel a very capable action heroine.

 

782 MIrror Mirror (1990)

 This  is  a  tepid  run through  Carrie  territory  with a  demon lurking in an old mirror taking  over a  bullied  Goth  girl and facilitating her  revenge against her tormentors. Karen  Black  is  top-billed as  her  mother  but  is  rather  wasted. There's  nothing particularly bad  about  the  film: it  just  never  rises above mediocre.

Rainbow Harvest ( as Megyn )

Sex : Megyn is felt up by the demon in the mirror

Death : Megyn is killed offscreen by the demon

Rainbow was born in New York and that is her real name. She broke into films and TV  in the mid-eighties. She met her husband , actor Kevin Wixted on the set of the TV  series 21 Jump St  in 1988 and dropped out  of acting while still in her mid-twenties. She now worksfor the Otis Elevator Company.

Kristin Dattilo ( as Vikki )

Sex : Vikki  fools around with her boyfriend in a cupboard

Death : Survives but is transplanted to an earlier decade

This  was  Kristin's first film role at 19 after a few TV roles and pop video appearances. She has made other films but has made most impact on TV in comic roles , most notably on The Chris Isaak Show in the early noughties. She is married to a screenwriter and has been inactive for the last few years.

Charlie Spradling ( as Charlene )

Sex : Charlene has a fumble with her boyfriend 

Death : Charlene is scalded to death in  the shower at  Megyn's behest

Charlie is from Texas  and her first credited film role was in the remake of The Blob. She had a reasonably successful film and TV career in  the  nineties but  eventually quit acting and made a successful transition into magazine publishing. She was previously married to Lost Boys actor  Jason London.

Dorit Sauer ( as Kim )

Sex : No

Death : Megyn kills her offscreen

Dorit was a bit part actress  active in the nineties.

Ann  Hearn ( as  Mrs Perlili )

Sex : Mrs Perlili  apears to be pregnant but there's no reference to it in the script

Death : Survives

Ann is a character actress who made her film debut in the sci-fi film Time Walker in 1982. Her most notable film roles have been in The Accused and Lorenzo's Oil.

781 The Exorcist III (1990)

 After  the  atrocity that was  The Exorcist II, it took a while for the studios to greenlight a sequel.Though the film wisely avoids any reference to The Exorcist II, it falls into the same trap. The first film was perfectly self-contained leaving no loose threads for a sequel to work with. This one doesn't have Linda Blair but it does bring back Fr Kerras ( Jason Miller ) who didn't die after all  but now shares a body with a serial killer ( Brad Dourif ) executed around the same time. George C Scott stars as the most superannuated cop since George Dixon trying to  catch him.

The  first hour ( largely true to director Blatty's vision ) is murderously slow. The  second part , largely a studio-demanded re-shoot with Nicol Williamson clearly  crowbarred in as  the exorcist, is pacier but  hopelessly contrived  needing  Dourif  to have  a bad case of Talking Killer Syndrome to make any sense . It  is  better than the second film but not by much.

Tracy Thorne ( as Amy Keating )

Sex : No

Death : Killed by the serial killer ( offscreen )

Tracy  had  a  brief career as a bit part actress which apparently ended in 1997  but she  has made sporadic reappearances since.

Sherrie Wills ( as Julie )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Most of Sherrie's screen appearances were as a child actress on  TV in the seventies  and  this  was  her final film. She  reappeared  in 2005 as writer and host of the TV series Doctors of Rock.  She died in 2020 from early onset dementia and Covid.

780 The First Power (1990)

 A  superfluous  sprinkling of  occult  trappings borrowed from The Omen franchise doesn't disguise that  the premise is lifted wholesale from House III: The Horror Show  and Shocker.  There's  also  a  zombie  element in the  shape of Lou Diamond Phillips as  Rex, the  cop plagued by repeat visits from the serial killer he sent  to  the  gas  chamber.. Having a plank as leading man robs the film of  any  chance  of  rising  above  its  seen-it-all-before  dullness.

Tracy  Griffith ( as Tess )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Tracy  is the younger  sister of Melanie  Griffith. She made her own film debut in 1984 and  this was her first starring role. Thereafter she was mainly  found in TV  movies and gave up acting after 2003 to become a  sushi  chef.

Elizabeth Arlen ( as Sister Margaret )

Sex : No

Death : Stabbed by Rex while possessed by the killer

Elizabeth was from North Carolina and was a bit part actress appearing in St Elmo's Fire and D.O.A. She  gave  up acting in 2000 due  to problems in her personal life.

Sue Giosa ( as Carmen)

Sex : Carmen is stripped before death

Death : Stabbed (offscreen)

Sue made her film debut as a dancer in Saturday Night Fever and appeared on the movie poster. She  is  mainly a stage and TV actress.

779 Tremors (1990)

 Despite  spawning a number of sequels, this  goodnatured monster movie  was only a moderate  hit  at  the  box  office. Fred Ward and Kevin Bacon  charm as a couple of  odd job  men saving a small desert community from some  giant  carnivorous worms  with  the help of a young geologist. It's not outrageously  funny or  scary but  hard to dislike.

Finn Carter ( as Rhoda )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Finn (christened Elisabeth ) is the daughter of a diplomat who served under Jimmy Carter (no relation ). She started out on TV in the daytime soap As The World Turns in 1985, This was the second of a handful of films  as she was more of a TV and stage actress.  Her last screen appearance was in 2004 and she may have fallenon hard times as in 2019 she  was  arrested for  using a stolen credit card.

Reba McEntire ( as Heather )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Reba is primarily a country  singer  and  a  very  successful one though some find her music too  saccharin. She  was  making  her film debut  here at  the  age of 35. This  kickstarted a parallel  acting career that peaked with the sitcom Reba  that ran for six years in the noughties. She has  business interests as well.