The Eric Roberts Collection: Hansel & Gretel: Warriors of Witchcraft (dir by David DeCoteau)

Posted on April 18, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In 2013’s Hansel & Gretel: Warriors of Witchcraft, Ella (Fivel Stewart) and Jonah (Booboo Stewart) are twins who are sent to an exclusive private school. The private school is so exclusive that many of the students are the descendants of former students. If you don’t have the right lineage, you’re not attending this school.

Ella and Jonah soon discover that this isn’t your everyday private school. Instead, the student body is made up of witches and wizards and so are the majority of the teachers. Ella and Jonah also discover that they are being targeted. Can they defeat the other witches and wizards and will their school ever beat Hogwarts at Quidditch?

Now, technically, Hogwarts is never mentioned in this film and no one ever plays Quidditch but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out which insanely popular series of books and films inspired Hansel & Gretel: Warriors of Witchcraft. There are a few references to witches in the woods and children being eaten but this film definitely has more in common with the works of J.K. Rowling than the work of the Brothers Grimm. It’s a fairly silly film but it’s enjoyable enough, if you’re a fan of director David DeCoteau’s unique aesthetic. That means plenty of cheap special effects, a few names in the cast, one scene of gratuitous shirtlessness for Booboo Stewart, and an open-ended conclusion, just in case someone was willing to pay for a sequel.

Eric Roberts plays Mr. Sebastian. He’s the kind-hearted headmaster at the school. He doesn’t appear in many scenes but, as always, it’s nice to see Eric Roberts playing a nice guy for once. At one point, Mr. Sebastian explains what is going on at the school and it doesn’t make the least bit of sense but I guess that’s magic for you.

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:

The Eric Roberts Collection: Snow White: A Deadly Summer (dir by David DeCoteau)

Posted on April 18, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In 2012’s Snow White: A Deadly Summer, Snow (Shanley Caswell) is the teenage daughter of Grant (Eric Roberts). Snow has been acting out ever since her mother died and Grant married Eve (Maureen McCormick). Snow doesn’t feel that Eve loves her father and Eve is incredibly jealous of Snow. In fact, Eve spends a lot of time standing in front of a mirror and talking about how much she doesn’t like her stepdaughter.

One morning, after Eve has convinced Grant that Snow is dangerously out-of-control, Snow is abducted and taken to one of those awful boot camps. It’s the type of place where spoiled teenagers are taught discipline and good conduct. At least, that’s how it advertises itself. In truth, it’s a terrible place in the middle of the woods where the guards are sadists and no one is allowed the least bit of freedom. Eve is planning on having Snow murdered at the camp so that she can have Grant all to herself. Will Snow be able to escape?

Directed by David DeCoteau, this film doesn’t really have as much to do with Snow White as you might expect from the title. Yes, Eve spends a lot of time talking in front of the mirror but the mirror itself never talks back. That said, it’s actually a pretty entertaining film. Casting Maureen McCormick as the Wicked Stepmother is a brilliant move and McCormick seems to really get into playing a villain. (At times, she seems to be channeling Florence Henderson.) Even more importantly, the film exposes the whole boot camp racket. I can remember the old talk shows where out-of-control teens would be sent to “boot camp.” The audience would always go crazy whenever the “drill sergeants” started yelling at the teens but, to me, it always seemed like being sent to one of those boot camps would actually make someone ever angrier than they were before. That would certainly be true in my case.

I know what you’re saying, though. “Lisa Marie, what about Eric Roberts?” It’s interesting to see Eric Roberts playing a generally likable and sympathetic character here. He gets to do a bit more than he usually does in films like this and he give a good performance. You really worry about what’s going to happen to him when Maureen McCormick has him to herself.

The film ends with a nice little twist, though it’s probably one that you’ll see coming. That said, this is still one of David DeCoteau’s better films.

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:

Scenes That I Love: Eric Roberts In Star 80

Posted on April 18, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

1983’s Star 80 features one of Eric Roberts’s best and most disturbing performances. On the one hand, it’s the film that proved Roberts’s talent. On the other hand, it’s a film in which he does such a good job bringing the repellent Paul Snider to life that he reportedly struggled to convince casting agents that he could characters who weren’t shady and/or mentally unstable.

In this scene, Roberts-as-Snider gets his look down. Snider, a man who has no real identity beyond his desire to be somebody, tries to disguise his emptiness through the right haircut and the right clothes.

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Eric Roberts Edition

Posted on April 18, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Shots from 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots from 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!

Happy birthday, Eric Roberts!

4 Shots From 4 Eric Roberts Films

Star 80 (1983, dir by Bob Fosse, DP: Sven Nyvkist)

The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984, dir by Stuart Rosenberg, DP: John Bailey)

Runaway Train (1985, dir by Andrei Konchalovsky, DP: Alan Hume)

The Dark Knight (2008, dir by Christopher Nolan, DP: Wally Pfister)

The Eric Roberts Collection: Freefall (dir by John Irvin)

Posted on April 16, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Who is Grant Orion?

That is the question at the heart of 1994’s Freefall.

Played by Eric Roberts, Grant Orion claims to be a former Hollywood stuntman who now spends most of his time jumping off of cliffs and skydiving. When photographer Katy Mazur (Pamela Gidley) first spots Grant, he is climbing to the top of a cliff in Swaziland and jumping off. Katy, who has been sent to the country to get a photograph of a taita falcon, finds herself obsessively snapping his picture. Later, after she meets Grant, she ends up cheating on her fiancé with him. The fiancé in question is Dex Dellums (Jeff Fahey), who is not only engaged to marry Katy but who is also her editor. He’s the one who sent her to Swaziland in the first place.

Who is Grant Orion? (And who, in the world, actually has a name like Grant Orion?) After Grant saves Katy from some gunmen, he explains that he’s not only a former stuntman but he’s also an agent of Interpol. However, Dex claims that Grant is lying. Dex tells her that Grant is a former stuntman who was run out of Hollywood after a stunt went wrong and now, he’s basically a mercenary. Katy doesn’t know who to trust as violence breaks out all around her.

Freefall starts out as a standard erotic thriller, with Roberts and Gidley exchanging smoldering looks and uttering heated dialogue. Before long, though, it turns into a thriller with Katy not being sure who to trust. There’s a lot of gunfire. There’s a lot of over the top action. Some of the scenes of action are so over-the-top that the film almost feels like it might be a parody. The plot itself is next to impossible to follow but who needs a plot when you’ve got Eric Roberts and Jeff Fahey sharing the screen together? Roberts is all smoldering intensity while Fahey seems to be having the time of his life playing the smarmy Dex.

Along with getting the best out of Roberts and Fahey. director John Irvin also manages to get some truly beautiful shots of the mountains of Swaziland. Though the scenes of Roberts climbing the mountains were clearly done by a real stuntman (and not Grant Orion), they’re still effectively shot. When we first see Grant jump off the mountain, the imagery is breath-takingly beautiful. At times, it’s hard not to regret that the entire film wasn’t just about Grant jumping off of mountains. All of the gunfire gets in the way of the main attraction.

Today, we’re so used to seeing Eric Roberts in small cameo roles that it’s easy to forget that he started out his career in starring roles. Freefall is a silly film but it’s undeniably entertaining, in the way that the best direct-to-video erotic action thrillers often were. Don’t even try to follow the plot. Just enjoy the mountains and the scenes of Roberts and Fahey competing to see who can out-smolder the other.

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:

The Eric Roberts Collection: Law of Attraction (dir by Michael Kampa)

Posted on April 15, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In 2020’s Law of Attraction, Lexi Giovagnoli plays Allison Williams, a young attorney who is hoping to become a partner at her firm. The opposing counsel in her current case is named Derrick Walker. Allison hasn’t met Derrick but she has exchanged plenty of angry emails and had a few less than pleasant phone interactions with him. When Allison’s friend gets married, it seems like a good chance to Allison to get away from the daily grind of her job. And hey, there’s a cute guy at the wedding. His name is DJ (Joseph Almani)! Does anyone want to guess what the D in DJ stands for?

Law of Attraction is a cute movie. There’s nothing particularly revolutionary about the plot but Giovagnoli and Almani are both likeable and they have a sweet chemistry whenever they’re onscreen together. The weekend wedding leads to a lot of rehearsal shenanigans and some of them are funnier than others. For the most part, though, this is an enjoyable film. It’s the type of pleasant production that you can safely have running in the background while you take care of whatever else it is that you have to take care of during the day.

As for Eric Roberts, he makes a brief appearance as Allison’s boss at the law firm. It’s a cameo. Eric wears a suit and acts like a somewhat stuffy professional. He tells Allison not to screw up the case. It’s really a role that anyone could have played but I’m glad Eric Roberts picked up the paycheck.

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:

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:

The Eric Roberts Collection: Cyclops (dir by Declan O’Brien)

Posted on April 8, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Behold the glory that was Rome!

In 2008’s Cyclops, Ancient Rome is a bad CGI village that is being menaced by an even worse CGI cyclops. (The height of the Cyclops literally changes from scene to scene.) After the Cyclops is captures, it’s forced to fight in the gladiatorial games of the decadent Emperor Tiberius (Eric Roberts). Marcus (Kevin Stapleton), a centurion-turned-gladiator, eventually launches his own revolution against the Empire. When you’re fighting against the 15 members of the fearsome Roman army, it helps to a have a monster from Greek mythology on your side. Long live the Roman Republic!

This is an extremely silly movie but it’s hard not to admire the chutzpah it takes to try to recreate the glory of Rome on a tiny budget. It’s not just that the city of Rome looks like a medieval village. It’s also that there appears to only be about fifty citizens of Rome and most of them look like they wandered over from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The film doesn’t work but kudos to the filmmakers for trying in the first place. Not surprisingly, this was a Roger Corman production.

Eric Roberts as a Roman emperor is something that simply needs to be seen to believed. Eric has the haircut and the sinful smile and he gives the thumbs up symbol with the proper theatrical flourish. In the film, Tiberius turns on Marcus after the latter demands that he be given a land grant along with his promotion and I’m on Tiberius’s side as far as that goes. Marcus should have just accepted the promotion without making demands. Tiberius had every right to be miffed and no one plays miffed quite as well as Eric Roberts. Tiberius goes on to plan the state dinner that will celebrate the capture of the Cyclops. Tiberius and his friends will have half-a-boar. Marcus will be given “eggs and greens.” Oh, Tiberius!

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:

The Eric Roberts Collection: Megalodon: The Frenzy (dir by Brendan Petrizzo)

Posted on April 7, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In 2023’s Megalodon: The Frenzy, the giant shark that keeps coming back …. well, it comes back again! Actually, there’s more than one giant shark this time. The ocean is not safe, not for tourists, not for beach partiers, not for scientists, not even for the Marines!

Fortunately, Lt. Commander Sharp (Eric Roberts) is in command of a battleship and he’s constantly encouraging his Marines to be prepared to sacrifice everything to stop the giant sharks. While scientist Rylie Clark (Caroline Williams) attempts to figure out how to stop the sharks, Sharp barks out order to his crew. His crew replies with “Oorah!” I would have to check the official records to know for sure but there’s a distinct chance that this movie set the record for the most use of “oorah” over an 82 minute run time.

The true stars of the film are the giant sharks, of course. That said, it’s nice to see Eric Roberts playing a good guy for once. Of course, Eric does seem a little advanced in years to still be on active duty. The mandatory retirement age for a flag officer is usually 64 but retirement can be deferred until 68 by Presidential order. Eric Roberts was around 67 years old when he filmed this so I guess it pays to have a friend in Washington. Well, no matter. Eric gave his orders with authority and rallied his men and probably had the longest hair that you’re ever likely to see on an officer.

As for the sharks, they’re really big and they jump out of the water and eat people. This is an Asylum film and the Asylum has always understood what people want when it comes to giant sharks. Don’t take this film seriously and you’ll be fine.

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:

The Eric Roberts Collection: Groupie (dir by Mark L. Lester)

Posted on April 6, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

2010’a Groupie tells the story of the Dark Knights.

The Dark Knights are a legendary band with devoted fans. I’m not sure why because, from what we hear of their music, they really suck. I don’t mean that they suck in a funny deliberate way, like Spinal Tap. I mean, they literally suck. Maybe some of their popularity has to do with their habit of setting their lead singer on fire during their performances.

Unfortunately, during one performance, the fire gets out of control. There’s a panic in the club. A 16 year-old fan is stomped to death. A year later, The Dark Knights are ready to launch their comeback tour. And they’ve got a new groupie, Riley (Taryn Manning)! Riley likes to make death masks. Well, I guess everyone needs a hobby. Riley is also the sister of the fan who was stomped to death. She’s looking for revenge against the Dark Knights and their manager, Angus (Eric Roberts).

That this film appears to be based on a real-life tragedy (i.e. the Station Nightclub Fire) gives the whole film are rather icky sheen. Also adding to the film’s oddness is how straight-forward it is. Riley shows up. A mysterious killer strikes. Riley appears to be the killer and, hey — she is the killer! There’s no real attempt to create any sort of suspense or misdirection as to who the killer may be. That said, Taryn Manning is entertainingly unhinged and director Mark L. Lester keeps the action moving quickly.

As far as Eric Roberts is concerned, he plays a pretty sleazy character but he does so with good humor. Indeed, it’s hard not to have sympathy for Angus. While the band is busy setting things on fire, he’s the one who keeps the tour bus moving.

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed: