"Actor: Barbara Cason"

• Exorcist, The / The Exorcist 2 - The Heretic / The Exorcist 3 | DVD | (21/10/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £30.99

  The Exorcist The belief in evil - and that evil can be cast out. From these two strands of faith author William Peter Blatty and director William Friedkin wove The Exorcist the frightening and realistic story of an innocent girl inhabited by a malevolent entity. The Exorcist II: The Heretic Pasuzu the incarnation of evil cast out of little Regan by Father Merrin returns to torment her once again... The Exorcist III A serial killer haunts the streets of

• Exorcist 2 - The Heretic | DVD | (20/10/2003) from £19.58   |  Saving you £-5.59 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  When it was released in 1977 The Exorcist II: The Heretic was virtually laughed off the screen. A much-anticipated sequel to the Oscar-winning original, it turned out to be an unintentionally hilarious mishmash and received such terrible reviews that director John Boorman yanked it out of cinemas. He reedited it, cutting eight minutes in hopes of getting the story (written by William Goodhart) to the point of coherency--but to no avail. The film remains a kind of reverse gold standard for sequels. It's still a ridiculously overacted, although at times visually haunting, movie. Richard Burton stars as a troubled priest (something of a speciality of his) who is brought in to follow up on the case of Linda Blair, who is institutionalised, still troubled by her encounter with the devil (who wouldn't be?). By the time they confront Satan's minion in the final struggle, you'll be rooting for evil to win. --Marshall Fine

• The Honeymoon Killers | DVD | (06/12/2004) from £5.00   |  Saving you £-2.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  Though it was pre-produced by Martin Scorsese, who left the project after arguments with the producers, The Honeymoon Killers wound up being written and directed by Leonard Kastle, one of cinema's great one-hit wonders. The Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer of 1969, The Honeymoon Killers follows hefty nurse Martha Beck (Shirley Stoler, who looks like a humourlessly malevolent Roseanne) and her low-rent gigolo lover Raymond Fernandez (Tony Lo Bianco) as they take up serial murder for profit and passion, luring middle-aged women into marriage through lonely-hearts ads, then killing them and raiding their savings. Based on a genuine crime case history, it is filmed in the candid-camera style of a Frederick Wiseman documentary. The intense scenes (such as the couple's frightening love-play: escalating arguments that end in awkward killings) unfold with a fly-on-the-wall dryness, showcasing the extraordinary acting of the leads and their cameo victims. A rare film in which genuine romantic love does not excuse the central couple's amoral behaviour, this still manages to generate some sympathy for the truly monstrous Martha. The washed-out black and white photography and sometimes scratchy soundtrack (the score is sampled from Mahler) have a deliberately amateurish feel which adds to the film's chilling power, lodging it into the memory. On the DVD: Along with a lurid trailer and gallery of images are filmographies for Stoler, Lo Bianco and (redundantly) Kastle. The widescreen transfer is excellent, representing perfectly the film's rough-hewn look but also bringing out a lot of detail--like Stoler's freckles, which have looked like grain on video releases. --Kim Newman

• The Honeymoon Killers | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  Though it was pre-produced by Martin Scorsese, who left the project after arguments with the producers, The Honeymoon Killers wound up being written and directed by Leonard Kastle, one of cinema's great one-hit wonders. The Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer of 1969, The Honeymoon Killers follows hefty nurse Martha Beck (Shirley Stoler, who looks like a humourlessly malevolent Roseanne) and her low-rent gigolo lover Raymond Fernandez (Tony Lo Bianco) as they take up serial murder for profit and passion, luring middle-aged women into marriage through lonely-hearts ads, then killing them and raiding their savings. Based on a genuine crime case history, it is filmed in the candid-camera style of a Frederick Wiseman documentary. The intense scenes (such as the couple's frightening love-play: escalating arguments that end in awkward killings) unfold with a fly-on-the-wall dryness, showcasing the extraordinary acting of the leads and their cameo victims. A rare film in which genuine romantic love does not excuse the central couple's amoral behaviour, this still manages to generate some sympathy for the truly monstrous Martha. The washed-out black and white photography and sometimes scratchy soundtrack (the score is sampled from Mahler) have a deliberately amateurish feel which adds to the film's chilling power, lodging it into the memory. On the DVD: Along with a lurid trailer and gallery of images are filmographies for Stoler, Lo Bianco and (redundantly) Kastle. The widescreen transfer is excellent, representing perfectly the film's rough-hewn look but also bringing out a lot of detail--like Stoler's freckles, which have looked like grain on video releases. --Kim Newman