Held for Ransom

I only rented this movie to see Morgan Fairchild and Joan Van Ark, who turn out to each have about three lines of dialogue in the movie as the kidnapped teens' moms. I don't understand why these well-known women were hired only to be given three lines... Anyway, this is one of the most boring, stupid movies I've seen in a long time. It was absolutely awful. It's confusing because Dennis Hopper and Debi Mazar, who are in lots of other things, are in this trash. Why would they bother with doing such a low-budget movie?

I will never see that $4.25 again. Why did I rent this movie?

I sit here, in utter shock at just how terribly awful this movie was, on practically all accounts. Oh, how naive I used to be, to think that even the worst movie would have some redeeming qualities. This one had none whatsoever.

The wretchedness of the acting was obscured only by the abysmal script. The basic plot line (high school students from wealthy families, kidnapped and held captive in the Everglades), if it had been used to its full potential, could have become a C-minus teen thriller.

I would typically call a poorly developed character "two dimensional." Now, to call ANY of the characters in this waste of perfectly good celluloid as "one dimensional" would be an obsequious compliment. There WERE no characters in this movie. Just bad guys and worse guys.

My recurring thought throughout the movie was "Please, please, Mr. Alligator, just eat SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, EVERYBODY." In this small thing I was not disappointed.

Stay away from this movie! Stay away! Please, please, for the love of all that is good and decent, STAY AWAY!

I will never stop wondering why a basically good actor like Dennis Hopper finds himself in a movie like this. Several things aren't just awful, but really, really bad: - the plot, - the acting, - the music, - the script, - etc etc The movie is rated 16+ (why? the once-in-a-while "f***-s" in it?); 12 year olds might be excited by the teen-actors. The story would most likely bore. A 3 out of 10.

Held For Ransom starring Zachery Ty Bryan, Jordan Brower, and Randy Spelling, among others is set in the swamps of Florida. It centers around five high school students whose school bus is hijacked on the way home when they are the last of the passengers. The five teenagers taken off the bus, tied up, and taken deep into the swamps to a small house where they are to be held hostage. The kidnappers take an instant disliking to their male hostages. While the girls are untied, the three boys have their hands tied behind their backs the entire movie. The boys spend more than a few scenes locked in a small, hot shed. Bryan is even threatened with an alligator. The film has a basically good story. However, it is ruined by frequent use of foul language.

How many times can character "J. D." say Ef You in a movie? Were they going for a record here?

Aging dolls Joan Van Ark and Morgan Fairchild are brought in for name recognition. They get 3 lines each! And there is no epilogue after the mastermind behind the crime is revealed.

Interesting plot, good story line. But the movie just drags on with Hopper cursing and swearing. It could have been much, much better.

5 stars out of 10, only because the suspense is good.