The Eric Roberts Collection: Story of Eva (dir by Tom Woodbeck)

Posted on April 9, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

“Jakey, Jakey, big mistakey,” the bad guy says at one point during 2015’s Story of Eva and if that doesn’t tell you everything you need to know about this film, I don’t know what to tell you.

Eva (Nicole Rio) is the mother of teenage Amber (Chelsea London Lloyd). After Amber is murdered by a serial killer who also works as a human trafficker, Eva decides to get revenge. First, however, she has to train herself to not only inflict pain but to also handle it. She finds Amber’s stash and starts smoking it. She wears a ball gag. She whips herself. She learns how to handle pain. She uses Amber’s college fund to buy a membership at the gym and takes boxing lessons. And she builds her own little dungeon. Whenever Eva captures a criminal, she turns into Evil Eva and is even played by a different actress, Shawn Craig. Eva is one of those vigilantes who can’t punish an evil-doer without delivering an endless monologue. The script is talky in the way that scripts written by first-timers determined to prove their cleverness often are.

“No child should ever suffer!” Eva — in “good” form — announces before then adding, “What kind of God would allow that?” Thunder rumbles in the background and it’s not for the first or the only time in the movie as Eva views herself as having become a vengeful God. I have to admit that I appreciated the fact that the film was so shamelessly overwrought and overdone. Everything about the the move is over-the-top and yet, oddly, it’s still rather dull. Some of it is that fact that we live in a post-Hostel world. Torture chambers just don’t carry the same jolt that they once did.

Eric Roberts plays a detective who is investigating all of the murders. He is named Detective Wood. His partner (Rico Ross) is named Detective Grind and the fact that there was no one named Detective Bump seems like a missed opportunity. Roberts appears in a handful of scenes and brings some welcome wit to the role.

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:

Retro Television Review: Baywatch 1.3 “Second Wave”

Posted on October 25, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Saturdays, I will be reviewing Baywatch, which ran on NBC and then in syndication from 1989 to 2001. The entire show can be viewed on Tubi.

Trouble comes to Malibu!

Episode 1.3 “Second Wave”

(Dir by Scott Brazil, originally aired on October 13th, 1989)

Jimmy Roche (Daniel Quinn), an old friend-turned-enemy of Eddie’s, is in Malibu and he and his gang are eager to give Eddie a hard time. When Eddie tries to rescue a man in the water, Jimmy trips him and then plays keep-away with Eddie rescue can. Dang, these guys are hardcore!

Eddie doesn’t want to tell anyone about his past, even after Jimmy files an assault complaint against him. (Eddie was provoked into throwing a punch.) Jimmy threatens to robs Gina and Craig unless Eddie gives him some money. Eddie agrees to meet with Jimmy but then tells the cops. Garner Ellerbee decides to set up an undercover sting, which basically means that Garner stands next to Eddie while Eddie waits for Jimmy to show up. Somehow, Jimmy figures out what’s going on. Looks like Eddie will just have to beat Jimmy up on the beach and prove that he’s no longer a delinquent from Philadelphia.

That would be an intense storyline, if not for the fact that Jimmy himself comes across as being kind of a wimp. I mean, a young David Spade is a member of his gang! Eddie allows himself to be intimidated by a young David Spade! Think about that. This storyline just made Eddie seem kind of dumb,

Meanwhile, a young Mariska Hargitay gave a terrible performance as Lisa (hey!), the daughter of the head of the country club. Lisa (!) decided to pursue a romance with the country club’s lifeguard, Trevor, as a way of upsetting her father. When Lisa (!) jumped into the ocean to make a point (though I’m not sure what point), Trevor rescued her. However, Lisa (!) later went into shock because she still had water in her lungs. Trevor was able to get her to the hospital in time but he learned an important lesson about not being a cocky lifeguard.

“The county lifeguards know about secondary drowning,” he’s told.

Okay, so why wouldn’t Trevor know about that? The whole idea behind Trevor’s character is that he was a hotshot lifeguard in Australia before he came to California. So, is the show implying that he wasn’t trained in lifeguard basics in Australia because given how famous Australia is for its beaches, I find that hard to believe.

Anyway, after she recovers Lisa (!) announces that she’s going back to New York and Trevor realizes that she was only using him to make her father angry. Trevor stops by Baywatch HQ and talks to Mitch and admits that he doesn’t enjoy working as a lifeguard. Lifeguard Jill Riley gives him a sympathetic look. It looks like they’re falling in love but I’ve seen this series before so I already know that Jill is going to get eaten by a shark and Trevor is going to vanish after a few more episodes.

This episode could have used a shark.

We love you, Roboshark!

October True Crime: The Chase (dir by Paul Wendkos)

Posted on October 22, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

When he died in 1988, Phillip Hutchinson was only 24 years old.

Born in Virginia, Phillip Hutchinson served in the U.S. Marines before he was discharged for desertion. He went on to become a career criminal and a violent one at that. By the time he was 24, he already had a long criminal record. In Texas, he was convicted of aggravated assault and ended up with a life sentence. He escaped from prison by stealing a truck. (It was his third escape attempt.) Fleeing Texas, he eventually ended up in Denver. He is alleged to have robbed four banks in Denver before holding up the Rio Grande Operating Credit Union. The 18 year-old teller was able to set off a silent alarm and Hutchinson ended up leading police on a chase through Denver. Following Hutchinson in the air was a news helicopter. At one point, Hutchinson crashed into an unmarked police car, killing Detective Bob Wallis.

After crashing his own car, Hutchinson continued to run on foot. Eventually, he reached a trailer park. He took John Laurienti as a hostage and forced the 73 year-old man to drive him past the police in his pick-up truck. When the men in the news helicopter realized that the police didn’t realize that Hutchinson was in the truck, they dived down and blocked the truck from moving forward. The cops, realizing their mistake, surrounded the truck and opened fire, killing Hutchinson while the cameraman in the helicopter continued to film. John Laurienti escaped from the truck, uninjured.

Phillip Hutchinson really had no one but himself to be blame. If he hadn’t robbed the credit union, he would have had the cops chasing him to begin with. If he hadn’t rammed into the unmarked car and killed Bob Wallis, it’s possible that the police would have been more willing to negotiate before opening fire on him. You can wonder what led to someone, by the age of 24, becoming a hardened criminal and that is something that should always be investigated. In the end, actions do have consequences.

Phillip Hutchinson is one of those criminals who would probably be forgotten today if not for the fact that his death was not only captured on camera but also broadcast across the television airwaves. Hutchinson has gone on to have a significant afterlife in various “documentaries.” Remember World’s Wildest Police Videos? (I’ve also read that the shoot-out is a popular video on various “forbidden” and “dark” websites but I’m not going to look to find out.)

1991’s The Chase was a made-for-television movie about Phillip Hutchinson and his final ride. Casey Siemaszko plays Phillip Hutchinson as being a psycho redneck, which is probably not the far from the truth. Siemaszko gives a good performance as Hutchinson but the majority of the film deals with the people who came into contact with Hutchinson on the final day of his life. Ricki Lake plays the teller who set off the silent alarm. Ben Johnson gives a moving performance as the old man who Hutchinson took hostage. Barry Corbin plays Bob Wallis. Megan Follows plays a drug addict who narrowly escapes Hutchinson. Robert Beltran plays the man in the helicopter. They all give good performances. At the same time, for a film called The Chase, the Chase itself doesn’t actually start until we’re 70 minutes into the movie and it’s over pretty quickly. If you’re watching this film for the action, you’ll probably be disappointed.

This film was written by Guerdon Trueblood, who also directed one of my favorite grindhouse films, The Candy Snatchers. Trueblood’s script follows the standard disaster formula, in that there are a lot of subplots and filler leading up to the big event. In other words, The Chase isn’t a film for everyone. I’ll admit, though, that I teared up a little at the end. Phillip Hutchinson may have been a violent criminal but his death brought a community together.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Pacific Blue 2.20 “Bad Company”

Posted on September 16, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Tuesdays, I will be reviewing Pacific Blue, a cop show that aired from 1996 to 2000 on the USA Network! It’s currently streaming everywhere, though I’m watching it on Tubi.

This week, Palermo is the peace maker. *snicker*

Episode 2.20 “Bad Company”

(Dir by Corey Michael Eubanks, originally aired on April 6th, 1997)

In Santa Monica, there are two gangs.

One gang is group of white bikers. The other gang is a group of black men who spend all of their time playing basketball. The two groups hate each other but they all respect Lt. Palermo. Palermo previously brokered a peace between the two group. However, the peace is now threatened because someone has been tagging up both gang’s territories. The two gangs are about to go to war, despite Palermo riding his bicycle all over town….

*snicker*

I’m sorry, I can’t help but laugh. Listen, I know that gangs and gang culture are no laughing matter. But this episode features angry gang meetings that are broken up by Palermo riding up on his bicycle and talking tough to everyone. Palermo looks ridiculous with his shorts and his polo shirt and his Schwinn bicycle. “Palermo’s the peace maker!” What’s Palermo going to do if someone breaks the peace? Chase him on his bicycle?

It turns out that a gun dealer (Daniel Quinn) is trying to kickstart his business by starting a gang war. He’s not very good at his job because the gangs soon team up with the — *snicker* — bike patrol to him down.

Meanwhile, when Victor’s friend is killed after an underground fighting match by an associate of the gun dealer’s, Victor goes undercover to catch him. Elvis (David Lander), the bike engineer who used to be a member of the regular cast, witnessed the murder and he finds himself being pursued by the gun dealer. Don’t worry, Elvis! The bike patrol is looking out for you! Mixing the broad humor of David Lander’s performance as Elvis with a storyline about how gangs are destroying communities and getting innocent people killed was a decision that really didn’t pay off. “Increase the peace and now laugh at this guy with an exaggerated accent.”

This episode was a pretty good example of why Pacific Blue’s main weakness was always its premise. This episode featured a lot of scenes of the members of the bike patrol looking serious and barking out orders. It’s hard to be intimidated by someone wearing shorts and riding a bicycle.

The title of this episode is Bad Company. In the end, the truly bad company rode a Schwinn.

14 Days of Paranoia #2: Extreme Justice (dir by Mark L. Lester)

Posted on February 16, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

What type of justice?

Extreme justice, y’all!

In this 1993 film, Lou Diamond Phillips stars as Jeff Powers. Who is Jeff Powers? He’s a cop! He wants to keep the street safe! Sometimes, he knows that you have to be willing to break the rules! He’s a cop who does things his way!

Okay, is that enough exclamation points? I’m not just using them to be obnoxious. The film is pretty much just one big exclamation point. The action is hyperintense and the film is full of characters who always seem like they’re just one step away from exploding. No one in this film is particularly calm or laid back. From the start, everything is dialed to eleven and it just keeps going higher and higher.

After Jeff is put on probation for roughing up a suspect, he receives an invitation to join an elite squad of detective. Led by the charismatic Detective Dan Vaughn (Scott Glenn, giving a performance that is so over-the-top that he yells straight at the camera at one point), the Special Investigative Section is the best of the bed. Upon joining, Jeff finds himself a member of a sacred fraternity of law enforcers. Working with men like the always amused Detective Larson (Yaphet Kotto) and the somewhat paranoid Angel (Andrew Divoff), Jeff finds himself tracking some of the biggest criminals in the city.

What Jeff also discovers is that SIS does more than just arrest criminals. The SIS has been given an unofficial license to kill and they end up executing as many people as they take to jail. Often times, Vaughn will tells the men to allow a crime to be committed so that they can then dispense their own brand of justice. In the film’s most disturbing scene, the members of SIS wait until after a woman has been raped in an alley before they move to neutralize her attackers. When Jeff finally decides that he can’t be a part of all this and tries to reveal what’s going on, he discovers that the SIS has some support in some very high places. Who cares if the SIS is allowing crimes to be committed or if an innocent person occasionally gets caught in the crossfire? At least they’re taking care of the criminals!

Extreme Justice is a crude and energetic film and one that is based on some of the stories that spread about the LAPD’s RAMPART division in the 90s. That the film works is a testament to the performances of Phillips, Kotto, and Glenn and also the direction of Mark L. Lester. An exploitation vet who occassionally made big studio action films as well, Lester keeps the pace moving at breakneck speed and, even more importantly, he allows both sides to have their say. While Jeff is upset about SIS’s methods, Detective Vaughn is correct when he says that his unit is targeting the worst of the worst. It makes for an unusually intelligent exploitation film, one that leaves the audience with a lot to consider. How far would you go to keep your neighborhood safe?

Previous entries in 2025’s 14 Days Of Paranoia:

The Fourth Wall (1969)

Rubber: Red Band Trailer

Posted on March 12, 2011 by Arleigh

This film called Rubber has been on the periphery of my radar for quite some time now. I’ve first heard of it when word trickled out of the After Dark Film Festival in 2010 where it was shown. From what I’ve heard of it the film wasn’t well-received when it was shown at 2010’s Cannes Film Festival. I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t seen in a positive light over there. This film seems to be not the usual fare to get the applause and accolades.

Rubber seems to have gotten a more positive response outside of Cannes. This is especially true with the genre festival circuits.

From the looks of the trailer and synopsis of it on wiki I will hazard a guess and say that the tire is alive and looks to go on some sort of killing spree. The scene in the beginning of the trailer reminded me of the short film Treevenge! especially when the tire watched as a pile of rubber tires were being burned.

The film has been called a horror comedy and the trailer definitely gives it a dark comedy look to it. It comes out from Magnet Releases this April Fools Day.