"Actor: Tim Quill"

• Hamburger Hill | DVD | (23/07/2001) from £5.14   |  Saving you £7.85 (152.72%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Because Hamburger Hill was released less than a year after Oliver Stone's Platoon and within months of Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, this exceptionally well-made film about one of the bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War was largely overshadowed and overlooked. It's a pity, because in some respects this is the best of the Vietnam films of the late 1980s, at least in terms of the everyday authenticity it depicts. Stripped clean of dramatically extraneous narrative, the movie opts instead for a straightforward approach to its day-by-day account of one of the war's costliest victories--a deadly siege on Hill 937 in the Ashau Valley, where soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division engaged the enemy over the course of 11 brutal assaults between May 10 and May 20, 1969. The film specifically follows the 3rd Squad, 1st Platoon, a mixture of "new guys" and battle-weary "short-timers" who fought against terrifying odds and suffered a 70 per cent casualty rate. From first scene to last, Hamburger Hill traces the rise and fall of their battle experience, from the horror of fire-fights to the camaraderie of men who've faced death and survived. Racial tensions flare and subside, trusts are established and courage emerges from unexpected places. Through it all, writer Jim Carabatsos and director John Irvin maintain a purity of focus that pays tribute to the soldier's life without promoting false patriotism or gung-ho theatrics. In addition, the film features a cast full of talented and well-known actors in the early stages of their careers, including Dylan McDermott and Don Cheadle (Devil in a Blue Dress, Boogie Nights). Colour accuracy, image clarity and the explosive soundtrack have been remarkably preserved in a flawless DVD transfer, lending even greater immediacy to this underrated film. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Army of Darkness | Blu Ray | (04/10/2022) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Hamburger Hill | DVD | (10/09/2007) from £4.99   |  Saving you £11.00 (68.80%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The men of Bravo Company are facing a battle that's all uphill... up Hamburger Hill. Fourteen war-weary soldiers are battling for a mud-covered mound of earth so named because it chews up soldiers like chopped meat. They are fighting for their country their fellow soldiers and their lives. War is hell but this is worse. Hamburger Hill tells it the way it was the way it really was. It's a raw gritty and totally unrelenting dramatic depiction of one of the fiercest battles of America's bloodiest war. Dodge the gunfire. Get caught behind enemy lines. Go into battle beside the brave young men who fought and died. Feel their desperation and futility. This happened. Hamburger Hill - war at its worst men at their best.

• Army of Darkness - The Evil Dead 3 | DVD | (11/11/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  It's hard not to feel there's something wrong when Army of Darkness, the third entry in Sam Raimi's lively Evil Dead series, opens with a 15 certificate. And indeed, this is not quite the non-stop rollercoaster of splat we're entitled to expect. Like Evil Dead II, it opens with a digest-cum-remake of the original movie, taking geeky Ash (Bruce Campbell) back out to that cabin in the woods where he is beset by demons who do away with his girlfriend (blink and you'll miss Bridget Fonda). Blasted back in time to 12th century England, Ash finds himself still battling the Deadites and his own ineptitude in a quest to save the day and get back home. Though it starts zippily, with Campbell's grimly funny clod of a hero commanding the screen, a sort of monotony sets in as magical events pile up. Ash is attacked by Lilliputian versions of himself, one of whom incubates in his stomach and grows out of his shoulder to be his evil twin. After being dismembered and buried, Evil Ash rises from the dead to command a zombie army and at least half the film is a big battle scene in which rotted warriors (nine mouldy extras in masks for every one Harryhausen-style impressive animated skeleton) besiege a cardboard castle. There are lots of action jokes, MAD Magazine-like marginal doodles and a few funny lines, but it lacks the authentic scares of The Evil Dead and the authentic sick comedy of Evil Dead II. On the DVD: Army of Darkness may be the least of the trilogy, but Anchor Bay's super two-disc set is worthy of shelving beside their outstanding editions of the earlier films. Disc 1 contains the 81-minute US theatrical version in widescreen or fullscreen, plus the original "Planet of the Apes" ending, the trailer and a making-of featurette. Disc 2 has the 96-minute director's cut, with extra slapstick and a lively, irreverent commentary track from Raimi, Campbell and co-writer Ivan Raimi, plus yet more deleted scenes and some storyboards. The fact that the film exists in so many versions suggests that none of them satisfied everybody, but fans will want every scrap of Army in this one package. --Kim Newman

• Forgotten Sins | DVD | (04/03/2002) from £7.17   |  Saving you £-0.19 (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  Forgotten Sins' is a startling and disturbing drama based on a true story. County sheriff Matt Bradshaw a devout churchgoer and respected pillar of the community stands accused of terrible crimes: sexually abusing his own daughters and organising multiple rapes and Satanic rituals. Matt's reaction to these accusations is almost as shocking - he makes a full and frank confession. Amid an atmosphere of religious frenzy and further accusations of murder and torture the witch hunt begins. Only one man believes in Matt's innocence: eminent psychologist Dr Richard Ofshe (William Devane). He is convinced that Matt is the innocent victim of religious brainwashing and police pressure for a confession. But what chance does Ofshe have of seeing justice done when Matt himself is so utterly convinced of his own guilt?

• Where Truth Lies | DVD | (22/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Deeply troubled by the accidental death of his first wife Wendy (Candice Daly) respected psychiatrist Dr. Ian Lazarre (John Savage) slips into a dark abyss of alcoholism depression and insomnia. Concerned for his health following a failed suicide attempt Lazarre's second wife Teresa and his best friend and lawyer Joe (Eric Pierpoint) agree to have him committed to a rehab clinic run by the mysterious Dr. Renquist (Malcolm McDowell). Placed in the care of the sensuous but si