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Review MGM Entertainment / Misery [1991]
Actors & Directors
  • Richard Farnsworth
  • Rob Reiner
  • Frances Sternhagen
  • Kathy Bates
  • James Caan
  • Lauren Bacall
Release date: 2001-09-10
Run time: 103 min.
Creator: William Goldman
Price: £7.99

Review Misery [1991] / MGM Entertainment:

Based on the chilling bestseller by Stephen King, Misery was brought to the screen by director Rob Reiner as one of the most effective thrillers of the 1990s. From a brilliant adaptation by screenwriter William Goldman, Reiner turned King's cautionary tale of fame and idolatry into a mainstream masterpiece of escalating suspense, translating King's own experience with obsessive fans into a frightening tale of entrapment and psychotic behavior. Kathy Bates deservedly won an Academy Award for her performance as Annie Wilkes, an unbalanced devotee of romance novels written by Paul Sheldon (James Caan), whose books provide Annie with a much-needed escape from her pathetic life and her secret, violent past. After Annie rescues the injured Sheldon from a car accident, she seizes the opportunity to nurse her favorite writer back to health, but her tender loving care soon turns to terrorism as she demands that Sheldon write his latest novel according to her wish-fulfillment fantasies. From this point forward, Misery percolates to a boil as equal parts mystery, thriller, and cleverly dark comedy, with the helpless author pitched in deadly warfare against his number one fan. While Bates carefully modulates her role from doting kindness to sympathetic loneliness and finally to horrifying ferocity, Caan is equally superb as the celebrated author who must literally write for his life. It's essentially a two-actor film, but Richard Farnsworth and Lauren Bacall are excellent in supporting roles as they investigate the writer's mysterious disappearance. Frightening, funny, and totally irresistible, Misery was such a hit that some of Bates's dialogue entered the popular lexicon (particularly her nagging reference to Caan as "Mister Man"), and its nail-biting thrills remain timelessly intense. -Jeff Shannon.

Review Boulevard Entertaiment / Crocodile
Actors & Directors
  • Chris Solari
  • Caitlin Martin
  • Tobe Hooper
Release date: 2007-06-25
Run time: 93 min.
RRP: £3.99
Price: £0.01

Review Crocodile / Boulevard Entertaiment:


Review Blue Underground / The Cat O' Nine Tails [1971]
Actors & Directors
  • Tino Carraro
  • Tom Felleghy
  • Pier Paolo Capponi
  • Carlo Alighiero
  • Horst Frank
Release date: 2007-09-25
Run time: 112 min.
Creator: Ennio Morricone
Price: £5.71

Review The Cat O' Nine Tails [1971] / Blue Underground:


Review Tartan Video / Black Christmas [1974]
Actors & Directors
  • Margot Kidder
  • Bob Clark
  • Marian Waldman
  • John Saxon
  • Olivia Hussey
  • Keir Dullea
Release date: 2003-12-08
Run time: 98 min.
Creator: Roy Moore
RRP: £9.99
Price: £9.99

Review Black Christmas [1974] / Tartan Video:

You may never have heard of Black Christmas, a neglected gem from 1974, but you've probably seen one of its many imitators. Olivia Hussey and Margot Kidder star as two residents of a sorority house that is emptying out as Christmas approaches. The atmosphere is jolly and carefree, except for an ongoing series of menacing telephone calls, and, oh yes, we've just seen someone climb into the attic with apparent ill intent. Kidder does some scene-stealing as the bad girl, Hussey illustrates one of the downsides to having beautiful long 70s hair and Keir Dullea does a nice turn as the creepy boyfriend. Director Robert Clark knows that the unseen is far scarier than what can be seen and he ratchets up the tension beautifully, making good use of ominous shadows, and putting in nice touches such as replacing the sound of a distraught woman's scream with the piercing ring of yet another ominous phone call. This is a terrific, well-made little movie that is genuinely sleep-with-the-lights-on scary. Don't miss it. -Ali Davis.

Review Eastern Cult Cinema / Uzumaki [2000]
Actors & Directors
  • Higuchinsky
  • Eun-Kyung Shin
  • Hinako Saeki
  • Eriko Hatsune
  • Fhi Fan
  • Keiko Takahashi
Release date: 2003-03-24
Run time: 88 min.
Creator: Takao Nitta
Price: £19.99

Review Uzumaki [2000] / Eastern Cult Cinema:


Review Weinstein Company / Pulse 2: Afterlife [2008] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Boti Ann Bliss
  • William Prael
  • Todd Giebenhain
  • Georgina Rylance
  • Joel Soisson
  • Lee Garlington
Release date: 2008-09-30
Run time: 89 min.
Creator: Kirk M. Morri
Price: £6.09

Review Pulse 2: Afterlife [2008] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Weinstein Company:


Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / Angel - The Vampire Anthology - Cordelia [2000]
Actors & Directors
  • David Boreanaz
  • Joss Whedon
  • J. August Richards
  • Charisma Carpenter
  • David Greenwalt
  • Michael Grossman
  • Alexis Denisof
  • Amy Acker
Release date: 2005-08-01
Run time: 195 min.
Creator: Mere Smith
RRP: £12.99
Price: £6.45

Review Angel - The Vampire Anthology - Cordelia [2000] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:


Review Cinema Club / Sherlock Holmes - The Master Blackmailer [1992]
Actors & Directors
  • Peter Hammond
  • Jeremy Brett
  • Gwen Ffrangcon Davies
  • Edward Hardwicke
  • Tony Broughton
  • Lee Clarke
Release date: 2002-08-05
Run time: 104 min.
Creator: Jeremy Paul
RRP: £5.99
Price: £3.43

Review Sherlock Holmes - The Master Blackmailer [1992] / Cinema Club:


Review Lionsgate / Werewolf: The Devil's Hound [2007] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Christy O. Cianci
  • Christian Pindar
  • Michael Dionne
  • Phil Gauvin
  • Tamara Malawitz
  • Adam Loewenbaum
  • Gregory C. Parker
Release date: 2007-12-04
Run time: 89 min.
Creator: Richard J. Lucas
Price: £6.46

Review Werewolf: The Devil's Hound [2007] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Lionsgate:


Review Blue Underground/Ryko Distribution / Who Saw Her Die? [1972]
Actors & Directors
  • Dominique Boschero
  • Alessandro Haber
  • George Lazenby
  • Aldo Lado
  • Peter Chatel
  • Adolfo Celi
Release date: 2008-02-26
Run time: 94 min.
Creator: Ennio Morricone
Price: £5.97

Review Who Saw Her Die? [1972] / Blue Underground/Ryko Distribution:


Review Alpha Video / The Student of Prague [1913] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Stellan Rye
  • Lyda Salmonova
  • John Gottowt
  • Paul Wegener
  • Grete Berger
  • Lothar Körner
  • Paul Wegener
Release date: 2004-05-25
Run time: 85 min.
Creator: Hanns Heinz Ewers
Price: £3.09

Review The Student of Prague [1913] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Alpha Video:


Review Entertainment in Video / Final Destination 1 And 2 [2000]
Actors & Directors
  • Daniel Roebuck
  • Kristen Cloke
  • Devon Sawa
  • David R. Ellis
  • Kerr Smith
  • James Wong
  • Ali Larter
Release date: 2003-10-20
Run time: 179 min.
RRP: £24.99
Price: £9.40

Review Final Destination 1 And 2 [2000] / Entertainment in Video:

Let's be realistic. No one is ever going to make the case that either of the Final Destination films should be laden with awards and awash with critical acclaim. Yet in their own ways, both punch above their weight. This welcome double pack, released to coincide with the theatrical release of Final Destination 3, offers ample evidence why. The first is the better of the two, and it sets the premise up well. After a dramatic near-death experience, correctly foreseen by one of their number, a group of young friends soon find that not all is as it seems. Death, it seems, is coming back for them one at a time, and that's an excuse for some intricate set pieces as the group find themselves in immense danger, as they try to puzzle out how to alter death's plans. The second works surprisingly well too. Okay, it does little more than photocopy a winning formula, but its set pieces are that bit more over-the-top to compensate, and while it barely has an original moment in its running time, it is a genuine hoot. Both films have a handy selection of shock moments, and both motor through at enough speed to paper over any cracks. [+]
And the end result in both cases is an enjoyable, sprightly ride, best enjoyed with the brain switched to neutral. -Simon Brew.

Review Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / The Exorcism of Emily Rose [2005] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Shohreh Aghdashloo
  • Scott Derrickson
  • Laura Linney
  • Tom Wilkinson
  • Campbell Scott
  • Jennifer Carpenter
Release date: 2005-12-20
Run time: 119 min.
Creator: Paul Harris Boardman
Price: £6.36

Review The Exorcism of Emily Rose [2005] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Sony Pictures Home Entertainment:


Review Artist Not Provided / Salvage/Mortuary [Blu-ray] [US Import]
Release date: 2008-07-29
Run time: 172 min.
Price: £11.09

Review Salvage/Mortuary [Blu-ray] [US Import] / Artist Not Provided:


Review Universal Pictures UK / Tremors 3 - Back To Perfection [2001]
Actors & Directors
  • Brent Maddock
  • Charlotte Stewart
  • Michael Gross
  • Shawn Christian
  • Susan Chuang
  • Ariana Richards
Release date: 2002-10-07
Run time: 98 min.
Creator: John Whelpley
RRP: £9.99
Price: £4.23

Review Tremors 3 - Back To Perfection [2001] / Universal Pictures UK:


Review MGM / The Return of the Living Dead [1985] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Thom Mathews
  • Beverly Randolph
  • Dan O'Bannon
  • James Karen
  • Clu Gulager
  • Don Calfa
Release date: 2002-08-27
Run time: 91 min.
Creator: Russell Streiner
Price: £8.04

Review The Return of the Living Dead [1985] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / MGM:

Return of the Living Dead is a parody-cum-sequel spin-off from George Romero's superior Night of the Living Dead films. A corpse-containing canister gets breached and releases an oily, loose-limbed, brain-eating zombie tatterdemalion and a gas that revives anything dead in the vicinity, even a bisected dog preserved as a vet's teaching specimen and a case of pinned butterflies. The dim-bulb leading characters-earnest Clu Gulager, goofy James Karen and Thom Matthews-burn up a mess of surplus living body parts, but the rains wash the ashes into the earth of a nearby cemetery and a whole crowd of brain-eating zombies claw their way out to terrorise a group of teens who sport the kind of 1985 fashions, hairdos, slang preferences and musical tastes that will never feature in a TV nostalgia programme. There are plenty of in-jokes at the expense of the Living Dead films (learning that shooting 'em in the brain doesn't work, the appalled Matthews gasps, "You mean the movie lied?"), and director Dan O'Bannon, the writer of Dark Star and Alien, hurries things along through some gruesome action and terror-by-zombie bits until the surprisingly cynical anti-government conclusion. It's not as wittily outrageous as Re-Animator or Braindead, but it has an amiable, drive-in-cum-home video grunge about it. Frequently naked exploitation regular Linnea Quigley makes an impression as the punkette zombie who goes on the rampage wearing nothing but leg-warmers and body make-up. The frill-free DVD is full-screen (boo hiss!) except for the titles, offers only the trailer and inadequate cast and crew notes as extras, but it looks okay. -Kim Newman.

Review Surrender Cinema / Auditions from Beyond [1999] (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Christina Rene
  • Meridian (III)
  • Brinke Stevens
  • Ahmo Hight
  • Reed Richmond
  • Lisa Shaw
Release date: 2000-07-25
Run time: 88 min.
Price: £4.91

Review Auditions from Beyond [1999] (NTSC) / Surrender Cinema:


Review Starz Home Entertainment / Halloween: The Ultimate Collection (Six Disc Box Set)
Actors & Directors
  • Jamie Lee Curtis
  • John Carpenter
  • Nancy Kyes
  • P.J. Soles
  • Donald Pleasence
  • Tony Moran
Release date: 2002-09-30
Run time: 540 min.
Creator: Moustapha Akkad
Price: £48.99

Review Halloween: The Ultimate Collection (Six Disc Box Set) / Starz Home Entertainment:

Halloween is as pure and undiluted as its title. In the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois, a teenage baby sitter tries to survive a Halloween night of relentless terror, during which a knife-wielding maniac goes after the town's hormonally charged youths. Director John Carpenter takes this simple situation and orchestrates a superbly mounted symphony of horrors. It's a movie much scarier for its dark spaces and ominous camera movements than for its explicit bloodletting (which is actually minimal). Composed by Carpenter himself, the movie's freaky music sets the tone; and his script (cowritten with Debra Hill) is laced with references to other horror pictures, especially Psycho. The baby sitter is played by Jamie Lee Curtis, the real-life daughter of Psycho victim Janet Leigh; and the obsessed policeman played by Donald Pleasence is named Sam Loomis, after John Gavin's character in Psycho. In the end, though, Halloween stands on its own as an uncannily frightening experience-it's one of those movies that had audiences literally jumping out of their seats and shouting at the screen. ("No! Don't drop that knife!") Produced on a low budget, the picture turned a monster profit, and spawned many sequels, none of which approached the 1978 original. Curtis returned for two more instalments: 1981's dismal Halloween II, which picked up the story the day after the unfortunate events, and 1998's occasionally gripping Halloween H20, which proved the former baby sitter was still haunted after 20 years. -Robert Horton.

Review Tartan Video / Silk [2006] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Bo-lin Chen
  • Chun-Ning Chang
  • Chao-Bin Su
  • Chen Chang
  • Barbie Hsu
  • Yosuke Eguchi
Release date: 2007-06-12
Run time: 108 min.
Creator: Ming Tu
Price: £8.99

Review Silk [2006] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Tartan Video:


Review Arrow Films / Oasis Of The Zombies
Actors & Directors
  • Jesus Franco
  • Eduardo Fajardo
  • Manuel Gélin
  • Lina Romay
  • Antonio Mayans
  • Javier Maiza
Release date: 2004-02-09
Run time: 82 min.
Creator: Ramón Llidó
RRP: £9.99
Price: £3.34

Review Oasis Of The Zombies / Arrow Films:


Browse Horror:

Models & Brands:
Misery [1991], Crocodile, The Cat O' Nine Tails [1971], Black Christmas [1974], Uzumaki [2000], Pulse 2: Afterlife [2008] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Angel - The Vampire Anthology - Cordelia [2000], Sherlock Holmes - The Master Blackmailer [1992], Werewolf: The Devil's Hound [2007] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Who Saw Her Die? [1972], The Student of Prague [1913] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Final Destination 1 And 2 [2000], The Exorcism of Emily Rose [2005] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Salvage/Mortuary [Blu-ray] [US Import], Tremors 3 - Back To Perfection [2001], The Return of the Living Dead [1985] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Auditions from Beyond [1999] (NTSC), Halloween: The Ultimate Collection (Six Disc Box Set), Silk [2006] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Oasis Of The Zombies

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