"Actor: Deborah Grover"

• The Gate (Vestron) | Blu Ray | (26/02/2018) from £10.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  In 1987 The Gate was at the forefront of what came and went as a purely 80s genre: Kiddie Horror. Just like The Lost Boys or The Monster Squad of the same year, the idea was to let a couple of younger-than-teenage kids loose in a well-worn horror scenario and play it for as many laughs as scares. Its 15 certificate (PG-13 in the States) meant The Gate had an enormous opening weekend, and a considerable shelf life. The kids in question here are a very young Stephen (Blade) Dorff as Glen and his best friend Terry. After some tree felling in Glen's seemingly miles-square back yard they discover a hole full of precious rock. This is of course the Gate to a demonic dimension. As things start levitating, Glen's dog dies and moths get into the most awkward of places, it becomes obvious that the Gate is open! A teenage sister does little to help early on, but naturally the story develops into one about banding together under extreme circumstances. The make-up and stop-motion animation effects remain impressive in scope and there are a couple of frights still just on the right side of cliché. Since it was so successful, the writer and director went on to make an inferior sequel some years later. On the DVD: Viewers should note this is a very murky transfer that's in an unspecified widescreen ratio. There's also an unspectacular (equally unspecified) sound mix. But a gallery of 10 photos and the theatrical trailer makes up for that, right? --Paul Tonks

• Mary Higgins Clark - While My Pretty One Sleeps | DVD | (07/03/2005) from £6.73   |  Saving you £3.26 (32.60%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Prominent New York gossip columnist Ethel Lambston is about to rock the fashion industry with an expose revealing the dark secrets of top designers. But when she mysteriously disappears it is left to Neeve Kearny - the beautiful owner of an exclusive boutique - to continue her work.With Ethel's ex-husband her worthless nephew and a shadowy fashion mogul all in the frame Neeve is forced to cast aside her own problems - namely the impending release of her mother's own killer

• Agnes of God | DVD | (09/10/2003) from £15.57   |  Saving you £-9.58 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  This Broadway hit gets a solid film treatment by director Norman Jewison but that can't make up for the weaknesses of the script (which were as true onstage as they are here). Jane Fonda plays a chain-smoking shrink sent to a convent to do a psychological evaluation of a novice (Meg Tilly) who gave birth to a baby and then killed it in her little room. Was it a virgin birth? A miracle? And what of the bloody stigmata that seem to spontaneously appear on her hands? Fonda also finds herself clashing with the Mother Superior (Anne Bancroft) over the line between faith and science. But writer John Pielmeier can't flesh this out beyond an idea; in the end, the solution is a disappointingly earthbound one that even the strong acting in this film can't elevate. --Marshall Fine

• The Gate | DVD | (05/09/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  In 1987 The Gate was at the forefront of what came and went as a purely 80s genre: Kiddie Horror. Just like The Lost Boys or The Monster Squad of the same year, the idea was to let a couple of younger-than-teenage kids loose in a well-worn horror scenario and play it for as many laughs as scares. Its 15 certificate (PG-13 in the States) meant The Gate had an enormous opening weekend, and a considerable shelf life. The kids in question here are a very young Stephen (Blade) Dorff as Glen and his best friend Terry. After some tree felling in Glen's seemingly miles-square back yard they discover a hole full of precious rock. This is of course the Gate to a demonic dimension. As things start levitating, Glen's dog dies and moths get into the most awkward of places, it becomes obvious that the Gate is open! A teenage sister does little to help early on, but naturally the story develops into one about banding together under extreme circumstances. The make-up and stop-motion animation effects remain impressive in scope and there are a couple of frights still just on the right side of cliché. Since it was so successful, the writer and director went on to make an inferior sequel some years later. On the DVD: Viewers should note this is a very murky transfer that's in an unspecified widescreen ratio. There's also an unspectacular (equally unspecified) sound mix. But a gallery of 10 photos and the theatrical trailer makes up for that, right? --Paul Tonks

• Agnes Of God | DVD | (15/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  This Broadway hit gets a solid film treatment by director Norman Jewison but that can't make up for the weaknesses of the script (which were as true onstage as they are here). Jane Fonda plays a chain-smoking shrink sent to a convent to do a psychological evaluation of a novice (Meg Tilly) who gave birth to a baby and then killed it in her little room. Was it a virgin birth? A miracle? And what of the bloody stigmata that seem to spontaneously appear on her hands? Fonda also finds herself clashing with the Mother Superior (Anne Bancroft) over the line between faith and science. But writer John Pielmeier can't flesh this out beyond an idea; in the end, the solution is a disappointingly earthbound one that even the strong acting in this film can't elevate. --Marshall Fine

• Under The Piano | DVD | (02/06/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

• Rated X | DVD | (09/05/2003) from £5.98   |  Saving you £-2.99 (-100.00%)   |  RRP £2.99