"Actor: Tony Haney"

• The Defiant Ones | DVD | (15/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  This 1958 variation on Huck Finn's adventures with Jim finds a white convict (Tony Curtis) chained to a black convict (Sidney Poitier) as they both escape their captors. With each man literally stuck with the other, racial conflicts take a back seat to survival. Directed by Stanley Kramer (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner), the film's obvious consciousness-raising is mitigated by a pair of raw performances from the stars, memorable appearances by Lon Chaney Jr. and Cara Williams, and Kramer's strong storytelling abilities. The Defiant Ones' award-winning script was cowritten by blacklisted writer-actor Nedrick Young. --Tom Keogh

• True Believer | DVD | (14/05/2001) from £7.17   |  Saving you £12.82 (178.80%)   |  RRP £19.99

  True Believer is an effective mystery by thrillmeister director Joseph Ruben (Sleeping with the Enemy), that allows star James Woods to do some real acting as he conveys his character's denial and sense of disappointment in himself. Eddie Dodd (Woods) is a former '60s radical lawyer who now spends his time cynically defending drug dealers for the big bucks. But an idealistic young protégé (Robert Downey Jr.) convinces him to take one case from the heart: a young Chinese immigrant unjustly accused in a gang slaying. Woods (complete with add-on ponytail) fairly hums with energy once he gets cooking here. Playing the been-there-done-that mentor--not to mention legal gadfly--gives him plenty of opportunity to run off at the mouth with spicy one-liners and zingers. --Marshall Fine, Amazon.com

• Copycat | DVD | (29/03/1999) from £18.99   |  Saving you £-5.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Taking its lead from Jonathan Demme's Oscar-winning pulse-raiser The Silence Of the Lambs, Copycat strives for intelligence over gristle and carnage. It's a terse, involving thriller that swings away from the usual cinematic notion of violence as a means to an end by forgoing brawn for brains. Young San Francisco police inspector Ruben Goetz (Dermot Mulroney) is teamed with brilliant force vet, M J Monahan (Holly Hunter), a diplomatic, no-nonsense cop who must buck the system in order to find a killer who is copying the crimes of history's most notorious serial killers. Ruben would rather shoot to kill than merely wound a suspect; Monahan labours to help him think more diplomatically. Everything changes when crank calls arrive at the station from serial-killer pin-up girl psychiatrist Helen Hudson (Sigourney Weaver). She's been housebound for 13 months, ever since murderer Daryll Lee Cullum (Harry Connick Jr.) nearly made her his next victim because she testified against him in court. Though he's in prison, he's still mentor and muse to every loose cannon walking the streets--one of whom is killing people with a vengeance and hoping to finish the job Cullum began. Cop and doc team up to solve the case in this stylish, plot-driven movie. Though Copycat loses steam in the end, it still makes a point. And it serves as a cautionary tale for people everywhere, tossing in street smart warnings against victimisation. The teaming of Hunter and Weaver works well, the short and the tall forging a terrific and friction-filled relationship that leads to grudging respect. Establishing an ominous atmosphere reminiscent of his classic British TV miniseries The Singing Detective, director Jon Amiel has an eye for the dark and the unusual and it gives this film an edge that eludes most other mainstream filmmakers. --Paula Nechak

• 13 Ghosts / Darkness Falls / The Haunting | DVD | (03/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  13 Ghosts (Dir. Steve Beck 2001): The family may have moved in but the ghosts aren't moving out in this special-effects spectacular update of William Castle's classic 1960s shocker! When the Kriticos family inherits a spectacular old house from an eccentric uncle (F. Murray Abraham) they know nothing of its own dangerous agenda. Trapped in their new home by shifting walls a father and daughter (Tony Shalhoub Shannon Elizabeth) encounter powerful and vengeful ghosts that threaten to destroy anyone in their path. Soon the family is joined by an offbeat ghost hunter (Matthew Lillard) who is determined to free the spirits imprisoned in the house. Caught in a frantic race to save themselves before it is too late the human inhabitants realise the house is a riddle which contains the key to their imminent salvation...or destruction. Darkness Falls (Dir. Johnathan Liebesman 2003): A young man Kyle (Kley) is considered insane by everyone in town with the exception of his childhood girlfriend Caitlin (Caufield) and her younger brother Michael (Cormie). Kyle must confront his fears and his past to save Michael from the hands of a small town's legendary evil the Tooth Fairy. The Haunting (Dir. Jan de Bont 1999): In this edge-of-your-seat supernatural thriller featuring Hollywood's hottest stars a study in fear escalates into a heart-stopping nightmare for a professor and three subjects trapped in a mysterious mansion. For over a century the dark and forbidding Hill House has sat alone and abandoned...or so it seemed. Intrigued by the mansion's storied past Dr. Marrow (Liam Neeson) lures his three subjects -Theo (Catherine Zeta-Jones) Nell (Lili Taylor) and Luke (Owen Wilson) - to the site for a seemingly harmless experiment. But from the moment of their arrival Nell seems mysteriously drawn to the house...and the attraction is frighteningly mutual. When night descends the study goes horrifyingly awry as the subjects discover the haunting secrets that live within the walls of Hill House.

• Thirteen Ghosts / Darkness Falls / Night Of The Living Dead | DVD | (17/05/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Thirteen Ghosts: The family may have moved in but the ghosts aren't moving out in this special-effects update of William Castle's classic 1960s shocker... Darkness Falls: A young man Kyle (Kley) is considered insane by everyone in town with the exception of his childhood girlfriend Caitlin (Caufield) and her younger brother Michael (Cormie). Kyle must confront his fears and his past to save Michael from the hands of a small town's legendary evil the Tooth Fairy. Night Of The Living Dead - The Remake: It's a new night for terror ... and a new dawn in horror movie-making when special-effects genius Tom Savini (creator of the spectacularly gruesome make-up in 'Friday The 13th' and 'Creepshow') brings modern technology to this colourful remake of George A. Romero's 1968 cult classic. Dead bodies are returning to life and eating human flesh! A group of survivors seeks refuge in a farmhouse hoping to protect themselves from the hordes of advancing zombies. Trapped and alone they fight for their lives... hoping this horrible nightmare will come to an end. Who will survive the night of the living dead?