MONTH OF THRILLERS FROM RHI ENTERTAINMENT FEATURE FOUR ORIGINAL TELEVISION PREMIERES ON SCI FI, SPIKE AND LIFETIME MOVIE NETWORK
Slate of Premieres on Top Networks Kicks off This Weekend with "Carny" on SCI FI April 25, And "Mask of the Ninja" April 26 on Spike
New York, NY � April 22, 2009 � Four new action-packed television movies distributed by RHI Entertainment will premiere over the next month, on top cable networks SCI FI, Spike and Lifetime Movie Network. The series of thrillers kicks off on SCI FI this Saturday April 25 with the terrifying romp "Carny," starring Lou Diamond Phillips, a freak show that will leave the crowd screaming, followed on Sunday by the steel-nerved thriller "Mask of the Ninja" on Spike, with Casper Van Dien as a detective who investigates a bizarre siege on a Malibu home. RHI pumps theIIHHi action up further on Spike on May 10 with "Street Warrior," about a notorious underground fight club and the quest for personal glory starring Max Martini of "Saving Private Ryan." On May 17, a more psychological thriller premieres on Lifetime Movie Network: Filled with bizarre twists and political intrigue, "Do You Know Me" stars "Twilight's" Rachelle Lefevre.
Every carnival needs a decent draw. Something fierce to pull in the rubes. Step right up for the new one in town, a freak show that delivers on its terrifying promise - "Carny," Saturday, April 25 at 9 PM on SCI FI.
In the small town in Nebraska, a carnival is laying camp. Owner Edward Caprini (Alan C. Peterson, Shooter) is looking forward to showing off the latest addition�a creature so rare he's willing to murder someone to get it. None of it is sitting too well with the local pastor. Sheriff Sam Atlas (Lou Diamond Phillips, Che) sees no harm, however, in a traveling carnival. But even he has second thoughts after checking out the grounds. Samara (Simone-Elise Girard, E.R.), the carnival's lovely clairvoyant, has visions of doom. And that unimaginable beast, rumored to be the Jersey Devil, rattling around in his cage doesn't look half as harmless as Caprini insists he is.
That night, when the Devil is unveiled, the crowd goes wild. So does the beast, tearing through the panic-stricken patrons in a violent, feral rampage. In the pandemonium, it disappears into the woods leaving a trail of eviscerated corpses in its wake. As Sheriff Atlas steps up to organize a solid tracking team to capture the carnivorous fugitive, he joins forces with Samara, who knows more about the Jersey Devil than anyone. She knows what it wants. She knows what it feeds on. She knows how to stop it. But when they cross paths with the pastor's bloodthirsty avengers, hellfire will be ignited, in the shadow of the beast.
Keep the fear going through the weekend, with "Mask of the Ninja" on Spike on Sunday, April 26 at 10 PM. In a heavily wooded private estate in the Malibu Hills, the calm of the Pacific hideaway of millionaire CEO Kenji Takeo and his daughter, Miko is shattered by a meticulously planned stealth attack by a masked band of ninja assassins. In a flash, Takeo's guards are killed, the mansion is overtaken, Takeo is killed, and Miko is left for dead. Arriving at the bloody scene is Detective Jack Barrett (Casper Van Dien, Starship Troopers) who encounters Miko (Kristy Wu, Buffy the Vampire Slayer)�the only living witness. In a state of shock, she repeats only one word like an eerie mantra: kokushibyu. In her native language, it means Black Death.
The next attack is at Takeo's high-tech company, where Barrett discovers the link between Takeo's death and the "curse" � a secret code for biological warfare encrypted somewhere within Takeo Industries. Sought after by the ninjas, the puzzle reaches back to World War II, where a weaponized plague was developed and used against thousands of citizens. It is now perfected and ready to be unleashed. Unbeknownst to her, Miko is the only person who has the code to gain access to its secrets. Now, time is running out � to save herself and to destroy the new weapon.
Things get hotter on Spike May 10, 10 PM with "Street Warrior," where flesh slams against flesh, fist meets skull, body-slams crush the bones and blood and sweat feed the crowds. Now it's time for one man to set the hottest ticket in town on fire.
Upon early release from Iraq, Jack Campbell (Max Martini, Saving Private Ryan), a US Army Sergeant, heads back to his hometown California hometown to see his only brother Joey. Jack discovers that Joey is clinging to life in a coma � a sorry casualty of the Gauntlet, the most notorious underground fight club in the country. The Gauntlet is the mastermind of Mr. Pope (Nick Chinlund, 24) a wealthy, morally twisted businessman who has made San Madera his own corrupt playground by greasing all the right palms. Assisting him with his enterprise is the beautiful and greedy Ms. Lee (Jane Park Smith, Tears In The Rain). Jack wants revenge for Joey, who was forced to fight to repay a gambling debt.
The only way to bury Pope and put San Madera right is from the inside out - braving the Gauntlet as a fighter, which means eventually facing the menacing current champ Isaiah (Sidney Liufau, You, Me and Dupree). In the process Jack strikes an unlikely alliance with quirky strip club owner George (Max Perlich, My Name Is Earl) who serves as his manager and he also becomes reacquainted with old high school friend Maggie (Valerie Cruz, Nip/Tuck). Pope considers it great publicity to have a violent war vet fight for his brother's honor against his seasoned fighters inside the Gauntlet at $1,000 per ticket. What Pope doesn't realize is that Jack's prowess in the ring is motivated by a blind-rage to bring him down and crush his whole empire.
RHI's thriller weeks culminate in the realm of the psychological on May 17 at 8 PM with "Do You Know Me" on Lifetime Movie Network, when the truth becomes a lie and the familiar becomes the unknown as a woman's terrifying investigation into her past leads to a secret that could kill her.
Recent college graduate Ellie Carter (Rachelle Lefevre, Twilight), first thinks it's a crazy coincidence when she sees an age-progression photograph that looks exactly like her, on a milk carton under the ominous words "missing." An unnerving suspicion impels Ellie to contact the organization that placed the photograph about the girl who has been missing for 20 years. When they ask questions about Ellie's past that she can't answer, she faces her parents, David (Ted Whittal, Smallville) and Anna (Lynda Boyd, Another Cinderella Story). Soon a DNA test confirms Ellie's worst fears: her parents have been lying. Even more frightening is why.
The mystery draws a DEA agent, Jake Farber (Jeremy London, Jason & the Argonauts), into Ellie's shadow. He informs her of David's link to a decades-old child homicide case, of her lost mother, a meth addict on the skids, and of her real father, now an investment banker, managing the campaign of a powerful and dangerous aspiring senator. Hoping to put the pieces of this terrifying puzzle together, Ellie confronts her real father, only to be given another reason to be afraid�he was partners with her adoptive parents in a shocking crime, and now someone wants Ellie out of this twisted family picture for good. Without knowing why, and with no one left to trust, Ellie has one option left: to save herself by braving the past and the nightmare of murder, betrayal, and deception that has become her life.
RHI Entertainment (NASDAQ: RHIE) develops, produces and distributes new made-for-television movies, miniseries and other television programming worldwide, and is the leading provider of new long-form television content in the United States. Under the leadership of Robert Halmi, Sr. and Robert Halmi, Jr., RHI has produced and distributed thousands of hours of quality television programming, and RHI's productions have received more than 100 Emmy Awards. In addition to the development, production and distribution of new content, RHI owns rights to more than 1,000 titles, or over 3,500 broadcast hours of long-form television programming, which are licensed to broadcast and cable networks and new media outlets globally. For more consumer information visit www.rhitv.com.
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