The Last Vampyre is an overblown two-hour adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's short story "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire", and was perhaps the most ill-advised of Granada Television's Sherlock Holmes series. Entirely contrary to the tone and spirit of Doyle's tale--which finds Holmes victoriously pitting his well-grounded deductive powers against irrational fears of a rise in blood sucking--The Last Vampyre is something of an embarrassment to the largely wonderful legacy of Granada's earlier efforts. (For the record, most of the creative executives who, along with star Jeremy Brett, had made the beloved series what it was in the 1980s were replaced by 1992, the year of this film.) In this version, Holmes does battle with a Dracula-like fellow who may or may not be the real McCoy. There is a great deal of padding to fill out the story to feature length, and it is mostly silly. So, you ask, is there anything to recommend this? Well, there is the ailing Brett's ever-fascinating performance, which deviates from Doyle's vision of the detective hero toward something darker and more personal. Edward Hardwicke does his usual warm and capable work as Dr Watson. --Tom Keogh
The power of evil no longer rests in the hands of a child... Damien Thorn (Sam Neill) has helped rescue the world from a recession appearing to be a benign corporate benefactor. When he then becomes U.S Ambassador to England Damien fulfills a terrifying biblical prophecy. He also faces his own potential demise as an astronomical event brings about the second coming of Christ. Determined to thwart his holy arch-nemesis as well as a group of priests intent on killing him Damien begins his most destructive rampage yet...
A shocking drive-in sensation when released in 1963, Blood Feast remains a milestone in the exploitation genre. A serial killer is on the loose; women are being killed and body parts are being stolen; the police are stumped (so to speak). Meanwhile, Egyptmania seems to be gripping this small Florida town. Fuad Ramses' "exotic catering" shop is doing a booming business and his book, Ancient Weird Religious Rituals, is being studied by the local book club. Is there a connection between Ramses and the murders? Of course! In this film by the wizard of gore, Herschell Gordon Lewis, plot and suspense take a back seat to the gruesome and bloody murder scenes. The acting may not be very good, the script is weak at best and the effects don't hold up to later standards of Hollywood gore, but there is an infectious enthusiasm that comes through Lewis' desire to shock his audience. The exploitation elements may be dated but that only makes them all the more entertaining. Blood Feast was followed (in what would come to be known as Lewis' "blood trilogy") by Two Thousand Maniacs! and Color Me Blood Red. --Andy Spletzer, Amazon.com
On 16th October 2004 some of the biggest names in alternative music played a benefit concert for the Hoping Foundation a charity set-up to help the impoverished Palestinian people. The concert saw Nick Cave Primal Scream Spiritualized and Steve Mason (Beta Band) play to a sell-out crowd at the London Brixton Academy. Tracklist: Steve Mason (Beta Band) 1. Dry The Rain Nick Cave 2. Jack The Ripper Spiritualized 3. Walking With Jesus 4. Lord Let It Rain On Me 5. Oh Baby 6. Cheap
Cary Grant is the screen's supreme man-on-the-run in his fourth and final teaming with Master of Suspense Alfred Hitchcock. He plays a Manhattan adman plunged into a realm of spy (James Mason) and counterspy (Eva Marie Saint) and variously abducted framed for murder chased and in a signature set-piece crop-dusted. He also hangs for dear life from the facial features of Mount Rushmore's Presidents. Savour one of Hollywood's most enjoyable thrillers ever in this State-of-the-Art Restoration: its Renewed Picture Vitality will leave you just as breathless as the chase itself.
In 1969 he became one of history's infamous villains presented by the media as evil incarnate. Charles Manson superstar sets the record straight after years of media disinformation and features an exclusive interview with Manson which allows him to speak for the first time without being censored or sanitized as well as rare archival news footage police documents and photos.
The Blue Max: A raging war time thriller featuring spectacular aerial combat sequences. It is the story of Bruno Stachel a cold ambitious German combat pilot in World War I. As brave as he is ruthless he excels in combat wins the highest medals The Blue Max and becomes a national hero. The Blue Max is among the best aviation films with outstanding photography spectacular dogfights and a dramatic score. A Yank In The RAF: Tyrone Power and Betty Grable are captivating in this romantic WWII drama. When slick money-motivated pilot Tim Baker (Power) takes a high-paying job ferrying bombers across the Atlantic he meets up with Carol (Grable) an old flame who sparks enough new heat that he joins the RAF just to be near her. But Carol is also pursued by another pilot - Baker's superior officer! And when Baker must start flying bombing missions life suddenly takes on far more meaning than ever before. Featuring actual aerial combat footage and Grable's classic musical numbers A Yank In The RAF is an engagingly dramatic love story. D-Day - The Sixth Of June: Hollywood once again looks back at the undeniably compelling story of D-Day this time through the device of two officers facing the coming battle one American and one British recalling their love for the same woman.
Nick Drake - Under Review attempts to unravel the mystery of this enigmatic singer-songwriter who passed away at the age of just 26. With the aid of those who were close to Nick those around at the time and those who have studied and written about Nick Drake in depth this program discusses dissects and appraises Nick's life music and astonishing albeit short career. The programme includes contributions from Nick's close friend Jeremy Mason; the man who 'discovered' Nick and founded Fairport Convention Ashley Hutchings; Fairport drummer who also drummed on Bryter Later Dave Mattacks; fellow Withchseason artist and founder of the Incredible String Band Robin Williamson; folk-blues guitarist and major influence on Nick John Renbourn; singer/guitarist and contemporary of Nick's Ralph McTell; the only journalist to have interviewed Nick Jerry Gilbert; both Nick Drake biographers Patrick Humphries and Trevor Dann singer-songwriter and Mercury Music Prize nominee Kathryn Willliams and many others.
Three more rollicking good tales starring Michael Palin in various guises. Written by Michael Palin and Terry Jones. 'The Testing Of Eric Olthwaite' 'Whinfrey's Last Case' and 'The Curse of The Claw'. The Testing of Eric Olthwaite: A Ripping Northern Yarn set in the dark days of the depression before Last of the Summer Wine started bringing jobs to the area. Eric's tough mining parents find their son so boring that they run away from home. Eric torn between love for his parents and lack of brain cells becomes involved with a hardened criminal. The rest is history. Whinfrey's Last Case: Dashing Gerald Whinfrey saves his country twice a week but in 1913 a German plot to start the First World War without telling anybody coincides with his holiday. Where do Whinfrey's priorities lie? Has he got any? A knockout tale of international intrigue. If only Dickens could write like this - Mrs Reg Dickens Eltham. The Curse of the Claw: Gothic terror comes to Maidenhead. A timely reminder of what happens when men dabble in the dark world of oriental superstition. Michael Palin aided by inexpensive plastic surgery plays old and young Kevin as well as Kevin's childhood hero Uncle Jack - an enormously cheerful physical disaster area who has every disease known to man usually at the same time.
There is trouble at Devington School in the village of Midsomer Parva. During the annual St. Malley's Day race Daniel Talbot is stabbed. Daniel is a member of The Pudding Club a secret society which comprises of elite students from the school. Who committed the attack? If Barnaby and Troy are to unravel the mystery they must first break the silence that shrouds the club.
Bugsy represents an almost miraculous combination of director, writer and star on a project that represents a career highlight for everyone involved. It's one of the best American gangster movies ever made--as good in its own way as any of the Godfather films--and it's impossible to imagine anyone better than Beatty in the movie's flashy title role. As notorious mobster and Las Vegas visionary "Bugsy" Siegel, Beatty is perfectly cast as a man whose dreams are greater than his ability to realise them--or at least, greater than his ability to stay alive while making those dreams come true. With a glamorous Hollywood mistress (Annette Bening) who shares Bugsy's dream while pursuing her own upwardly mobile agenda, Bugsy seems oblivious to threats when he begins to spend too much of the mob's money on the creation of the Flamingo casino. Meyer Lansky (Ben Kingsley) and Mickey Cohen (Harvey Keitel) will support Bugsy's wild ambition to a point, after which all bets are off, and Bugsy's life hangs in the balance. From the obvious chemistry of Beatty and Bening (who met and later married off-screen) to the sumptuous reproduction of 1940s Hollywood, every detail in this movie feels impeccably right. Beatty is simply mesmerising as the man who invented Las Vegas but never saw it thrive, moving from infectious idealism to brutal violence in the blink of an eye. Director Barry Levinson is also in peak form here, guiding the stylish story with a subtle balance of admiration and horror; we can catch Bugsy's Vegas fever and root for the gangster's success, but we know he'll get what he deserves. We might wish that Bugsy had lived to see his dream turn into a booming oasis, but the movie doesn't suggest that we should shed any tears. --Jeff Shannon
The villagers of Midsomer are soaking up the sun at the Midsomer Regatta. However the tranquility of the race is shattered when the Veteran's race is interrupted by a body in the water. It is Guy Sweetman Chairman of Midsomer Rowing Club who has been knocked unconscious and drowned. Guy was a serial philanderer who didn't so much play the field as the entire countryside. Was he murdered by a jealous husband or angry ex-girlfriend or was there a more sinister motive? Barnaby and Scot
Available "fully uncut" for the first time in the UK, Two Thousand Maniacs! is the second of director HG Lewis' "blood" trilogy. Though the "once-in-a-lifetime" title makes a promise no film could keep--only about 30 maniacs show up--and the level of gore is a notch or so down from Blood Feast--only four deaths--this is perhaps the director's most watchable film. The Brigadoon-derived plot nugget concerns a Deep South town (variously suggested to be in Georgia or Arkansas, but actually Florida) wiped out by Union raiders during the Civil War, which reappears once every 100 years to wreak "blood vengeance". For the centennial celebrations, Pleasant Valley lures Yankee tourists off the road and subjects them to gruesome fairground games--a cannibal BBQ, a "horse-race", a "barrel roll" and "teetering rock". The ideas are nasty, and Lewis even attempts subtlety by keeping the quartering and the spiked barrel inside mostly off screen, but the creepiest touch is the "aw-shucks" good humour with which the ghostly Confederate maniacs--led by a mayor who is the spitting image of Sergeant Bilko's Colonel Hall--treat their horrible sport. It has the usual Lewis drawbacks--mostly inept staging, acting that veers between the wooden ("Playmate" Connie Mason) and the amateurishly hammy (one of the worst child actors in film history), clumsy editing, community theatre production values--but his fans wouldn't have it any other way and the hayseed music is great! On the DVD: The full-screen image is as good as this ever will look, considering Lewis' primitive understanding of lighting cinematography, with rich scarlet blood, vividly ugly 1963 leisurewear and very few print imperfections. The features offer an imaginative "Welcome to Pleasant Valley Centennial" menu, with buttons like the target you have to hit to drop the "teetering rock" on the Yankee; lurid original trailer ("Two thousand maniacs crazed for carnage started bathing a whole town in pulsing, human blood ... brutal, evil, ghastly beyond belief"); filmographies for Lewis, Friedman and star William Kerwin (aka Thomas Wood); promotional art gallery; notes by aptly-monickered expert Billy Chainsaw, highlighting the connections with John Waters and Brigadoon; a teaser trailer for "the Herschell Gordon Lewis Collection"; a mass of trailers for other "Tartan terror" titles. The Lewis-Friedman commentary and mind-numbing outtakes reel available on the Region 1 DVD are sadly absent, but that release doesn't have this one's major bonus addition--the entire soundtrack album, with compositions by Lewis himself (including the immortal "Yee-Hah, the South's Gonna Rise Again") and Flatt and Scruggs (of Bonnie and Clyde fame). --Kim Newman
A beautiful young artist must choose her destiny in this hauntingly sensual tale of love passion and revenge directed by Charles Band. Catherine Bomarzini (Sherilyn Fenn) returns to the family castle in Italy after her father's death and gets caught in the web of a mysterious love triangle: a man who is at times repulsive at others enchanting and a creature of the night whose gentle eyes and touch reveal his infinite love and devotion. Catherine is joined by her long-time friend and aspiring artist Gina and they are drawn to watch the performance of Fauvray's World of Wonders a travelling sideshow. There they meet Laurence Fauvray (Malcolm Jamieson) a sinister yet handsome magician who is the catalyst that solves the puzzle which cloaks the Bomarzini castle.
Titles Comprise: Joe 90: Joe 90 is the world's most audacious secret agent and he's only 9 years old! Thanks to Ian 'Mac' McClaine's machine the Brain Impulse Galvanoscope Record And Transfer (or BIG RAT) he is able to transfer the knowledge and experience of one person to Joe. BIG RAT becomes the World Intelligence Network's (W.I.N.) most guarded and secretive weapon in the organisation's missions. With the aid of a special pair of glasses Joe can now assume the knowledge of any individual and become an expert in any field of endeavour... Stingray: 2065 Marineville. The World Aquanaut Security Patrol (WASP) fight against the evil Titan and the Aquaphibians grotesque undersea warriors in the quest for world peace. WASP''s most powerful asset is the sleek and deadly underwater craft STINGRAY captained by intrepid Troy Tempest. Helping him are Phones the brave radio expert Commander Sam Shore his daughter Atlanta and Marina the voiceless tailless Mermaid. Captain Scarlet: Captain Scarlet is the indestructible hero of spectrum at war with the mysteron. Even though they managed to kill him with a self-made weapon the Mysterons rebuilt Scarlet as an invincible human replica to infiltrate Earth and lead their war against our planet. But Captain Scarlet's human psyche survived took control of his human body and now this indestructible hero leads the fight against the evil force.
El Cid (Dir. Anthony Mann 1961): El Cid is an epic movie masterpiece a tribute to one of history's greatest legends. This dazzling spectacle with a cast of thousands fills the screen with action and romance - from knights in armour jousting on horseback to massive battles on sea and land where columns of warriors stretch across the horizon. At the centre of this powerful motion picture is Charlton Heston in the role he was born to play... the immortal El Cid. Heston is the Spanish warrior battling to drive the Moors from Spain with the vision to be just and the courage to be merciful whose love and devotion to the radiant Chimene (Sophia Loren) knows no bounds... The Fall Of The Roman Empire (Dir. Anthony Mann 1964): This classic film re-enacts the spectacular collapse of perhaps the greatest dominion the world has ever known. Pestilence greed and corruption bring a once-proud empire to its knees. Now restored with stunning scenes and a cast of thousands - in battles gladiatorial and otherwise; martyrs burning at the stake; chariot races in the midst of which is the romance between two people....
Bad man's river is the bold and exciting story about four outlaws undertaking the job of blowing up an arsenal in Mexico...
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