"Actor: Chris Cason"

• 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

• Basilisk | DVD | (05/01/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £49.99

  To the one I love...Prepare to die The Kouga and the Iga two ninja clans with four hundred years of hostilities between them meet at the request of Lord Ieyasu. There they learn that the peace forced upon them is to be broken by the whim of royalty and that the outcome of this battle will determine the next Shogun. The passions of the past quickly reignite as two scrolls are sent out into the night. Ill-fated is this event indeed for lovers stand with hands entwined as travesty approaches on the wings of a hawk. Reared from birth as sworn enemies Gennosuke and Oboro each the heir of these rival clans seek lasting peace between their peoples. But the terms have been set and two lists seal their destinies. Two lists from which a name can only be crossed out in blood. No mercy will be spared to the enemy.