"Actor: Ed Ferrara"

• Morbius | DVD | (27/06/2022) from £3.00   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  One of the most compelling and conflicted characters in Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters comes to the big screen as Oscar® winner Jared Leto transforms into the enigmatic antihero Michael Morbius. Dangerously ill with a rare blood disorder and determined to save others suffering his same fate, Dr. Morbius attempts a desperate gamble. While at first it seems to be a radical success, a darkness inside him is unleashed. Will good override evil or will Morbius succumb to his mysterious new urges?

• Tosca - Puccini | DVD | (09/05/2005) from £16.05   |  Saving you £0.94 (5.86%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Opera is an inherently theatrical medium that does not lend itself readily to the realism of film treatment. The shining exception is Puccini's Tosca, an action-packed melodrama that unfolds in three taut and gripping acts, like the meatiest of Hollywood films noir. And unlike most operas, these three acts are set in three very specific Roman locales. Thus this 1976 film takes place in the church of Sant'Andrea della Valle (Act 1), the Palazzo Farnese (Act 2) and the Castel Sant'Angelo (Act 3). The evocative settings, however, would be mere window-dressing if the cast wasn't just right; fortunately here Placido Domingo is at his virile peak in the heroic tenor role of Cavaradossi; Raina Kabaivanska is a sultry, vocally beautiful Tosca; while a more infamous and domineering Scarpia than that of Sherrill Milnes can hardly be imagined. Bruno Bartoletti and the New Philharmonia Orchestra give lustily dramatic support. Here the music and vocals are pre-recorded and the singers mime to the playback. Occasionally the result is a little unnatural, but overall the cast are good enough actors to bring off the conceit even in the close-ups. It all pays off triumphantly with the gripping realism of the rooftop finale, the one place where film can improve on stage. With the authenticity of the settings assured and such distinguished leads singing so well, this is an almost ideal filmed Tosca. On the DVD: Tosca on disc is presented in 4:3 ratio with a choice of Dolby 5.1 or LPCM Stereo. The picture is adequate but a little flat (possibly because the format is NTSC not PAL) and the same can be said for the sound, which does what it should but is never revelatory. Subtitles are provided in the main European languages and Chinese. --Mark Walker

• Brooklyn Rules | DVD | (11/08/2008) from £5.38   |  Saving you £10.61 (197.21%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Brooklyn, 1985. With the mob world as a backdrop, three life-long friends struggle with questions of love, loss and loyalty.

• Box Of The Banned | DVD | (26/09/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Video Nasties.... For the first time ever 'together' six of the most shocking depraved and corrupt movies which were banned under the Obscene Publication Act 1983/4 - Along with a feature length documentary 'Ban The Sadist Videos' which was a headline for the Daily Mail at the height of the frenzy. Zombie Flesh Eaters (1979): There is something sinister about the sailing-boat drifting slowly in Hudson Bay upon boarding the coast-guard police are confronted with a terrifying sight appearing out of the hatchway - a man covered in blood walks towards them menacingly only after being shot repeatedly does he fall overboard and disappear amid the waves. This news causes a panic in America as the sailing-boat belonged to a famous scientist who mysteriously disappeared in the Caribbean. Ann the scientist's daughter together with a famous journalist Peter West set out to look for him setting sail on a schooner belonging to Brian an American Ethnologist and Susan an underwater photographer they head for the Caribbean. Meanwhile on Mutal Island in the Antilles professor Menard is conducting strange experiments. What follows in the Caribbean and later in New York is truly terrifying - Zombie Flesh Eaters are here! (Dir. Lucio Fulci) I Spit On Your Grave (1978): Jenny (Camille Keaton) a New Yorker who goes to a secluded country retreat to finish work on her novel is one day assaulted raped and left for dead by four men. But she survives to take revenge. She seduces each of her rapists separately and personally performs their painful executions... (Dir. Meir Zarchi) Driller Killer (1979): Reno is struggling artist close to breaking point. The loud punk band in the flat next door practices for 24 hours a day. His debts are mounting. He needs to sell his new painting to pay the overdue rent on the shabby New York apartment he shares with his girlfriend and her spaced-out lesbian lover. Despite the desperate need for cash Reno will not admit that he has completed the painting. It becomes an obsession. In his troubled mind the picture triggers a violence he cannot contain... (Dir. Abel Ferrara) The Last House On The Left (1972): The terrifying story of two teenage girls Mari and Phyllis heading up to the city to celebrate Mari's 17th birthday at concert by the band Bloodlust. Prior to the show the pair are drugged beaten and kidnapped by a group of escaped convicts and taken into the woods where their horrific ordeal ends in rape and murder. When the criminals coincidentally but unknowingly take refuge at the nearby house of one of their victims the girl's parents discover the gruesome fate of their daughter and seek to exact their revenge... (Dir. Wes Craven) Nightmares In A Damaged Brain (1981): Escaped mental patient George (Baird Stafford) repeatedly suffers a graphic nightmare that depicts the axe murders of a couple making love. In Florida a prowler stalks a babysitter - when she is attacked the youngest child she is looking after just sits and laughs... George begins a journey of brutal murder death and destruction until the final moment of truth when his nightmares come to frightening life! (Dir. Romano Scavolini) The Evil Dead (1982): In the literary tradition of Stephen King and the cinematic mode of George Romero (Night of the Living Dead) The Evil Dead is a visual and aural attack on the senses which requires a strong stomach and a healthy sense of humour! Whilst holidaying in the Tennessee woodlands five innocent teenagers unwittingly unleash the spirit of the evil dead. One by one the teenagers fall victim to the frenzied flesh-eating monsters amidst a tour-de-force display of stunning special effects. (Dir. Sam Raimi)

• Puccini: Tosca -- 1976 film version | DVD | (15/10/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Opera is an inherently theatrical medium that does not lend itself readily to the realism of film treatment. The shining exception is Puccini's Tosca, an action-packed melodrama that unfolds in three taut and gripping acts, like the meatiest of Hollywood films noir. And unlike most operas, these three acts are set in three very specific Roman locales. Thus this 1976 film takes place in the church of Sant'Andrea della Valle (Act 1), the Palazzo Farnese (Act 2) and the Castel Sant'Angelo (Act 3). The evocative settings, however, would be mere window-dressing if the cast wasn't just right; fortunately here Placido Domingo is at his virile peak in the heroic tenor role of Cavaradossi; Raina Kabaivanska is a sultry, vocally beautiful Tosca; while a more infamous and domineering Scarpia than that of Sherrill Milnes can hardly be imagined. Bruno Bartoletti and the New Philharmonia Orchestra give lustily dramatic support. Here the music and vocals are pre-recorded and the singers mime to the playback. Occasionally the result is a little unnatural, but overall the cast are good enough actors to bring off the conceit even in the close-ups. It all pays off triumphantly with the gripping realism of the rooftop finale, the one place where film can improve on stage. With the authenticity of the settings assured and such distinguished leads singing so well, this is an almost ideal filmed Tosca. On the DVD: Tosca on disc is presented in 4:3 ratio with a choice of Dolby 5.1 or LPCM Stereo. The picture is adequate but a little flat (possibly because the format is NTSC not PAL) and the same can be said for the sound, which does what it should but is never revelatory. Subtitles are provided in the main European languages and Chinese. --Mark Walker

• Ultimate Insiders - Inside The WWF | DVD | (28/01/2008) from £6.98   |  Saving you £1.01 (14.47%)   |  RRP £7.99

  Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara take you inside the world of pro-wrestling like never before!