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'Abigail Wanted'. This film is a glorious homage to the decade that taste forgot - the 1970s. Flared trousers (pants if you are American), dodgy haircuts and hammy acting all go to show that this decade wasn't the best from a film making point of view. Judging by the tape quality and the cheap price I paid for this video I suspect that this must have been one of the first video tapes produced in the UK. The story is one of those amoral, backwoods, semi comedy action pictures, a la 'Smokey and the Bandit' and 'Dukes of Hazzard'. Sherry Jackson plays Abigail, a would be drugs dealer whose stash is hidden in a car bought by two teenagers who have no idea what their car holds. What follows is an overlong chase film with Abigail and her cohorts rampaging through small town America in an increasingly frantic and violent attempt to retrieve the drugs haul. Ms Jackson is great as the murderous drugs baroness, the two teenager leads are instantly forgettable and the cohorts (thanks to a pretty poor script) achieve a sour mix of comedy and ruthlessness. I believe this film was called 'Stingray' in the USA. Film Rating a generous 6/10 and Femme rating 6/10.
Love and Action in Chicago. Another straight to video film and one can see why. It lacks any real ambition to be anything more than it is and to be fair it is all the better for not trying to elevate a rather mundane story to major league status. Courtney Vance plays a hitman with a conscience working for the US government who decides to quit when he meets and falls in love with Lois Newton (Regina King). Of course his bosses are having none of this and another group of hitmen (and one woman) are sent after him. That's about it. There's a happy ending, a cameo performance by Kathleen Turner and not a lot of Femme Fatales interest. Film Rating 5/10 and Femme rating 2/10.
Deadly Past. It can't be easy being in the same profession as your much more famous sibling. Dedee Pfeiffer has her famous sister Michelle and has always been in her shadow. With films like 'Deadly Past' this is always going to be the case. This is a fairly humdrum film about an ex-con being drawn into the criminal ways of his ex-girlfriend. Dedee Pfeiffer plays the schemer who has a pretty ruthless streak when there is money at stake. Not classic Femme Fatale but not bad either. Film Rating 5/10 and Femme Rating 4/10.
Menno's Mind. This is a TV movie and stars Bill Campbell as Menno, a virtual reality technician in a high tech amusement centre. He stumbles across a plot to use the centre in a vote rigging scam and falls in with a group of revolutionaries. After the leader of the group is killed his consciousness is transferred into Menno and he takes up arms with the gorgeous but ruthless Loria (Stephanie Romanov) and helps her reveal the plot to rig the presidential election. All in all this isn't at all bad for a TV movie and apart from the laconic acting of Robert Vaughn one never senses the 'conveyor belt' syndrome so typical in a TV movie. Romanov is quite good as the leather clad anti-heroine and isn't forced to take the back seat as the action heats up. Film Rating 7/10 and Femme Rating 5/10.
Freeway. Who's afraid of the big bad wolf? Well Vanessa Lutz (Reese Witherspoon) certainly isn't though when the big bad wolf is played by a demented Kiefer Sutherland maybe she should be.The plot is a rather clever and loose adaptation of the Little Red Riding Hood fairy story as we have Reese Witherspoon in red leather mini skirt pitched against Bob Wolverton (Sutherland) as the facially scarred wolf figure who has evil plans for both her and her family. Witherspoon is marvelous as the gun toting, mixed up teenager who takes no nonsense from the wolf. There's a great scene where Wolverton is planning to have his wicked way with Lutz and the tables are turned when she produces a gun and starts preaching to him before sending him to heaven. The acting is precise and straight with a screenplay so tongue in cheek you wonder whether the fairytale allusion really was in the scriptwriters mind. Film Rating 8/10 and Femme Rating 6/10.
