Runaway Daughters (1994)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Good girl Mary (Holly Fields) finally gives in to her boyfriend's need for sex and sure enough she gets pregnant. After telling him the boyfriend runs off to join the Navy for three years so Mary and her two girlfriends go after him. In the 90s all sort of AIP films from the 1950s were being remade but most of them were in-named only remakes, which is where this one falls. Joe Dante obviously likes to pay homage as films like THE HOWLING and GREMLINS proved this and he does the same sort of thing with the juvenile delinquent genre. I found this film to be a bit uneven because they have it taking place in the 50s but it never feels like the real decade because there's so many spoofs going on. It seems as if Dante constantly has a wink for the viewer and while some of the comedy works, the majority of it doesn't. Still, I think fans of those AIP films should at least get a few kicks out of this and especially by the fact that Dante fills this thing up with some fun cameos. The "new" actors are all pretty good in their roles and this includes Fields as the virgin turned pregnant girl and we also have Paul Rudd in an early role. The cameos include Dick Miller playing a detective, Dee Wallace and Christopher Stone playing bad parents, Roger and Julie Corman pop up and we also have Fabian, Cathy Moriarty and even Sam Arkoff. The soundtrack includes some great classic tunes and I will admit that the set design was quite good for a low-budget film. RUNAWAY DAUGHTERS isn't a masterpiece but then again neither was the original.