"Actor: Ian Alexander"

• The Ring | DVD | (03/07/2006) from £4.99   |  Saving you £15.00 (300.60%)   |  RRP £19.99

  An unexpected marriage of big-budget production values and low-budget instincts, The Ring offers chills to be savoured. Usually when Hollywood indulges its cash-hungry game of remaking foreign films the result sacrifices much of what made the original so special. Clearly, the supremely eerie supernatural vibe that permeated the legendary 1998 Japanese horror film must have done something to those Hollywood suits, because Gore Verbinski's remake is actually rather good. Certainly, it's not superior to the original, but it's undoubtedly a cut above most modern horror efforts, expertly wringing every drop of suspense. The impressive Naomi Watts (Mullholland Drive) plays a journalist investigating an urban myth of a videotape that kills the viewer a week after watching it. Succumbing to curiosity, she watches it herself--big mistake--and has a week to solve the mystery or fall victim to its sinister power. While transferring the action from Japan to modern-day Seattle may weaken the impact of the plot's mythological elements, and the film may be guilty of pointless padding (belying the original's lean format), Verbinski's effort is no less squirm-inducing, bolstered with a tremendous shocker of an ending. Exquisitely utilising the strong visual sense displayed in The Mexican, Verbinski creates a thick atmosphere of dread and suspense that never lets up, thankfully favouring old-fashioned scares, rather than retreating to blunt CG spectacle. In Watts, the film has a horror heroine who far exceeds the average wide-eyed scream queen, perfectly conveying the endless stream of bone-chilling moments. --Danny Graydon

• The Burning Dual-Format Blu-ray & DVD SteelBook | Blu Ray | (10/10/2016) from £26.98   |  Saving you £-1.99 (-8.00%)   |  RRP £24.99

  GATHER AROUND THE CAMPFIRE TO DIE! Of all the many slice-and-dice films that emerged in the early '80s, few remain as gruesomely effective as The Burning the notorious video nasty now finally unleashed on Blu-ray! When an ill-advised prank misfires, summer camp caretaker Cropsy is committed to hospital with severe burns. Released after five years, hospital officials warn him not to blame the young campers who caused his hideous disfigurement. But no sooner is Cropsy back on the streets than he's headed back to camp with a rusty pair of shears in hand, determined to exact his bloody revenge With standout gore effects courtesy of FX legend Tom Savini, The Burning proved too shocking for UK censors upon its original video release. Now, fully uncut and in High Definition, The Burning is ready to reclaim its place as the ultimate summer camp nightmare. LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS Limited Edition SteelBook packaging (4000 copies) High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations Original mono audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray) Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing Audio commentary with director Tony Maylam and critic Alan Jones Audio commentary with stars Shelley Bruce and Bonnie Deroski Brand new audio commentary with The Hysteria Continues Blood ˜n' Fire Memories a detailed look at the creation of the film's make-up effects with special effects artist Tom Savini Slash & Cut an interview with editor Jack Sholder Cropsy Speaks an interview with actor Lou David Summer Camp Nightmare an interview with actress Leah Ayres Brand new interview with composer Rick Wakeman Behind-the-Scenes Footage Theatrical Trailer Make-Up Effects Still Gallery Poster & Still Gallery

• The Phantom Of The Opera | DVD | (22/07/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The original version of Gaston Leroux's legendary book 'The Phantom Of The Opera' is an awesome monument to the Golden Age of Hollywood starring ""The Man of a Thousand Faces"" Lon Chaney. In the film Chaney is Erik the horribly disfigured Phantom who leads a menacing existence in the catacombs and dungeons beneath the Paris Opera. When Erik falls in love with a beautiful prima donna (Mary Philbin) he kidnaps her and holds her hostage in his lair where he is destined to have a

• Cats & Dogs | DVD | (04/10/2010) from £3.79   |  Saving you £9.20 (70.80%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Things Are Gonna Get Hairy! They're cunning. They're stealthy. They're waging a top-secret ultra-high-tech struggle for global domination right under our noses. They're Cats & Dogs! Witness this epic tail of what happens when an eccentric professor (Jeff Goldblum) makes a discovery that could tip the age-old balance of pet power. Now an inexperienced young beagle pup named Lou (voiced by Tobey Maguire) is about to begin the ultimate mission im-paws-ible: to save humanity from a total cat-tastrophe!

• Sophie Scholl - The Final Days | Blu Ray | (27/10/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Echoing Downfall's contemplation of the darkest period in Germany's history, Sophie Scholl is a heartbreaking drama based on real life events and the activities of the White Rose resistance group.Munich, 1943. A group of students, including siblings Hans and Sophie Scholl, instigate passive resistance in an attempt to overthrow the Nazi regime. Sophie and Hans are arrested for disturbing leaflets and an intense psychological duel ensues in the interrogation room between Sophie and Gestapo officer Mohr; she lies and denies, then schemes and challenges. Ultimately crushing evidence is presented and though forced to confess Scholl fights to save the lives of her brother and friends.

• Verdi - Don Carlo (Muti, Pavarotti, Ramey) | DVD | (03/05/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  This 1992 live recording of DON CARLO at La Scala Milano is directed by Franco Zeffirelli and features a highly prestigious cast. Luciano Pavarotti Samuel Ramey and Paolo Coni all figure largely throughout making this one of the greatest renditions of Verdi's works available.

• The Kennedys: After Camelot (Decline and Fall) | DVD | (12/06/2017) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £8.38

  The Kennedys: After Camelot is an engrossing look at those who carried the Kennedy name - and the expectations of history - following the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy. Katie Holmes stars as Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. Still reeling from the death of her husband, John F. Jack Kennedy, the nation's 35th president and all but crushed by the assassination of her beloved brother-in-law Robert F. Bobby Kennedy, her marriage to Greek billionaire Aristotle Onassis provides safety and security for her and her children. It also outrages the American people. But hers is the story of survival, and she returns to the Kennedys to become the rock of the family. Matthew Perry portrays Senator Edward M. Ted Kennedy. Challenged to pick up the mantle of his fallen brothers, he spirals downward into the abyss of alcoholism and infi delity. His relationship with Jackie, stormy and emotionally charged, becomes the salvation of his life and, in many ways, the validation of hers.

• The Accidental Spy | DVD | (02/02/2004) from £6.76   |  Saving you £8.23 (121.75%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Jackie Chan is Bei a less-than-successful exercise equipment salesman who yearns for excitement in his life. One day Bei follows his instincts and trails two suspicious men into action and foils their plans. The resulting publicity from Bei's heroism brings him to the attention of a private investigator who informs him that he is actually the long-lost son of a wealthy businessman!

• The Other Sister | DVD | (12/02/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Filming a love story centred on two mentally challenged people is a touching idea, one that's been attempted in, for example, Benny and Joon. The Other Sister is another addition to the genre, a well-acted comedy-drama centring on the romance of Carla (Juliette Lewis) and Daniel (Giovani Ribisi) and throwing in some general family angst as a secondary story line. The acting is tremendous--Lewis and Ribisi both give convincing performances without condescending to their characters. Diane Keaton plays yet another charming scatterbrain, this time as Elizabeth Tate, the uptight, rich mother who wants a picture-perfect life. But good acting isn't enough here. These fine actors drown in a sea of mediocre writing, and we are left with a film with no real conflict or tension. Will Carla and Daniel make it work? Well, of course. Will mother Elizabeth loosen up about her "gay workaholic" daughter and let Carla live her own life? Do you really need to ask? There are a few cringe-worthy moments that have a sense of truthfulness, such as when Daniel stands up at Carla's sister's wedding to announce his feelings. But otherwise, these characters live in a pampered, fairy-tale world where the worst thing that happens to them is that the meanies at school put chewing gum in Daniel's bike helmet. Ultimately, this is a sweet, albeit occasionally saccharine, tale that will move those who are looking for cheerful fare. --Jenny Brown

• Leonard Bernstein conducts West Side Story -- The Making of the Recording | DVD | (04/02/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Filmed in 1984 for the BBC, the feature-length documentary Leonard Bernstein conducts West Side Story follows the composer through one week as he records the first-ever complete album of his musical theatre masterpiece. (The previous Broadway cast and original soundtrack albums had both been cut down to single LP length.) Virtually the entire documentary takes place in a New York recording studio with a pick-up orchestra, session singers and headliners Kiri Te Kanawa (Maria), José Carreras (Tony), Tatiana Troyanos (Anita) and Kurt Ollmann (Riff). The 89-minute programme alternates rehearsal footage with complete final takes of the main numbers--including "Tonight", "America", and "Maria"--with a limited amount of comment from the principal players. Te Kanawa explains how much the music means to her, Troyanos notes how she grew-up in the very streets depicted on stage and Carreras provides a rare moment of tension when a session ends unsatisfactorily. Bernstein himself is by turns commanding, charming, enthusiastic or weary. For anyone wanting an extensive insight into what happens as a major album is recorded this is fascinating, though others who just want to enjoy the wonderful music will be better served by the resultant two-CD set. On the DVD: Though filmed for British television, Deutsche Grammophon have chosen to release a single region-free (Region 0) DVD for the entire world. Unfortunately this means the disc is in NTSC format rather than PAL, and requires an NTSC-compatible television for playback. It also means that while the sound has been effectively remastered for PCM stereo the picture shows all the signs of a bad NTSC copy--weak, washed-out colours and poor definition with a serious lack of detail. Most videos are far better. The DVD has subtitles in German, French, Spanish and Chinese. There are no extras, though the booklet adapts an interesting article by producer Humphrey Burton which originally appeared in Gramophone magazine in 1985.--Gary S Dalkin

• Long Shot BD | Blu Ray | (09/09/2019) from £6.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogen) is a gifted and free-spirited journalist with an affinity for trouble. Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron) is one of the most influential women in the world. Smart, sophisticated, and accomplished, she's a powerhouse diplomat with a talent for well, mostly everything. The two have nothing in common, except that she was his babysitter and childhood crush. When Fred unexpectedly reconnects with Charlotte, he charms her with his self-deprecating humour and his memories of her youthful idealism. As she prepares to make a run for the Presidency, Charlotte impulsively hires Fred as her speechwriter, much to the dismay of her trusted advisors. A fish out of water on Charlotte's elite team, Fred is unprepared for her glamourous lifestyle in the limelight. However, sparks fly as their unmistakable chemistry leads to a round-the-world romance and a series of unexpected and dangerous incidents.

• Madhouse | DVD | (25/04/2005) from £4.98   |  Saving you £1.01 (20.28%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Available on DVD for the first time! Let the insanity begin. A young psychiatric intern unearths secrets about the mental health facility in which he works. He finds his own sanity begins to unravel as the line between truth and fiction becomes harder to distinguish.

• Return To The Blue Lagoon | DVD | (02/12/2002) from £7.99   |  Saving you £5.00 (62.58%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Orphaned at the age of 8 on a deserted island a young boy and girl grow up together and learn about survival love and their own sexuality. Once a captain and his daughter sail upon their deserted shore and tempts them back to civilization they must now learn what is most important: each other...

• The Ring (Special Edition) | DVD | (02/07/2006) from £3.85   |  Saving you £14.14 (367.27%)   |  RRP £17.99

  The disturbing tale of a videotape that seems to have supernatural powers: once you've watched it your days are numbered...

• Bulldog Breed, The / One Good Turn | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In 1960, Norman Wisdom was left all at sea in The Bulldog Breed. He had already made a farce of the army in The Square Peg (1958), so what better than to join the navy? Back in the real world, the Russians had kick-started the space race putting Sputnik into orbit, so Norman rapidly finds himself selected to be the first Brit in space. Playing to type, the result is excellent physical comedy and copious tomfoolery at the expense of the upper ranks. With support from John Le Mesurier and Edward Chapman (the legendary "Mr Grimsdale") and uncredited appearances from Oliver Reed and Michael Caine, this is a notable British comedy, with an unusually direct reference to the risqué Carry On movies. For his second starring role Norman Wisdom played the oldest orphan of Greenwood Children's Home in 1954's One Good Turn. Not only does he have to find the money to buy one of the orphans a model car, but after a visit to Brighton he discovers Greenwood is due to be closed down by the home's own unscrupulous chairman, a property developer with plans to build a factory on the site. Also starring Thora Hird, One Good Turn was surely a film with a personal resonance for Wisdom who was himself brought-up in an orphanage after his mother died and his father was unable to raise him. As would become a tradition, he contributes a song, "Please Opportunity", and the movie, though produced by Rank, now sits easily in that classic Ealing era where the ordinary man took on the big guys and won. The innocent knockabout humour remains appealing. --Gary S Dalkin

• The Avengers : The Definitive Dossier 1965 (Box Set 1) | DVD | (01/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Swingingly stylish adventures with super spies John Steed and Mrs Peel! Flashback to the Sixties with the coolest duo in crimefighting! The Town of No Return: Steed finds a town full of ghosts and Emma gets into a harness. The Gravediggers: Steed drives a train and Emma is tied to the tracks... The Cybernauts: Steed receives a deadly gift and Emma pockets it. Death at Bargain Prices: Steed fights in ladies underwear and Emma tries feinting. Castle De'ath: Steed becomes a strapping Jock and Emma lays a ghost. The Master Minds: Steed becomes a genius and Emma loses her mind.

• Alex And Emma | DVD | (12/07/2004) from £5.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (133.56%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Faced both with an empty page and Cuban loan sharks out for his blood, an author with writer's block employs a stenographer to help write his novel, get paid by his publishers and save his skin.

• The Ring Two / The Ring - Special Edition | DVD | (03/07/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  The Ring (Dir. Gore Verbinski 2002):It begins as just another urban legend - the whispered tale of nightmarish videotape that causes anyone who watches it to die seven days later. But when four teenagers all meet with mysterious deaths exactly one week after watching just such a tape investigative reporter Rachel Keller tracks down the video...and watches it. Now the legend is coming true the clock is ticking and Rachel has just seven days to unravel the mystery of The Ring

• The Survivor | DVD | (01/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £1.99

  A 747 Jetliner takes off from an international airport and within minutes it is inexplicably threatening the lives of thousands as it plummets to the ground. The pilot Keller (Robert Powell) manages to avoid total catastrophe by bringing the aircraft down in a field but even so the resulting fire from a ruptured fuel tank ensures that from the plane at least there are no survivors. Except one: the pilot himself. Totured with guilt and unable to explain the reason for the disaster Keller sets upon a course of discovery desperately seeking to overcome the temporary loss of memory that he has sustained. Hobbs (Jennt Agutter) a young woman who tries to help Keller to unravel the mysteries of both his flight and the local events. But tragedy compounds upon tragedy as it seems that the dead passengers will not release their grip on Keller nor on anyone who stands in the path of his investigations. In a final confrontation with both his dead passengers and the responsiblity for the crash the truth is revealed. The collective personality of the dead can rest in peace. And so can Keller....

• Tchaikovsky: Pique Dame (The Queen of Spades) | DVD | (24/03/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  In terms of vocal power, lyrical beauty and idiomatic authenticity, the casting for this 1992 live recording of the Kirov production of Pique Dame ("The Queen of Spades") could hardly be bettered. Gegam Grigorian (Herman) hits his fearsome, anguished high notes with the accuracy of a laser and Maria Gulegina (Liza) has a voice the size of the QEII but uses it with great subtlety--her opening duet with Pauline floats like gossamer, and her declarations of love for Herman at the end of Act 1 are spine-tingling. Kirov superstars Sergei Leiferkus (Tomsky) and rich-toned Olga Borodina (Pauline) also sound divine. In the pit Valery Gergiev renders every nuance of Tchaikovsky's score with clarity, and drives the strings to produce an almost unbearably tense atmosphere of foreboding; Herman's manslaughter of the Countess is preceded by shallow, haunted phrases which rise and fall like a beating heart. It isn't all rosy, however. The production comes from the traditional old Kirov "stand-and-sing" tradition and is somewhat static. The characters don't interact with much detail or generate much chemistry, and the chorus moves in unwieldy blocks. For a more gripping production (though not quite as well sung) try the Glyndebourne performance. But for sheer musical pleasure, you won't find anything to beat this. On the DVD: Pique Dame doesn't feature particularly inventive camerawork, though it does give a good solid account of the production. The sound recording captures all the most important moments with clarity, though just occasionally singers stray away from the microphones. There are subtitles in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Chinese, and some trailers for other Universal Music DVDs. --Warwick Thomson