Meredith Salenger in The Kiss




In 1988, an eighteen year old Meredith Salenger starred in a horror movie called The Kiss. The young actress had already come to the attention of many through several prominent roles (most notably The Journey of Natty Gann) and now she was being given the chance to star in her own horror film. Luckily, given Salenger's considerable appeal and charm, the film and her performance turned out quite well.

Because of the sheer amount of horror films being released in the 1980s, many genuinely excellent movies got lost in the shuffle. The Kiss is a great piece of glossy/trashy horror cinema complete with supernatural elements and teenagers in peril. The busty Meredith Salenger makes for a wonderful leading lady as she deals with the lusty Joanna Pacula becoming her new stepmother. Well-filmed and highly entertaining, The Kiss is a complete success even beyond the greatness of Meredith Salenger.












Janet Julian in Humongous




In 1982, Janet Julian starred in a horror film called Humongous. It should have been a positive step for the career of the young actress, but the movie was not generally well-received and quickly disappeared into the glut of 1980s horror cinema. It was released on VHS but it wasn't particularly popular on home video either. More recently, Humongous has been restored and released to DVD, finally allowing the masses greater access to this fine horror movie.

Humongous has often been the target of criticism from pretentious horror buffs, often people that are so burned out on indiscriminately watching anything and everything horror that they are unable to properly discern the good from the bad. Make no mistake, Humongous is a good movie. It has all the necessary elements to make an entertaining horror film. Even if it didn't, the movie has one incredible asset in the form of it's beautiful leading lady, Janet Julian.

Janet Julian is tremendous to look at in Humongous and she certainly holds the viewer's attention with her pouty lips and barely-there clothing. Throughout her career (when given the opportunity), Janet Julian has always been able to successfully carry a project and this is no exception.













Kathryn Harrold in Women in White



Women in White was a two-part TV movie from 1979 (though the second part was later broadcast in two sections, for a total of 3 'chapters') and one of the stars was the magnificent Kathryn Harrold.




Women in White was supposed to become a regular TV series but never made it to that stage. So, all we have the pilot miniseries which is quite entertaining. Besides Kathryn Harrold, Women in White also featured a number of other well-known names, such as Robert Culp, Stuart Whitman, Patty Duke and a young Gerald McRaney. The lovely Kathryn Harrold shares many of her scenes with actor David Ackroyd.

The setting of Women in White is a large hospital in Florida and the plots revolve around it's diverse workers, with a particular focus on the female members of the staff. Conveniently, many of the people working at this medical facility also live in a giant apartment complex situated across the street.

When Women in White begins, Kathryn Harrold's character is one of the most prominently featured. There are so many other characters and storylines, however, that hers starts to get lost in the shuffle by the time we get to the second part. And perhaps that is one of the reasons why Women in White didn't get made into a regular series. The whole thing is a great mixture of fun and high-drama, but in the end it gets a little bogged down by all the stuff going on. Of course, if they had had more time to develop everything, I'm sure it would have worked out just fine.

Women in White would have made a great TV show but, alas, it was not meant to be. Some contemporary press for the project mentioned the fact that medical shows had fallen out of vogue during the late '70s and I guess, even though it had all the right elements, Women in White just wasn't strong enough to revive the genre.





Here are some images of Kathryn Harrold in Women in White:
















Glynis Barber as Jane

In 1982 and again in 1984, Glynis Barber portrayed the fictional character Jane on UK television. The lovely actress did a fantastic job playing the live action version of the British comic strip hero. The two Jane series (short segments that added up to 45 minutes each when cobbled together) are great fun to watch. Beyond Glynis Barber in the title role, the viewer gets to see a bunch of other hilarious British actors ham it up (including great performances from Frank Thornton, Robin Bailey and Max Wall). But also, of course, we get to see Glynis Barber (sheer perfection in a pre-Dempsey and Makepeace role) being very funny and beautiful and getting her clothes ripped off every few minutes!

One wishes that Jane would have been made into a regular series. The excellent mix of live action and animation is very well done and quite engaging. As I watched it I also thought about what a great feature film it might have made, with it's unique visual aesthetic and great mixture of humor and action.





Here are some images of Glynis Barber in the first Jane series (1982):















Here are some pictures of Jane in the Desert (1984):