"Actor: Richard Ramsey"

• Doctor T. And The Women | DVD | (07/01/2002) from £11.95   |  Saving you £8.04 (40.20%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Dr. Sullivan Travis is the envy of his buddies at the Dallas country club. As they freely and frequently point out, he's the luckiest kind of doctor.

• People I Know | DVD | (31/05/2004) from £6.73   |  Saving you £9.26 (57.90%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Al Pacino stars as a seasoned New York publicist experiencing a day from hell in this fiendishly clever thriller.

• Delibes: Coppelia -- Royal Ballet | DVD | (20/11/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Coppélia is Delibes fairy-tale ballet of 1870, here presented in a production based on the Royal Ballet's 1954 version with designs by Osbert Lancaster and choreography by the company's founder Ninette de Valois. In a small European town Dr Coppélius (Luke Heydon) makes life-sized mechanical dolls. The whimsical tale unfolds as Swanilda (Leanne Benjamin) suspects that her fiancée Franz (Carlos Acosta) is falling in love with the enigmatic Coppélia (Leana Palmer). Everything is suitably magical, from the beautiful sets and costumes to the gorgeously melodic score. There is a sense of romantic playfulness throughout, and of course almost two hours of wonderful dancing, making this a treat to place beside Swan Lake and Giselle. Given live on 19 February 2000, this was the first live full-length ballet from Royal Opera House to be broadcast since 1968.On the DVD: Fortunately the DVD proves an object lesson in how to present ballet on the digital format. There is an introduction by Deborah Dull, principal ballerina with the Royal Ballet, a short but interesting profile of designer Osbert Lancaster, and a nine-minute film "Covent Garden Tales--The Ballet Moves" which gives a look behind the scenes at the Royal Ballet's new home. For a live production, the 16:9 anamorphically enhanced widescreen picture is simply superb, with excellent Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. With even the special features delivered with 16:9 anamorphic enhancement this is a high-quality production in every respect. Encoded for regions two and four. --Gary S Dalkin

• The Blu-ray Horror Collection (5 titles - Hostel/Hostel 2/Vacancy/Dracula/The Covenant) | Blu Ray | (10/12/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £99.99

  Hostel The hallowed tradition of the post-college European backpacking trip turns into an unimaginable nightmare for two unsuspecting American 20-somethings in Eli Roth's (Cabin Fever) sensational second outing. Paxton (Jay Hernandez) and Josh (Derek Richardson) have embarked upon a hedonistic tour of the continent, and somewhere along the way pick up travelling companion Oli (Eythor Gudjonsson). In Amsterdam the trio partakes of the pastimes most dear to frat boys everywhere: weed, prostitutes, and nightclubs. But when a fellow traveller tells these thrill-seekers about the decadent scene that awaits them in Bratislava, they find themselves unable to resist its lures. Enticed by the promise of a hostel full of beautiful girls who love Americans, they set out for the remote areas of Eastern Europe. There, the sex farce to which the film's first half is devoted slowly turns ominous, as the boys hook up immediately with the gorgeous Natalya (Barbara Nedeljakova) and Svetlana (Jana Kaderabkova), whose eagerness masks more sinister intentions. Soon, the disagreeable backpackers find themselves on the other side of the flesh trade, sold by the girls into an exclusive human trafficking operation that gives its customers the opportunity to torture and kill a helpless victim. Much of what follows consists of the squirm-inducing surgical horrors that characterise precursors such as Saw, with the implications regarding the capitalist system and the human soul becoming ever darker. Produced by Quentin Tarantino, the film amps up the gore factor as much as it can get away with, and, in the tradition of the best horror films, offers a satirical socially conscious commentary. Hostel Part II The inevitable sequel to one of the decade's most intriguing and well-made horror films, Hostel Part II, as the title implies, picks up pretty much where the last film left off. And it doesn't take too long for the sequel to find the same groove that earned its predecessor so much attention. The setting is once again an underground club, where people bid for the right to torture residents at the hostel of the title. Hostel Part II, however, lets us see events from the other perspective too, as we meet the wealthy businessmen who are availing themselves of the club's services. It's a logical dynamic for the movie, and it does bring a fresh perspective to a film that does eventually settle down to a cavalcade of gore and shock. As a director, Eli Roth has clearly improved since last time around, even if this time he too often succumbs to the temptation to show rather than imply, and Hostel Part II as a result feels a little less fresh and more uncomfortable than its predecessor. Yet it's most certainly an unsettling piece of cinema, and one likely to find favour with Roth's increasing fanbase. A word of warning, though: Hostel Part II isn't shy about pulling its punches, and it very much justifies its 18 certificate. It's also a cut above many of its modern day contemporaries in the genre, even though it fails to measure up to part one. --Jon Foster Vacancy A confined setting is a useful tool for thriller-makers, and Vacancy is definitely boxed in: a run-down motel way, way off the Interstate, the kind of place where unsuspecting movie characters go to get stabbed to death in the shower. If Vacancy doesn't quite live up to its Hitchcockian forebears, at least it provides 80 minutes of well-designed mayhem. You know somebody's paying attention just from the opening credits, a clever vortex with pounding music by Paul Haslinger. Then we meet unhappy couple Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale, driving along in the dark and forced to stay at the Pinewood Motel after a car breakdown. There's a night man (Frank Whaley, World Trade Center) in the tradition of Dennis Weaver's Touch of Evil gargoyle, but the real mess of trouble is waiting in room number four. Director Nimrod Antal, who scored a stylish international hit with the Hungarian thriller Kontroll, squeezes maximum juice out of the Route 66 atmosphere of the motel, although the movie doesn't get under your skin the way Kontroll did. Wilson and Beckinsale are a little too marquee-namish for this kind of heavy-breathing work, and the script doesn't give them much to play with. But hey, it's not that kind of movie. Where it really belongs is on the top half of a drive-in double bill, or maybe as a nightmare-scenario TV movie from the Seventies. Either way, it works. --Robert Horton, Amazon.com Bram Stoker's Dracula Francis Ford Coppola's take on the Dracula myth is visually stunning and overflows with passionate seduction and Gothic romance. In Bram Stoker's Dracula, Coppola draws from the original source of the Dracula story to create a modern masterpiece. Gary Oldman's metamorphosis as Dracula, who grows from old to young, from man to beast, is breathtaking. Winona Ryder brings as much intensity to the character of the beautiful young woman who becomes the object of Dracula's devastating desire. Anthony Hopkins co-stars as the famed doctor who dares to believe in Dracula and then dares to confront him. Opulent and irresistible, Bram Stoker's Dracula is an unforgettable film. The Covenant Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2, Deep Blue Sea) directs this supernatural thriller about descendants of powerful New England families. The sons of Ipswich are legendary at Spenser Academy, the local boarding school. Handsome and popular, these four teenage friends can trace their roots to the founding families of the Ipswich Colony, settled in the late 1600s. For years these Massachusetts families have harboured the secret that they possess supernatural powers. Their descendants--Caleb (Steven Strait), Reid (Toby Hemingway), Tyler (Chace Crawford), and Pogue (Taylor Kitsch)--have inherited magical powers that first manifested themselves when the boys turned 13 years old. In a nutshell, they can do anything. As they approach their 18th birthdays, they are preparing to 'ascend', which means their powers will grow stronger. The downside? The magic is seductive and addictive, and causes premature aging with each use. Ringleader Caleb tries to keep his friends from using magic recklessly, but as the school year begins, strange events and a strong gut instinct convince Caleb that someone is using very powerful magic. Meanwhile, Caleb is exploring his newfound affection for transfer student Sarah (Laura Ramsey). To Caleb''s dismay, Sarah becomes a pawn in a power struggle with a descendant of the fifth founding family of Ipswich, a line thought to be lost during Salem''s witch trials. Is Caleb strong enough to maintain his power and keep his family and friends safe, or will he yield to this new threat and sacrifice himself? The film draws interesting parallels between the luring, addictive power of magic and the addictions real teenagers face. The sufficiently creepy setting echoes New England and sets the stage for supernatural phenomena. The Covenant also stars Sebastian Stan as Chase Collins, a wealthy newcomer to Spenser, and Jessica Lucas as Kate, Sarah's roommate and Pogue's girlfriend.