"Actor: Gabrielle"

• Sleepless | DVD | (11/12/2006) from £17.53   |  Saving you £-4.54 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Dario Argento's 2001 feature Sleepless didn't receive a cinematic release in the UK, and it's not hard to see why. The movie often feels like Argento on auto-pilot, rehashing images and ideas and camera angles from his more inspired films like Suspiria or Tenebrae. The dialogue is leaden, the plot is a plodding whodunnit (and most of the time it's hard to care who) and the acting, with the exception of the veteran Max von Sydow, is mostly atrocious and crudely dubbed. But then again, no one ever came to an Argento movie for the plot or the dialogue, and least of all for the acting. The key to his mastery has always been the atmosphere of a nightmare that he conjures up, with all its jagged imagery and complete absence of narrative logic. The less sense it makes, the scarier it gets. Sleepless never attains anywhere near a level of nightmarish intensity, but it has its moments--especially the least rational ones. Although the plot involves no elements of the supernatural, and everything is finally (if cumbersomely) explained, it's episodes like the first killing (where the murderer traps his victim on a speeding train he couldn't possibly have boarded) that strike most effectively home. The action involves a retired police inspector (von Sydow) lured back to investigate a series of killings in Turin that replicate murders he was assigned to 17 years earlier. As always with Argento, knives figure prominently, as do prowling steadicam tracking shots, old dark houses and females butchered in any number of gory and far-fetched ways. The film looks unfailingly good, courtesy of its rich dark palate of colours, Ronnie Taylor's sinuous camera, and Argento's favourite group Goblin contribute an edgy, insidious score. On the DVD: Sleepless on DVD comes with a clear, sharp transfer that's a pleasure to watch, with no loss of detail even in the many underlit scenes. Picture is matched for clarity by the terrific 5.1 Dolby Digital sound. This, unlike the truncated US and German DVD releases, is the full 117-minute original, shown in 1.85:1 widescreen. The two-disc set includes a generous helping of extras: stills gallery, the theatrical trailer (in Italian only, though), a 15-minute "making of" featurette, plus an informative one-hour documentary, Dario Argento--An Eye for Horror, narrated by Mark Kermode and previously shown on Channel Four at Christmas 2001.--Philip Kemp

• Whisky Galore | DVD | (10/10/2005) from £19.21   |  Saving you £3.77 (23.24%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A Highland fling on a tight little island! The Scottish islanders of Todday bypass war time rationing and delight in smuggling cases of their favourite tipple from a wrecked ship... Basil Radford stars as the teetotal English official who is totally unable to comprehend the significance of whisky to the islanders. Marvellously detailed and well played it firmly established the richest Ealing vein with the common theme of a small group triumphing over a more powerful opponent.

• Beverly Hills 90210 - Series 9 | DVD | (10/05/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  The ensemble drama about young adults growing up in Beverly Hills is a blend of romantic drama and subject matter that crosses all cultural boundaries. The storyline has followed the Walsh family as they moved from a middle-class Midwestern neighborhood to wealthy and glamorous Beverly Hills maturing from high school to college students facing new challenges as they continue to grow and discover more about themselves and their personal ambitions. As their worlds evolve old friendships will be tested as new relationships develop but no matter how complicated their worlds become they will always share in their strengths and experiences.

• Das unheimliche Haus - Filmclub Edition 13 | DVD | (26/09/2014) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A