Robin Cook's Acceptable Risk Reviews

Sometimes a movie's premise is so loony that reservations about its various shortcomings fall by the wayside. This made-for-TV howler, based on the novel by prolific medical thriller scribe Robin Cook, deals with contagious gunk abandoned by bread-making witches in the 18th century! Massachusetts, 1702: A god-fearing settlement hangs a homemaker suspected of sorcery. In 2001, her descendant, Kim Wells (Kelly Rutherford), moves onto her ancestral property with her husband, medical researcher Dr. Edward Wells (Chad Lowe). Edward, who's on quest to cure Parkinson's Disease, has run up against a wall of university bureaucracy, believes he's discovered a powerful analgesic in some 300-year-old mold spores he discovers in his new home. Using himself as a guinea pig, Edward manages to improve his I.Q. and increase his physical stamina with a genetic distillation of the mold spores. Unfortunately, Edward's "ultra drug" has psychological side effects. But he forges ahead and, after piquing the interest of a pharmaceutical magnate, expands his unorthodox trials to include fellow scientist Bobby (Sean Patrick Flannery) and a pharmacist, Gloria (Danielle Von Zerneck). In short and violent order, Edward jealously beats up Kim's professor, and Bobby forces Kim's neighbor off the road, precipitating a fatal car crash. Addicted to Ultra, Bobby murders Gloria when she tries to pull the plug on further experimentation. Eventually, Kim deduces that the residue in the hags' mixing bowls causes anti-social behavior. If only Edward had never messed around with the crones' toxic substance! Now Kim must rein in reckless Edward before his malevolent wonder drug infects millions of unwary consumers. This chiller's steady pace and earnest acting don't jibe with Cook's off-the-wall plotline, but the film is a popcorn pleasure for viewers who get goosebumps thinking about covens, medical progress or centuries-old yeast.