"Actor: Benjamin Hendrickson"

• Manhunter | DVD | (01/10/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Released to box-office indifference in 1986, Manhunter introduced Hannibal Lecter and established the rules of the modern race to find serial killer thriller five years before The Silence of the Lambs packed cinemas everywhere. This was Michael Mann's third feature, reuniting William L Petersen and Dennis Farina from his debut Thief (1981) as FBI agents hunting the killer dubbed "The Tooth Fairy". Petersen's Will Graham is the man who put Lecktor (as it is spelt here) behind bars, and as in Lambs consults with the Doctor, played with understated malevolence by Brian Cox. Manhunter is an exceptionally well-photographed film: Mann's regular cinematographer Dante Spinotti created sparse, elegantly framed, often mono-chromatically lit compositions which are essential to the shifting psychological moods. The performances are very good, and the typically 1980s, Vangelis-esque electronic score effectively sustains tension. Once the killer is introduced the scenes with Joan Allen have a genuinely unsettling, almost surreal quality. There is at least one serious plot flaw--how does "The Red Dragon" get his letter to Lecktor? Manhunter never packs the sheer excitement of Lambs, nevertheless, it is a powerful and compelling thriller which remains far superior to the third instalment in the series, Hannibal (2001). On the DVD: In addition to the trailer there is a revealing 10-minute conversation with Dante Spinotti in which he explains how he created the very distinctive look of Manhunter. Also included is a more general 17-minute retrospective "making-of" documentary. This is good but too short, the extras failing to live up to the wealth of material on the Lambs and Hannibal DVDs. The anamorphically enhanced 2.35:1 image is generally very good, being just a little soft in one or two early scenes. The sound is listed as Dolby Digital 5.1, but appears to replicate the main stereo signal in the rear channels. Audio is none the less powerful and clear, though lacks the sheer edge and atmospherics of some more recent thrillers. --Gary S Dalkin

• Consenting Adults | DVD | (11/01/2005) from £16.70   |  Saving you £-1.71 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Available for the first time on DVD! Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife... Kevin Kline plays Richard Parker a commercial jingles-composer who leads a quiet suburban life with his wife Priscilla (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio). The couple's lifestyle is rocked when they meet their new neighbors financial advisor Eddy (Kevin Spacey) and beautiful Kay (Rebecca Miller). They spend time together but Richard starts to suspect that all is not quite right when Eddy throws himself in

• Spanking The Monkey | DVD | (11/06/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Looking forward to a prestigious summer internship in Washington D.C. pre-med college student Raymond has his dreams put on hold when he's forced to stay at home caring for his invalid mother. Constantly harassed by his domineering traveling salesman father Raymond struggles to deal with his mother's bed-ridden anxieties and his first stumbling attempts to romance the naive girl next door. In the spirit of The Graduate Spanking the Monkey is an award-winning film about coming of age and becoming unraveled.