"Actor: Derrick Sanders"

• It's In The Water | DVD | (08/07/2002) from £10.78   |  Saving you £9.21 (85.44%)   |  RRP £19.99

  We're not talking about monsters of the deep here. It's In the Water is set in the imaginary town of Azalea Springs, Texas, where the community is blighted by wealth and smugness and where the greatest crime is not to fit in--and that includes being gay. When the outrageous and fearless Spencer (John Hallum, camping it up) playfully lets on that there's something in the water supply that encourages homosexuality, the temperature of local gossip rises as fast as the sales of bottled water. Kelli Herd, in her directorial debut, aims to cast scorn on such phobic behaviour by sending up the straight guys and idealising the gays. Thus we have our central character, Alex (Keri Jo Chapman), whose life consists of lunches and charitable works, and who is married to Robert, a cold Action Man lookalike (and about as plastic in his acting skills). It's enough of a scandal when she gets enthusiastic about working in the local AIDS hospice, but when she has a lesbian fling with an old school friend, Grace (Teresa Garrett), who has returned to town, freshly divorced after discovering her true leanings, then even Alex's own mother--a complete nightmare of a woman--turns against her. The movie does have occasional witticisms, but it's too cliché-ridden and too sanitised (dying of AIDS was never this pretty) to do more than raise an occasional grim smile. Yes, there's a serious message underlying the film, but it would have needed more plot, stronger dialogue and less histrionic play-acting to give it true power. On the DVD: It's In the Water has only the most basic additional features: two trailers for similarly themed movies, but no subtitles or additional languages. The picture quality is bright and sharp, sparing us no detail in the Versace-inspired interiors and relentlessly garish mode of dress favoured by Azalea Springs inmates. --Harriet Smith

• Wes Craven's Carnival of Souls | DVD | (31/12/2001) from £6.10   |  Saving you £-3.11 (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  Twenty years ago Alex Grant witnessed the brutal murder of her mother. Ever since she has been haunted by hallucinations and nightmares of the horrible crime and the killer Louis Seagram. Now her vividly surreal visions become terrifyingly and unmistakably real as Louis is back in her life and out for revenge. Dressed as the carnival clown Alex once knew him to be Louis slowly torments her by playing a diabolical game. It's a game of life or death; a game Louis intends to win!

• Wes Craven's New Nightmare / Carnival Of Souls | DVD | (03/05/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  New Nightmare Freddie's back in the sequel to 'A Nightmare On Elm Street' but this time staying awake won't save you!! Carnival Of Souls Every child's dream of a carnival coming to town comes true. But for Alex Grant the dream all too quickly becomes a nightmare.