Rick Rosenthal

Directing

Rick Rosenthal

Born

1949-06-15 (77)

Place of birth

New York City, New York, USA

Known for

Directing

Credits

45 titles

Richard L. Rosenthal Jr. (born June 15, 1949) is an American film instructor and director, known for directing Halloween II, Bad Boys, and Halloween: Resurrection. Rosenthal started his career by directing Halloween II (1981) and returned to the series 21 years later, helming Halloween: Resurrection (2002). In between, he directed films such as American Dreamer (1984), Russkies (1987), Distant Thunder (1988), and Just a Little Harmless Sex (1998). He also directed dozens of episodic television shows and was co-executive producer of the landmark Warner Bros. TV series Life Goes On for ABC from 1989-1991, where he guest starred in two episodes as "Uncle Richard".

Known for

Halloween II poster
6.6

After failing to kill stubborn survivor Laurie and taking a bullet or six from former psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis, Michael Myers has followed Laurie to the Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, where she's been admitted for Myers' attempt on her life. The institution proves to be particularly suited to serial killers, however, as Myers cuts, stabs and slashes his way through hospital staff to reach his favorite victim.

Halloween II

1981

Flash Gordon poster
5.5

Flash Gordon is a marathon winner whose scientist father disappeared through a rift in space 13 years ago. All starts when something comes back to Earth through the rift, looking for Flash -- which drags him unwillingly into an adventure on the planet Mongo, and into conflict with the planet's ruler, Ming the Merciless.

Flash Gordon

2007

Halloween: Resurrection poster
4.6

Reality programmers at DangerTainment select a group of thrill-seeking teenagers to spend one night in the childhood home of serial killer Michael Myers. Their planned live broadcast turns deadly when Michael decides to crash the party.

Halloween: Resurrection

2002

Better Off Dead... poster
6.6

High school student Lane Meyer sinks into suicidal depression when his girlfriend dumps him for jock Roy Stalin, the high school ski racing champion. Meanwhile, he has to deal with his eccentric family, a tenacious paperboy and an obnoxious neighbor whose mother is hosting a beautiful French exchange student named Monique.

Better Off Dead...

1985

Bad Boys poster
7.0

Mick O'Brien is a young Chicago street thug torn between a life of petty crime and the love of his girlfriend. But when the heist of a local drug dealer goes tragically wrong Mick is sentenced to a brutal juvenile prison where violence is a rite of passage and respect is measured in vengeance.

Bad Boys

1983

Johnny Dangerously poster
6.3

An honest, goodhearted man is forced to turn to a life of crime to finance his neurotic mother's skyrocketing medical bills.

Johnny Dangerously

1984

Film credits

1980s · 3 titles

Series credits

Behind the camera

Halloween II poster
6.6

After failing to kill stubborn survivor Laurie and taking a bullet or six from former psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis, Michael Myers has followed Laurie to the Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, where she's been admitted for Myers' attempt on her life. The institution proves to be particularly suited to serial killers, however, as Myers cuts, stabs and slashes his way through hospital staff to reach his favorite victim.

Halloween II

1981

Halloween: Resurrection poster
4.6

Reality programmers at DangerTainment select a group of thrill-seeking teenagers to spend one night in the childhood home of serial killer Michael Myers. Their planned live broadcast turns deadly when Michael decides to crash the party.

Halloween: Resurrection

2002

Bad Boys poster
7.0

Mick O'Brien is a young Chicago street thug torn between a life of petty crime and the love of his girlfriend. But when the heist of a local drug dealer goes tragically wrong Mick is sentenced to a brutal juvenile prison where violence is a rite of passage and respect is measured in vengeance.

Bad Boys

1983

The Birds II: Land's End poster
4.0

Ted and his family have just moved to the sleepy coastal town of Gull Island so that he can complete work on his thesis. Everything couldn’t seem more picturesque about their new, seaside home… that is, except for the increasing number of aggressively behaving birds.

The Birds II: Land's End

1994

Standing Up, Falling Down poster
6.3

An unlikely friendship kindles between a struggling stand-up comedian from L.A. — forced to move back home to Eastern Long Island with his tail between his legs — and a tragically flawed, but charming and charismatic, alcoholic dermatologist. Discovering to be kindred spirits, each helps the other find healing, in addition to the confidence to face the "failures" in their lives.

Standing Up, Falling Down

2020

Mean Creek poster
6.8

Teenagers living in small-town Oregon take a boat trip for a birthday celebration. When they get an idea to play a mean trick on the town bully, it suddenly goes too far. Soon they're forced to deal with the unexpected consequences of their actions.

Mean Creek

2004

Small Engine Repair poster
6.1

The seemingly casual reunion of three old friends at an out-of-the-way repair shop masks a hidden agenda fuelled by the arrival of a privileged young yuppie.

Small Engine Repair

2021

7 Minutes poster
5.3

When three young criminals lose a stash of drugs, they end up owing money to a ruthless drug lord. With time running out, they plan a daring robbery to raise the cash to settle the debt.

7 Minutes

2014

The Boy Behind the Door poster
6.2

Bobby tries to save himself and his best friend when they are kidnapped on their way home from school.

The Boy Behind the Door

2020

Distant Thunder poster
5.8

A troubled Vietnam war vet deserts his wife and child shortly after he returns from the war. He returns after 10 years, where he's been living like an animal in the forest. He finds himself unprepared for the changes that he will have to cope with, and when the vet tries to contact his son, he realizes that he has caused more damage than he had imagined.

Distant Thunder

1988

Punching Henry poster
5.9

Comedian Henry Phillips is lured to LA by a renowned TV producer who wants to bring his story of failure to the screen. But when a major network gets involved, Henry must decide whether he wants to make jokes for a living, or be the butt of them.

Punching Henry

2017

According to Greta poster
6.0

Dumped on her grandparents for the summer by her indifferent mother, acerbic and self-destructive teenager Greta disrupts the elderly couple's staid life on the Jersey Shore. Eventually, a romance helps Greta face down her demons.

According to Greta

2009

Kabluey poster
6.1

Leslie is left with few options when her husband is sent back to war in the Middle East. A modest amount of help arrives in the form of his brother, Salman, who is less than prepared to care for the couple's two preadolescent boys. When Leslie still can't make ends meet on her own, Salman is forced to find employment, but, with minimal qualifications, his only option is to become a mascot for a digital company by donning a bulbous blue costume.

Kabluey

2007

Band of Robbers poster
5.9

A comedic thriller that re-imagines Mark Twain's iconic literary characters of "Huckleberry Finn" and "Tom Sawyer" as grown men in current day.

Band of Robbers

2016

Russkies poster
5.2

A group of American boys discovers a Russian sailor washed up on the coast of Florida and decide to befriend him, assuming that he is friendly and will bring them no danger and thus go against the ideas of their parents, as well as the government.

Russkies

1987

Nasty Boys poster
7.3

When a narcotics team sent to bust some drug dealers are massacred. The police department form a special unit of undercover cops whose identities are withheld from the brass, and are only accountable to the leader, a Lieutenant. While they try to bust the dealers, the Lieutenant tries to find out who gave the dealers the information about the bust. And he suspects that it's someone in the DEA.

Nasty Boys

1989

Drones poster
4.7

Drones begins in the Nevada desert, where new girl Sue Lawson joins airman Jack in a hot, windowless bunker from which they manoeuvre unmanned drones across the plains of Afghanistan. Their first day at work is awkward but polite, with Jack all too aware of Sue’s privileged status as daughter of a well-respected general. This, however, will be no ordinary mission: as they train their sights on an unarmed terrorist suspect, a power struggle erupts between the smart, sophisticated Sue and the dogged, blue-collar Jack.

Drones

2013

Drones poster
4.7

Drones begins in the Nevada desert, where new girl Sue Lawson joins airman Jack in a hot, windowless bunker from which they manoeuvre unmanned drones across the plains of Afghanistan. Their first day at work is awkward but polite, with Jack all too aware of Sue’s privileged status as daughter of a well-respected general. This, however, will be no ordinary mission: as they train their sights on an unarmed terrorist suspect, a power struggle erupts between the smart, sophisticated Sue and the dogged, blue-collar Jack.

Drones

2013

Nearing Grace poster
5.0

Having recently lost his mother, teenager Henry Nearing develops a crush on seductive classmate Grace, who toys with him. Though he has been friends with Merna for a long time, he fails to see her sincere attraction to him, and instead wastes time with the uncaring Grace.

Nearing Grace

2006

Halfway There poster
2.0

Jimmy Bishop runs a sober living facility and is forced to take in his wealthy alcoholic mother as a client.

Halfway There

2017

Fire on the Mountain poster
7.0

A young real estate developer returns to his hometown to make a land killing but soon takes up the cause of a crusty old-timer in his struggles with the government which wants his ranch for an Army missile base.

Fire on the Mountain

1981

American Dreamer poster
6.3

American housewife Cathy Palmer loses her memory on a trip to Paris after being hit by a car. She wakes up in the hospital believing she's the fictional international spy, Rebecca Ryan.

American Dreamer

1984

Alien Contact poster
5.0

Emmy award-winning filmmaker and marine biologist Rick Rosenthal teams up with science fiction writer Chris Carter on an investigative journey to explore evidence of intelligent life, not in space, but in the sea – specifically, manta rays. Might these alien-looking animals be trying to make contact with us? There are intriguing clues.

Alien Contact

2024

Just a Little Harmless Sex poster
5.9

A young married couple faces a serious break-up when the husband is caught committing adultery with a prostitute.

Just a Little Harmless Sex

1999

Just a Little Harmless Sex poster
5.9

A young married couple faces a serious break-up when the husband is caught committing adultery with a prostitute.

Just a Little Harmless Sex

1999

Match poster
5.8

A Seattle couple travel to New York to interview colorful former dancer Tobi for research on a dissertation about dance. But soon, common niceties and social graces erode when the questions turn personal and the true nature of the interview is called into question.

Match

2014

Devlin poster
5.6

A troubled cop is framed in the murder of his brother-in-law, whose father is a political boss.

Devlin

1992

Fat Kid Rules The World poster
6.7

A dropout comes to the aid of a chubby and suicidal high-school kid by recruiting him as the drummer for his upstart punk-rock band.

Fat Kid Rules The World

2012

Code of Vengeance poster
7.0

A Vietnam veteran who has become a drifter helps a young, single mother avenge her brother's murder and finds himself the target of a gang of dope smugglers on the Mexican border.

Code of Vengeance

1985

I Hate Myself and Want to Die poster
NR

A depressed young guy is trying to kill himself but he keeps getting interrupted by his unsuspecting family and friends.

I Hate Myself and Want to Die

2024

No artwork available
6.0

An unsold TV series pilot about three single witches living together who try to conjure up their idea of the "perfect man." One day, their wish comes true when a seemingly perfect man named Darryl Van Horne moves into town and sweeps them off their feet by making all their dreams come true. However, they soon realize that "perfect" isn't exactly the best word to describe their devilish new man after strange and unexplainable incidents begin occurring. The pilot was inspired by both John Updike's original novel and the 1987 movie that followed.

The Witches of Eastwick

1992

Best Revenge poster
9.0

When his best friend is kidnapped and held for ransom by a drug kingpin, an American hustler embarks on a suicide mission to smuggle four million dollars worth of hashish out of Morocco.

Best Revenge

1984

Waves of Freedom poster
NR

Interviewees, supported by authentic documentary footage, reminisce about defying the British blockade to bring Jewish refugees into the future state of Israel.

Waves of Freedom

2008

Halloween: Resurrection - Webcam Special poster
NR

Alternate version of Rick Rosenthal's "Halloween: Resurrection" that solely consists of webcam footage including additional scenes and dialogue

Halloween: Resurrection - Webcam Special

2002