Back Roads (2018)

Released December 7th in the US.

Filmed entirely in Louisiana.

The story: Harley is a 21-year-old who has been taking care of his three younger sisters for about two years.

Their mother is in prison for shooting their father...

The situation is beginning to take a toll on Harley.

He is the only one with an income and he has no life outside of work and home.

Harley is also lonely.

When the mother of his youngest sister befriends him, they begin a secret affair, which helps keep Harley from going completely insane.

But, after listening to his sisters about various things that their parents put them through as well as opening up more and more to his psychiatrist, Harley is beginning to see the whole real picture of what really happened between his parents and why his mother is in prison and his father is deceased.

Stars Alex Altmyer, Robert Patrick, Nicola Peltz Beckham, Chiara Aurelia, Hala Finely, Juliette Lewis, Jennifer Morrison, June Carryl, Robert Longstreet, Jeff Pope, Zach Zagoria, Ella Claire Bennett

Directed by Alex Altmyer

Not Rated

DRAMA/MYSTERY/THRILLER

The Killing Secret (1997)

Made for NBC, airing January 6th in the US.

Filmed in North and South Carolina.

Based on truths.

The story: Greg Dunleavy is a high school senior with a promising future ahead of him.

He's on the football team. He comes from money and his cheerleader girlfriend Nicole adores him.

But Greg has another girlfriend named Emily.

Greg has been seeing Emily for a few months. None of his friends have ever met her. Greg has only told one friend about her but otherwise, he keeps their relationship a secret.

Emily also adores Greg and considers him the love of her life. Emily's mother knows about their relationship and how serious Emily is about Greg.

But Greg isn't as serious about Emily and when she tells him she is pregnant with his baby, he wants no part in that.

Greg continuously tries to convince Emily to get rid of the baby, but she's not having any of that.

Emily cannot understand why Greg keeps her a secret from his friends and family and now wants him to at least tell his parents about the pregnancy.

When Emily tells Greg either he will tell his parents or she will, he panics.
Stars Mark Kassen, Ari Meyers, John OHurley, Deborah Hobart, Cindy Pickett, Soleil Moon Frye, Tess Harper, Brandon Fraiser, Joanna Canton, Rasool Jahan, Erika Flores, Todd Rulapaugh, Sean Bridgers, J Michael Hunter, Robby Preddy, Ben Epps, Lorri Lindberg, Mert Hatfield 

Directed by Noel Nosseck

Rated TVPG
DRAMA/MYSTERY/HISTORY

Escape the Field (2022)

Released May 6th in the US.

Filmed entirely in Canada.

The story: Sam awakes to find herself in her work clothes, in a cornfield.

She has no recollection whatsoever of how she got there.

Beside her, she finds a gun...

After a few minutes, a man arrives. The two are surprised to see each other and after some more time, realize that they are both in the same boat.

They begin walking a bit through the field when they are approached by a group of three.

Two men and a woman.

The five of them all have the same thing in common, they have no idea how they got there.

There is one other thing they all have that is similar, they were all left with an item of some sort.

After talking a bit, the group decides that they are safest together and must carry on, trying to find their way out.

Soon the group finds yet another woman, obviously in the same situation as them.

When they are all finally together, they are approached by one more man.

But he is quickly ripped away by something to his death.

Now none of these people know each other and have no idea why they were kidnapped and left in the field to die.

The only thing that is certain is that they must work together to get the hell out of there.

Stars Jordan Claire Robbins, Theo Rossi, Shane West, Elena Juatco, Julian Feder, Tahirah Sharif, Emerson Moore, Shah Kahn, Ryan Stasyshyn, Scott Phillips, Jeff Kress, Keith Barnes

Directed by (& partly written) Emerson Moore 

Rated R
MYSTERY/THRILLER/SCIFI/HORROR

Insidious : The Red Door (2023)

Released July 7th in the US.

Filmed in New Jersey and Georgia.

The story: It has been 9 years since Josh and his son Dalton were hypnotized to forget their astral projection voyage to "The Further"...

They currently have no recollection of it at all.

Josh's mom has recently passed away to make his "cloudiness" worse and Dalton is newly attending college.

The two of them have been experiencing a very strained relationship.

While Josh struggles to learn why he is distant from Dalton, Dalton seeks answers for his own distance from his art.

After an exercise in Dalton's college art class helps him look deeper inside himself, he begins having visions due to his past.

Only he doesn't realize the past is what he is seeing.

Soon Dalton and his father are once again having astral projections and unwillingly getting pulled deeper and deeper into The Further.

Stars Patrick Wilson, Ty Simpkins, Rose Byrne, Lin Shaye, Steve Coulter, Andrew Astor, Juliana Davies, Sinclair Daniel, Hiam Abbass, Justin Sturgis, Peter Dager, Stephen Grey, Leigh Whannell

Directed by Patrick Wilson

Rated PG13

SEQUEL/THRILLER/MYSTERY/SCIFI/HORROR

The Price We Pay (2022)

Released January 10, 2023 in the US.

Filmed entirely in New Mexico.

The story: Cody, along with Alex and his brother Shane have begun the process of robbing a pawn shop.

When shots are unexpectedly fired, their getaway driver splits.

Cody finds Grace hiding in the office after the owner of the shop gets killed.

He decides they should take her along with them as a hostage. It doesn't hurt that she has a car.

En route to get as far away as possible, Grace's car gives in.

In the distance, a farmhouse can be seen. So, the four make their way there.

Cody and Grace pose as a couple and approach young Danny who is working inside a barn.

They ask to stay there just for the night. 

As much as Danny does not want to let them stay, he is talked into it.

But they clearly should have never made their presence there known, because it's seriously, not safe.

Stars Gigi Zumbado , Heath Hensley , Nick Check , Stephen Dorff , Emile Hirsch , Tanner Zagarino , Jesse Kinser , Tyler Sanders , Erika Ervin , Vernon Wells , Sabina Mach , Takaaki Hirakawa

Directed by Ryuhei Kitamura

Rated R
THRILLER/MYSTERY/HORROR

ABC Afterschool Specials : Mom's On Strike (1984)

Made for ABC, airing November 14th in the US.

Season 13. Episode 4.

The story: Ellie Skinner is a very busy wife and mother of four.

She also works outside the house part-time with a 20-minute break, that is after seeing all the kids off to school and her husband off to work.

Everyone in the house depends very heavily on Ellie to do just about everything and it's clearly a bit overwhelming.

But no one in the house gets that.

Ellie does her best to keep up with everything everyone needs done but she just cannot.

When she tries talking to her family about helping around the house, no one is listening.
That same day, when Ellie's oldest daughter arrives home, she finds her mother picketing in the front yard...

Her mother is on labor strike.

Stars Yeardley Smith, Mary Kay Place, Jenny Rebecca Dweir, Jonathan Ward, Stephen Keep Mills, Timmy Geissler, Lauren Tom, George Gaines, Jean De Baer, Mercedes Ruehl, Lily Knight, Ivar Brogger, Jere Burns, Sam McMurray

Directed by Joan Darling

Not Rated 

DRAMA/FAMILY/SERIES/TV 

Unseen (2023)

Released March 7th in the US.

Filming location(s) unknown.

The story: Sam is a gas station/convenience store clerk who isn't enjoying her job or life these days.

She arrives to work stressed and it doesn't help matters that her boss brings on even more stress.

After some time at work, Sam receives a random cell phone call from a woman named Emily.

Emily claims to have been kidnapped by her ex and is in great danger.

She cannot see, because she lost her glasses while trying to escape his torture.

Now she is out in the woods somewhere, looking for help of any sort.

Emily begs and pleads with Sam to make a video call with her, in an effort to help her find her way to safety.

It's not the best time for Sam and she feels completely incapable of doing what Emily asks.

But, she goes along with it, with her best intentions to help save Emily's life.

Stars Jolene Purdy, Nicholas X Parsons, Missi Pyle, Midori Francis, Michael Patrick Lane, Rajko Scarabin, Anthony Belevtsov, Brett Baker, Scott MacDonald, Ren Hanami, Rose Bianca Grue

Directed by Yoko Okumura

Not Rated

THRILLER/MYSTERY

Skipper AKA The Todd Killings (1971)

Released October 20th in the US.

Filmed in California.

Based on truths.

The story : Skipper Todd is a 23-year-old who hangs out with all the local teens.

He has a great car , apartment and no job because he lives off of a weekly allowance from his mother...

Everyone just loves him and will do just about anything he asks.

Even the older folks at the old age home that his mother runs love him.

But Skipper isnt the fantastic guy everybody thinks he is.

Skipper is bad news with even worse ideas.

When his new girlfriend that he cannot live without finds out that he is a cold blooded killer , she believes that he will not be happy until he kills her as well.

Stars Robert F Lyons , Richard Thomas , Barbara Bel Geddes , Belinda Montgomery , Sherry E DeBoer , Joyce Ames , Holly Near , James Broderick , Gloria Grahame , Fay Spain , Michael Conrad , Frank Webb , William Lucking , Sandy Brown Wyeth , Tannis G Montgomery , Meg Foster , Edward Ashner

Directed by Barry Shear

Rated R
MYSTERY/THRILLER/DRAMA/HISTORY

A Good Person (2023)

Released March 24th in the US.

Filmed entirely in New Jersey.

The story: Allison has a great life...

She is about to be married to Nathan, the love of her life.

The day after their engagement party, Allison is en route to try on wedding dresses with soon-to-be sister-in-law Molly and her husband Jesse.

But things do not go as planned.

The next thing Allison knows is waking up in the hospital.

Then she learns the grim reality. 

Fast forward one year.

Allison is now addicted to painkillers. She sits home day and night, alone, wallowing in her pain and sorrow.

She has broken all ties with Nathan and lives a very self-destructive life.

When she has exhausted all her efforts to get that next high, she decides to go to a meeting.

There she is surprised to find Daniel, the man who would have been her father-in-law.

Feeling extremely guilty and unable to deal, Allison runs, even though Daniel tries coaxing her to stay.

After some time, she returns, only after dragging herself through the mud some more and Daniel befriends her.

Even though Daniel is also struggling with what happened, he takes into consideration that Allison needs help from supportive friends.

Stars Florence Pugh, Chinaza Uche, Nichelle Hines, Toby Onwumere, Molly Shannon, Mike Menendez, Celeste OConnor, Morgan Freeman, Ignacio Diaz Silverio, Nancy Ellen Shore, Ryann Redmond, Alex Wolff, Brian Rojas, Zoe Lister-Jones, Sydney Morton, Oli Green

Directed by (& story written) Zach Braff

Rated R
DRAMA

Keeping Company (2021)

Released February 4th in the US.

Filming location(s) unknown.

The story: Sonny and Noah are life insurance adjusters.

Sonny is pushy and rude, while Noah is a pleasant guy who loves every day and everyone.

While they are out trying to sell policies door to door and not having any luck, Sonny backs his car into a car driving by.

When Sonny and Noah try to get the guys' insurance information and be on their way, they are informed that the driver has no policy.

That gives Sonny and Noah the idea of selling him one.

But the man hurries back to his house without saying a word.

Sonny and Noah chase him back to his house and Sonny makes an insurance policy offer that is hard to pass up.

Without taking no for an answer, Sonny pushes his way into the man's house.

The real problem there is, the man they just had an accident with lives with his scary, controlling grandmother, who forces him to collect the scum off the streets and lock them up in the basement for future butchering.

Stars Jacob Grodnik, Devin Das, Ahmed Bharoocha, Gillian Vigman, Andy Buckley, Medina Senghore, Rex Lee, Sharron Shayne, Chris Estrada, Bryan Safi, John Milhiser, Bernard White, Suzanne Savoy, William Russ, Lilan Bowden, Malcolm Kelner, Doua Moua

Directed by Josh Wallace

MYSTERY/THRILLER/HORROR

Percy vs. Goliath (2020)

Released April 30, 2021 in the US.

Filmed in Canada and India.

Based on truths.

The story: Saskatchewan, Canada, 1998.

Percy Scheimser is a third-generation canola farmer.

Humble, honest, and seventy, he fancies himself to be a "seed saver", as he has been collecting seeds from his crops for many years.

After a great harvest and an equally great payoff, Percy gets a phone call.

He is informed that he owes the big agricultural biotechnology company Monsanto money, due to his crops being found with traces of their herbicide Roundup, which brands his canola crops GMO, sure property of Monsanto.

This makes no sense to Percy, he has been collecting seeds from his crops his whole life and he has never purchased any of Monsanto's seeds.

After Monsanto is allowed to test his canola and infact it turns up GMO-modified, it becomes quite clear to Monsanto that Percy owes them money.

But Percy was unaware that any of his crops had been modified and with that, he believes he must fight Monsanto for his right to plant his seeds on his land, without any further financial hassles from the company.

Stars Christopher Walken, Adam Beach, Roberta Maxwell, Luke Kirby, Zoe Fish, Shannon Guile, Andrea del Campo, Jeff Strome, Christina Ricci, Zach Braff, Blake Taylor, Peter Stebbings, Dean Harder,  Martin Donovan, Curt Keilback, Paul Magel, Tim Nhlazane, Pathy Aiyar

Directed by Clark Johnson

Rated PG13

HISTORY/DRAMA/BIOGRAPHY

The Craft : Legacy (2020)

Released October 28th in the US.

Filmed entirely in Canada.

The story: Lily is a teen girl who has been living with her single mom.

Mom has recently found Adam, who she believes is the guy for her.

So Mom has convinced Lily to go and move in with Adam and his three sons.

Although this is a whole new scene for Lily, she is willing to give it a go for the sake of mom's happiness.

On Lily's first day at her new school, she meets and is befriended by Frankie, Tabby, and Lourdes - the outcasts at school.

Little does Lily realize, she is the fourth that her new friends need to create their full circle...

See, Frankie, Tabby, and Lourdes are all practicing witches.

But Lily has no idea yet that she is also a witch and she certainly is not practicing her craft.

With the four of them now together, their powers are unstoppable.

But when the unexpected happens, the girls start to drift apart.

That is until Lily desperately needs their help to stay alive.

Stars Cailee Spaeny, Michelle Monaghan, David Duchovny, Donald MacLean Jr, Charles Vandervaart, Julian Grey , Nicholas Galitzine, Gideon Adlon, Lovie Simone, Zoey Luna, Victor Chiu, James Madge, Kris Siddiqi, Chris Tomassetti, Devon Cecchetto, Debbie Fan, Hannah Gordon, Fairzua Balk

Directed Zoe Lister-Jones

Rated PG13

SEQUEL/MYSTERY/SCIFI