"Actor: Blair"

• The Astronaut's Wife | DVD | (24/04/2000) from £5.38   |  Saving you £14.61 (271.56%)   |  RRP £19.99

  An intriguingly creepy premise but failed execution marks The Astronaut's Wife, a stylish and ultimately bland thriller about a pretty, young woman whose pretty, young astronaut husband comes back from his most recent space mission a little... odd. Before that fated space trip, Spencer (Johnny Depp) and Jillian (Charlize Theron) were a sunny, happy couple with matching blonde hairdos and a predilection for romping in the sack from extremely clever camera angles. However, after a communications blackout brings Spencer and his partner back down to earth prematurely, things are a little... peculiar. Spencer's partner goes bonkers and has a heart attack; on top of that, the partner's wife takes a fatal shower with a plugged-in radio. Getting out of the space biz, Spencer accepts a job as a corporate exec in New York, and as a welcome to the Big Apple for his comely wife, he molests her at the company cocktail party. Soon enough, Jillian is pregnant, but as you might expect, this pregnancy (twins, don't you know) is a little... unusual. Writer-director Rand Ravich takes his sweet time getting from extremely obvious plot point A to even more obvious plot point B, stretching out the development particulars in mind-numbing, suspense-killing fashion. Even Joe Morton, as a sinisterly psychotic NASA official, can't liven things up--you know you're in bad thriller territory when the biggest scare comes from a light suddenly being switched off. Theron, sporting a Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby style haircut, sleepwalks beautifully through the movie, but she did this role much, much better in The Devil's Advocate. Depp, with a cornpone Southern accent, is about as realistic as his peroxided hair. Ravich does the viewer no favours with a hackneyed ending straight out of a B-grade paperback horror novel in which the most shocking moment is Theron's sudden emergence as a brunette. With Blair Brown as a jaded socialite who offers to help out Theron by providing do-it-yourself abortion pills, and a lovely Donna Murphy as the suicidal wife who figures it all out before everyone else. -- Mark Englehart, Amazon.com

• Mom and Dad (Blu-ray) | Blu Ray | (16/07/2018) from £5.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  When a mass hysteria of unknown origin causes parents in a quiet suburban town to turn violently on their own children, Carly Ryan (Anne Winters) and brother Josh (Zackary Arthur) have to fight to survive a vicious onslaught from the very people who brought them into this world (Nicolas Cage and Selma Blair). From the director of Crank, and featuring one hell of a cast, including Nicolas Cage (Face Off, Con Air), Selma Blair (Hellboy, Cruel Intentions) and Lance Henriksen (The Terminator, Aliens), Mom and Dad is one of the great jet-black comedies about suburbia (Variety) that sees Cage play one of the most viciously berserk characters of his career!

• Babylon 5: Season 3 | DVD | (10/11/2003) from £10.49   |  Saving you £44.50 (424.21%)   |  RRP £54.99

  Matters of Honour" launches the third series of Babylon 5 with the introduction of the White Star, a spacecraft added to enable more of the action to take place away from the static space station. Also introduced is Marcus Cole (Jason Carter) who, in another nod to The Lord of the Rings, is a Ranger not so far removed from JRR Tolkien's Strider. In "Voices of Authority" the show finds an epic scale as Ivanova seeks the mysterious "First Ones" for allies against the Shadows, and evidence is discovered pointing to the truth behind President Santiago's assassination. A third of the way through the series "Messages from Earth", "Point of No Return" and "Severed Dreams" prove pivotal, changing the nature of the story in a way previously unimaginable on network TV. Earth slides into dictatorship, the fascistic Nightwatch takes control of off-world security and Sheridan takes decisive action by declaring Babylon 5 independent. "Interludes and Examinations" presents the death of a major supporting character, while the two-part "War Without End" reaches apocalyptic dimensions in a complex tale resolving the destiny of Sinclair and the fate of Babylon 4 (dovetailing elegantly with the events of Year One's "Babylon Squared"), resolving a 1,000-year-old paradox and presenting a vision of a very dark future for Sheridan and Delenn. All this is trumped by the monumental "Z'ha'dum". In the preceding "Shadow Dancing", Anna Sheridan (Melissa Gilbert, Bruce Boxleitner's real-life wife) returns from the dead, no longer entirely human. In the mythologically resonant climax Anna invites Sheridan back to the Shadow homeworld with no hope of survival. Just as Gandalf fell into the abyss at Khazad-Dum, so Sheridan takes a comparable leap into the unknown on an alien world. On the DVD: Babylon 5, Series 3 presents all 22 episodes anamorphically enhanced at 16:9 for widescreen TVs. While not up to blockbuster movie standards these are the finest looking B5 discs yet. Likewise the remixed Dolby Digital 5.1 sound packs a considerable punch in the many action scenes while remaining clear and atmospheric throughout. Reasonable though unremarkable extras are in line with previous box sets, with detailed and informative commentaries by series creator J Michael Straczynski on episodes "Z'Ha'Dum", and the Hugo Award-winning "Severed Dreams". Actors Bruce Boxleitner, Jerry Doyle, Richard Biggs and Ed Wasser offer a more jokey and backslapping appraisal of "Interludes and Examinations". Introduction to Point of Return is essentially a six-minute trailer for the season, while Behind the Mask: Creating the Aliens of B5 offers make-up artist John Vulich, JMS, and producer John Copland reflecting on the creation of various races. Complementing this is a seven-minute look at Building a Better Narn. Designing Tomorrow: The Look of Babylon 5 focuses on the work of production designer John Iacovelli. Finally The Universe of Babylon 5 presents five short character profiles. The set offers an alternative French soundtrack and subtitles in English, English for the hard-of-hearing, French and Dutch. --Gary S Dalkin

• Exorcist, The / The Exorcist 2 - The Heretic / The Exorcist 3 | DVD | (21/10/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £30.99

  The Exorcist The belief in evil - and that evil can be cast out. From these two strands of faith author William Peter Blatty and director William Friedkin wove The Exorcist the frightening and realistic story of an innocent girl inhabited by a malevolent entity. The Exorcist II: The Heretic Pasuzu the incarnation of evil cast out of little Regan by Father Merrin returns to torment her once again... The Exorcist III A serial killer haunts the streets of

• Cherry Falls | DVD | (19/02/2001) from £10.93   |  Saving you £9.06 (82.89%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In the small town of Cherry Falls a depraved killer is murdering high school students, but unlike most ‘stalk & slash’ killers this one is targeting virgins!

• Clive Barker's Book Of Blood | DVD | (26/10/2009) from £5.60   |  Saving you £10.39 (185.54%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A paranormal expert discovers a house that is at the intersection of so-called highways transporting souls in the afterlife.

• Hellboy Animated - Blood and Iron | DVD | (25/06/2007) from £5.69   |  Saving you £9.30 (62.00%)   |  RRP £14.99

  The original team are back! Produced by Guillermo Del Toro (Director of Hellboy Blade 2 Pan's Labyrinth) and the creator of the Hellboy comic Mike Mignola In 1939 young Professor Broom (John Hurt - Alien V For Vendetta) destroyed Erzsebet Ondrushko a female vampire that bathed in the blood of innocents to stay young. Now someone in upstate New York is trying to bring her back and the elderly Professor Broom has decided to investigate it himself. He takes the top BPRD agents Hellboy Liz Sherman Abe Sapien (Doug Jones - Pan's Labyrinth) and a new agent Sideny Leach who are more worried about his welfare than the return of any vampire.Their tune changes when they face a horde of ghosts a phantom wolf pack witches harpies a giant werewolf and Erzsebet herself. Hellboy ends up battling the Queen of Witches the goddess Hecate who wants him to embrace his true destiny a destiny that includes the destruction of mankind.

• The Event | DVD | (03/10/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £49.99

  What if there was a cover-up so big that even the President was on a need-to-know basis? And what if some average guy stumbled upon the truth-a secret so powerful it could literally change the course of humanity? You think that guy would stand a chance of survival? From Nick Wauters (Eureka) and Steve Stark (Medium) comes a suspense-filled journey where the answers only lead to bigger questions. What will you Believe?

• V - The Mini Series | DVD | (08/04/2002) from £13.90   |  Saving you £7.09 (51.01%)   |  RRP £20.99

  Nowadays, the word "event" is thrown around all too often when describing television programmes, but back in 1983 the debut of V: The Mini Series was a television event in the truest sense. The appearance of gigantic flying saucers over the world's largest cities heralds the arrival of aliens from a distant galaxy who look human and act benevolently. Of course, things aren't exactly what they seem, and when some suspicious humans start to question the visitors' intentions they uncover a vast alien conspiracy, along with some unusual culinary habits. Soon, the visitors have enslaved the Earth under their fascist rule, and small groups of human rebels are forced underground to fight for the freedom of their entire species. But with the future of the planet still in question the epic story comes to an abrupt end, forcing the viewer to wait for the resolution in V: The Final Battle and the on-going series. That's not to say that the original V isn't worth the price of admission: in over three hours, it manages to capture the spirit of the great classic science fiction of the 1950s and 60s. The feeling of paranoia and insecurity that runs throughout the whole thing makes it feel, at times, like an expanded episode of The Twilight Zone, only shinier (hey, it was the 1980s). The special effects were impressive for their day, inspiring similarly themed films in the 90s (the gigantic flying saucers were seen again in Independence Day, and the storage area of the mothership turns up in The X Files Movie and The Matrix). What does irritate, however, is the utter lack of subtlety in the allegorical storyline. In fact, it could only have been made more obvious by demanding that the entire cast wear "This is how it was in 1930s' Germany" t-shirts. But if V occasionally doesn't live up to its own high standards, it's still a remarkably high-quality slice of epic television drama. On the DVD: The picture is an impressive widescreen 1.85:1 ratio and the soundtrack is adequate Dolby stereo. The DVD boasts a feature-length commentary by writer and director Kenneth Johnson, as well as a 25-minute "Behind the Scenes" documentary. --Robert Burrow

• The Exorcist Complete Anthology | Blu Ray | (26/10/2015) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  All five films from the horror franchise. In 'Exorcist' (1973) actress Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) has every reason to be content, having just completed a film with director Burke Dennings (Jack MacGowran). However, she becomes disturbed by the changes taking place in her 12-year-old daughter, Regan (Linda Blair). At first sullen and withdrawn, Regan becomes aggressive and blasphemous, and ugly welts appear on her face and body. No medical cure is forthcoming, and after Burke is killed by being thrown from Regan's window, Chris turns to local Jesuit priest Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller) for help. Karras then calls in exorcist Father Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow), who confirms that Regan is possessed by the devil. In 'Exorcist 2 - The Heretic' (1977) Regan is now a relatively normal, happy teenager, living under the care of a psychiatrist (Louise Fletcher) and her mother's ex-secretary (Kitty Winn). When the demons return to haunt Regan, priest Father Lamont (Richard Burton), himself suffering a crisis of faith, is sent to investigate. In 'The Exorcist 3' (1990) 15 years have passed since Father Damien Karras died exorcising Regan MacNeil. Now his best friend Lt. Kinderman (George C. Scott) is troubled by a series of mysterious murders which are strangely reminiscent of those committed by the Gemini killer - who was executed on the night Karras died. Does the killer's spirit live on, and if so in whom? Kinderman's investigation leads him to an amnesiac in a mental hospital who has recently awoken from a 15-year coma, can describe the Gemini killings in detail, and bears an uncanny resemblance to Damien Karras... In 'Exorcist: The Beginning' (2004), set in Africa in 1949, Father Merrin (Stellan Skarsgård), his faith shattered by World War II, journeys to Kenya to join an archaeological dig that has uncovered a Byzantine church mysteriously untouched by the ravages of time. But an even greater mystery awaits: an ancient and horrific evil is now awakened and a soul-shattering death spree begins. Can Merrin summon the faith and courage to defeat humanity's oldest and most powerful foe? In 'Dominion - Prequel to the Exorcist' (2005), during an excavation in Africa, Father Merrin (Skarsgård)'s team finds a hidden church that contains an ancient evil, and a local boy begins to exhibit signs of demonic possession...

• City of Fear (Standard Edition) | Blu Ray | (26/06/2023) from £9.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Vince Edwards (Murder by Contract) and John Archer (Decision at Sundown) face off in the explosive City of Fear, a violent and shocking film noir classic.When drug dealer Vince busts out of San Quentin, he takes a canister he believes to contain heroin... but it actually contains a payload of deadly radioactive Cobalt, enough to vaporise most of Los Angeles, if the police can't track him down.Directed by Irving Lerner (Murder by Contract), and shot by the great Lucien Ballard (Buchanan Rides Alone), City of Fear is a tense film noir which, as with Robert Aldrich's Kiss Me Deadly, taps into the anxieties of the nuclear age.Product FeaturesHigh Definition remasterOriginal mono audioAudio commentary with film critic and writer Adrian Martin (2021)Pulp Paranoia (2010, 7 mins): filmmaker Christopher Nolan discusses the influence of film noirThe Autobiography of a Jeep (1943, 10 mins): light-hearted documentary produced and directed by Irving Lerner about the then-new, all-purpose vehicleThe Autobiography of a Jeep audio commentary with film historian Jeremy Arnold (2021)Hymn of the Nations (1944, 29 mins): documentary produced and edited by Lerner, and directed by Alexander Hammid, featuring famed conductor Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra performing the music of Giuseppe Verdi, presented in its complete, uncut versionThe Cummington Story (1945, 20 mins): documentary short, written and directed by Helen Grayson and Larry Madison, produced by Lerner, and featuring the music of Aaron Copland, re-enacting the stories of a group of refugees who relocated to a small American town during World War IIOil's Well That Ends Well (1958, 17 mins): the Three Stooges are convinced they can make money from uraniumOriginal theatrical trailerImage gallery: promotional and publicity materialsNew and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• Babylon 5: Season 4 | DVD | (19/04/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £54.99

  The fourth series of Babylon 5 begins on a high point with Centauri Prime in the grip of the insane Emperor Cartagia (Wortham Krimmer) and a run of six shows leading to the climax of the war against the Shadows in "Into the Fire". If this colossal narrative is resolved a little too easily and the ultimate aim of the Shadows turns out to be a tad disappointing, it's still one of the most powerful slices of space opera ever to grace the small screen. In the aftermath the sheer scale drops back a little but the pace never slows as the rest of the year plays out in one relentless cycle of conspiracy, betrayal and conflict, Babylon 5 siding with the rebel Mars colony against the totalitarian Earth regime. Meanwhile, Delenn finds herself increasingly in conflict with her own people and, paralleling her relationship with Sheridan, Garibaldi becomes involved with his ex-fiancée Lise Hampton (Denise Gentile); in addition, an intense platonic love grows between Ivanova and Marcus Cole. On an unstoppable wave fuelled by roller-coaster plot twists and spectacular action shows from "No Surrender, No Retreat"--when Sheridan avows to overthrow EarthGov--to "Rising Star"--when the aim is realised--this series of Babylon 5 achieved a consistent excellence rare in television. Yet within that run "Intersections in Real Time" stands out as a bold experiment; essentially a two-hand drama taking place entirely within one dimly lit room. Then in "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars", a descendant of humanity one million years hence reviews excerpts from the history of Babylon 5. In one sequence set in 2762 a Brother is devoted to the preservation of history some time after the "Big Burn". In a homage to Walter M Miller's SF classic A Canticle for Leibowitz, Sheridan and Delenn have themselves become the stuff of legend. --Gary S DalkinOn the DVD: All 22 episodes of Season 4 of Babylon 5 are presented on six DVDs. Anamorphically enhanced for widescreen TV, the picture is significantly stronger than on the original TV broadcasts, if not up to blockbuster movie standards. The remixed Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is punchy and richly impressive, if again not quite state-of-the-art. As with previous seasons the main extras are three commentaries. The first, by actors Bruce Boxleitner, Jerry Doyle, Peter Jurasik and Patricia Tallman, finds these leading cast members having a great time joshing around on Falling Towards Apotheosis and failing to say anything very interesting. Series creator and writer J Michael Straczynski and director Michael Vejar discuss The Face of the Enemy, the conversation tending towards a technical scene-by-scene analysis, while by far the most interesting commentary is J Michael Straczynski alone on The Deconstruction of Falling Stars. JMS covers many aspects of the show, going into depth explaining both his ideas behind the series and the practicalities of realising his vision. Celestial Sounds is an interesting but too-short five-minute look at the scoring process with composer Christopher Franke, complemented by a powerful six-minute musical suite. The package also includes a six-minute introduction, a three-minute gag reel and video data files of characters, organisations and places. An Easter egg offers a comparison between untextured and completed CGI models of Babylon 5 itself. There is an optional French soundtrack, plus English, English for Hearing Impaired, French and Netherlands subtitles. --Gary S Dalkin

• Hellboy | DVD | (04/04/2011) from £5.74   |  Saving you £3.24 (117.82%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Give evil hell! In the final days of World War II the Nazis attempt to use black magic to aid their dying cause. The Allies raid the camp where an occult ceremony is taking place but not before a demon Hellboy has already been conjured. Joining the Allied forces Hellboy eventually grows to adulthood under the supervision of his adopted 'father' Trevor Bruttenholm serving the cause of good rather than evil. When the powerful and evil Nazi figure who unleashed Hellboy suddenly reappears in modern times he discovers that Hellboy is now working as a paranormal investigator at a secret U.S. government agency dedicated to protecting humanity from the forces of darkness. Now Hellboy must fight to solve the riddle of his own existence and prevent the destruction of mankind... Dark Horse Comics' popular cult superhero Hellboy makes the leap from the comic book pages to the big screen with Ron Perlman the only actor considered charismatic enough to convey the blood-red demon anti-hero cutting a cigar-chomping dash in the title role as Hellboy assisted by prosthetics from 6-time Oscar winning makeup artist Rick Baker.

• An Angel At My Table | DVD | (18/11/2002) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-0.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Originally produced as a three-part miniseries for New Zealand television, this extraordinary film is based on the life of Janet Frame, an introverted, sensitive girl who was later misdiagnosed as schizophrenic and spent eight years in a psychiatric hospital. She would later become one of New Zealand's most celebrated poets and novelists, publishing her first books while she was still confined to a mental ward. She had endured over 200 electroshock treatments and had almost been lobotomized by careless physicians who took no time to understand that she was merely awkward and shy and suffered from little more than routine depression. From a solid screenplayby Laura Jones, director Jane Campion (The Piano) tells this story without soapy melodrama but rather as anexploration of a challenged creative spirit--a journey into a writer's mind, exploring the power of imagination as a mechanism of survival and self-defense. Three talented actors play Janet Frame at different ages throughout the film, with Kerry Fox giving a powerful performance as the young-adult Janet, whose own skill and creative tenacity would prove to be her salvation. Frightening, harrowing and ultimately a source of humanistic enlightenment, An Angel at My Table (titled after Frame's autobiography) is a film you won't soon forget.--Jeff Shannon

• Witchcraft | DVD | (16/09/2002) from £13.74   |  Saving you £-6.49 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  The deserted island hotel hides a dark and sinister secret. Hundreds of years ago a witch held sway there dominating her coven and spreading an evil that has seeped deep into earth. Two centuries later a photographer and his virginal fiance sneak onto the island to research its gruesome history. Soon all will find themselves falling victim to a horror that has survived the ages....

• Marty | Blu Ray | (30/04/2018) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A beloved classic of American cinema, Delbert Mann's Marty was the first ever recipient of the Palme d'Or at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival, as well as the winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture, one of only two films to ever win both organisations' grand prizes (the second being Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend). I've been looking for a girl every Saturday night of my life, says Marty Piletti (Ernest Borgnine, The Vikings, Violent Saturday). Yet, despite all his efforts, this 34-year old Bronx butcher remains as shy and uncomfortable around women today as on the day he was born. So when he meets Clara (Betsy Blair, Il Grido), a lonely schoolteacher who's just as smitten with him as he is with her, Marty's on top of the world. But not everyone around him shares his joy. And when his friends and family continually find fault with Clara, even Marty begins to question his newfound love until he discovers, in an extraordinary way, the strength and courage to follow his heart. Adapted from an earlier teleplay written by renowned screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky (Network), Eureka Classics is proud to present Marty in a special Dual Format edition, that includes the film on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK. The Special Features include the aforementioned teleplay broadcast on NBC in 1953, also directed by Delbert Mann and starring Rod Steiger in the title role.

• After We Collided | DVD | (24/11/2020) from £22.24   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• The Exorcist - Director's Cut | DVD | (08/10/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Director William Friedkin was a hot ticket in Hollywood after the success of The French Connection, and he turned heads (in more ways than one) when he decided to make The Exorcist as his follow-up film. Adapted by William Peter Blatty from his controversial best-seller, this shocking 1973 thriller set an intense and often-copied milestone for screen terror with its unflinching depiction of a young girl (Linda Blair) who is possessed by an evil spirit. Jason Miller and Max von Sydow are perfectly cast as the priests who risk their sanity and their lives to administer the rites of demonic exorcism, and Ellen Burstyn plays Blair's mother, who can only stand by in horror as her daughter's body is wracked by satanic disfiguration. One of the most frightening films ever made, The Exorcist was mysteriously plagued by troubles during production, and the years have not diminished its capacity to disturb even the most stoical viewers. --Jeff Shannon

• Night Of The Eagle | DVD | (30/04/2007) from £10.59   |  Saving you £-0.60 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Do the undead demons of hell still arise to terrorize the world? Norman Taylor is hated by other university lecturers when rumours of a major promotion circulate. He is hated so much that someone pervades his life with sinister occult spells.....

• Exorcist 2 - The Heretic | DVD | (20/10/2003) from £19.58   |  Saving you £-5.59 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  When it was released in 1977 The Exorcist II: The Heretic was virtually laughed off the screen. A much-anticipated sequel to the Oscar-winning original, it turned out to be an unintentionally hilarious mishmash and received such terrible reviews that director John Boorman yanked it out of cinemas. He reedited it, cutting eight minutes in hopes of getting the story (written by William Goodhart) to the point of coherency--but to no avail. The film remains a kind of reverse gold standard for sequels. It's still a ridiculously overacted, although at times visually haunting, movie. Richard Burton stars as a troubled priest (something of a speciality of his) who is brought in to follow up on the case of Linda Blair, who is institutionalised, still troubled by her encounter with the devil (who wouldn't be?). By the time they confront Satan's minion in the final struggle, you'll be rooting for evil to win. --Marshall Fine