"Actor: Larry Riley"

• C.H.U.D. 2 - Bud The Chud | Blu Ray | (28/08/2017) from £10.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  In Bud the C.H.U.D. a couple of high-school kids loose the cadaver for the next day's science experiment, then hit on a plan to steal a body from the local hospital to replace it. Unfortunately what they don’t know is that the hospital is home to a rather more sinister and dubious military trial, the sole remaining C.H.U.D (Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dweller), who has been cryogenically frozen after the experiment went horribly wrong. Unwittingly they thaw Bud the C.H.U.D, who has the rebel-boy charm of James Dean and the personal tastes of Hannibal Lector. Bud then lumbers off on a cannibalistic rampage infecting everyone he munches on (including the family dog) and turning the town into a whole army of C.H.U.Ds. Only the Colonel (played with great melodramatic gusto by Robert "Napoleon Solo" Vaughn) and the kids who unleashed him can save the town from a fate worse than death. This tongue-in-check schlock horror movie is worth watching just for the late-80s nostalgia, the performances are clichéd and the plot wafer thin, but the humour hits the spot and Brian Robbins as the eponymous Bud positively eats his way into your heart. On the DVD: the DVD is unfortunately devoid of any special features other than a filmography and the film stock has a kind of graininess that comes from being low budget (rather than purposefully art house). It won’t be to everyone’s taste but you can’t beat the pure entertainment factor of a cannibalistic poodle. --Kristen Bowditch

• A Soldier's Story | DVD | (04/10/2010) from £6.73   |  Saving you £-0.74 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Charles Fuller adapted his Pulitzer Prize-winning A Soldier's Play for the big screen in 1984. The film version, A Soldier's Story is essentially a murder mystery, played out against a background of inter and intra-racial conflict at a Second World War training camp. To the consternation of his white opposite number at the camp, a black captain (Howard W Rollins) arrives to investigate the death of a black sergeant (Adolph Caesar). Suspicion immediately falls on a pair of bigoted white officers but as the tale unfolds in a series of flashbacks, it soon becomes clear that a different kind of prejudice is also at work. Assisted by some excellent performances, director Norman Jewison opens the story out from its stage roots. There's a wonderful baseball scene (filmed on location at Little Rock) in which the double standards of Dennis Lipscomb's fidgety white captain are exposed with neat irony; he'll cheer his successful black team all the way home in the name of sport. His gradual, forced liberalisation provides the film with an important comic element. A Soldier's Story wears its heart on its sleeve without being superficial in any way. It's a compelling tale, well told and often highly entertaining, in which nobody gets off lightly, least of all the good guy. On the DVD: The widescreen presentation helps give an epic feel to what could, in other hands, have been a claustrophobic production. The picture quality is fine. But the monaural sound track is often rather muffled, leaving you straining to catch some of the dialogue. This is also a shame because the blues music--an inspired job by Herbie Hancock, assisted by Patti Labelle singing her lungs out as bar owner Big Mary--is an important element of the film's underlying theme and deserves to be better heard. The extras are valuable. Norman Jewison's commentary is detailed and sensitive. As he says, the film deals with "ideas in racism never seen on screen before", and he acknowledges the strength of his actors in getting those ideas across. "March to Freedom" is an excellent short documentary which features the moving testimonies of black servicemen on the insufferable prejudices they encountered while attempting to defend their country during the Second World War; A Soldier's Story is thus put sharply into context. --Piers Ford

• C.H.U.D. 2 - Bud The CHUD | DVD | (17/09/2007) from £6.99   |  Saving you £9.00 (56.30%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Their first mistake was stealing a corpse... Their second was waking him up. Meet Bud The CHUD a Cannabilistic Humanoid Undeground Dweller. He has all the charm of Cary Grant the searing sexuality of James Dean the greatest talent discovery since Patrick Swayze. It's Hallowe'en and this CHUD's for you!

• A Soldier's Story | DVD | (17/08/2009) from £9.98   |  Saving you £-3.99 (-66.60%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Charles Fuller adapted his Pulitzer Prize-winning A Soldier's Play for the big screen in 1984. The film version, A Soldier's Story is essentially a murder mystery, played out against a background of inter and intra-racial conflict at a Second World War training camp. To the consternation of his white opposite number at the camp, a black captain (Howard W Rollins) arrives to investigate the death of a black sergeant (Adolph Caesar). Suspicion immediately falls on a pair of bigoted white officers but as the tale unfolds in a series of flashbacks, it soon becomes clear that a different kind of prejudice is also at work. Assisted by some excellent performances, director Norman Jewison opens the story out from its stage roots. There's a wonderful baseball scene (filmed on location at Little Rock) in which the double standards of Dennis Lipscomb's fidgety white captain are exposed with neat irony; he'll cheer his successful black team all the way home in the name of sport. His gradual, forced liberalisation provides the film with an important comic element. A Soldier's Story wears its heart on its sleeve without being superficial in any way. It's a compelling tale, well told and often highly entertaining, in which nobody gets off lightly, least of all the good guy. On the DVD: The widescreen presentation helps give an epic feel to what could, in other hands, have been a claustrophobic production. The picture quality is fine. But the monaural sound track is often rather muffled, leaving you straining to catch some of the dialogue. This is also a shame because the blues music--an inspired job by Herbie Hancock, assisted by Patti Labelle singing her lungs out as bar owner Big Mary--is an important element of the film's underlying theme and deserves to be better heard. The extras are valuable. Norman Jewison's commentary is detailed and sensitive. As he says, the film deals with "ideas in racism never seen on screen before", and he acknowledges the strength of his actors in getting those ideas across. "March to Freedom" is an excellent short documentary which features the moving testimonies of black servicemen on the insufferable prejudices they encountered while attempting to defend their country during the Second World War; A Soldier's Story is thus put sharply into context. --Piers Ford

• C.H.U.D. II - Bud The CHUD | DVD | (08/10/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In Bud the C.H.U.D. a couple of high-school kids loose the cadaver for the next day's science experiment, then hit on a plan to steal a body from the local hospital to replace it. Unfortunately what they don’t know is that the hospital is home to a rather more sinister and dubious military trial, the sole remaining C.H.U.D (Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dweller), who has been cryogenically frozen after the experiment went horribly wrong. Unwittingly they thaw Bud the C.H.U.D, who has the rebel-boy charm of James Dean and the personal tastes of Hannibal Lector. Bud then lumbers off on a cannibalistic rampage infecting everyone he munches on (including the family dog) and turning the town into a whole army of C.H.U.Ds. Only the Colonel (played with great melodramatic gusto by Robert "Napoleon Solo" Vaughn) and the kids who unleashed him can save the town from a fate worse than death. This tongue-in-check schlock horror movie is worth watching just for the late-80s nostalgia, the performances are clichéd and the plot wafer thin, but the humour hits the spot and Brian Robbins as the eponymous Bud positively eats his way into your heart. On the DVD: the DVD is unfortunately devoid of any special features other than a filmography and the film stock has a kind of graininess that comes from being low budget (rather than purposefully art house). It won’t be to everyone’s taste but you can’t beat the pure entertainment factor of a cannibalistic poodle. --Kristen Bowditch