"Actor: David Scoular"

• Shallow Grave | DVD | (17/09/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Possessed of startlingly fresh performances and a visual style of genuine panache, Shallow Grave was deservedly a BAFTA Best Film winner in 1994. This was clearly a film that deserved attention. Sure enough, the principal talents involved (Director Danny Boyle, Producer Andrew Macdonald, Writer John Hodge and actors Christopher Eccleston and Ewan McGregor) have gone on to huge successes both together (Trainspotting) and apart. The thriller's plot is simple enough: three flatmates take on a fourth (Keith Allen) who unexpectedly dies, leaving a mountain of cash behind. Who are your friends? Who can you trust? How far would you go for money? These are the questions facing Juliet (Kerry Fox), David (Eccleston) and Alex (McGregor) as the scenario spirals out of control around them. Somehow no matter what they do, the decisions seem to lead to one gruesome event after another. The film's often breakneck pace--backed by tunes from Leftfield--quickly became a much-copied style. Most agree that the copies pale beside the original, and this ice-cold morality poser remains the best view of post-80s greed on screen. On the DVD: Although presented in widescreen anamorphic format, both picture and sound are not much better than an average video playback. Add a static menu and just one trailer and this release will probably disappoint today's DVD collector. --Paul Tonks

• Lord Peter Wimsey - Strong Poison | DVD | (11/02/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Edward Petherbridge stars as the aristocratic detective Lord Peter Wimsey in this who-dun-nit from the pen of Dorothy L. Sayers. Mystery writer Harriet Vane is on trial for the murder of her lover. The evidence seems pretty conclusive. Not an hour after leaving her flat Philip Boyles was found dead in the back of a taxi cab - from arsenic posioning. Wimsey attends the trial and becomes beguiled by the writer. He also becomes convinced of her innocence of the crime. When the jury