"Actor: Mary Engel"

• At Close Range | DVD | (21/07/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Based on a real life series of murders in 1970’s Pennsylvania AT CLOSE RANGE is a chilling portrayal of a family’s life of crime. Starring CHRISTOPHER WALKEN (Catch Me If You Can True Romance) and SEAN PENN (The Thin Red Line Dead Man Walking). When young Brad Whitewood Jr’s (PENN) wayward father wanders back into his life he is attracted by his dangerous dad’s criminal activities. Soon Brad Jr and his half brother (played by Penn’s real life broth

• 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

• Elvis Presley Box Set (Volume 2) | DVD | (30/08/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £30.99

  Includes the films Viva Las Vegas Speedway and Harum Scarum. Viva Las Vegas: Lucky Jackson (Elvis) is a Vegas gambling car racing singing and dancing ladies man. But all does not go the way he plans when he finds himself distracted by the lovely pool manageress... Speedway: Stock car racer Steve Grayson (Elvis) has a generous disposition and a wastrel manager (Bill Bixby) - it's no surprise that he finds himself owing the taxman 5 000. Sparks fly when gorgeous tax inspector Susan Jacks (Nancy Sinatra) arrives on the scene... Harum Scarum: Johnny Tyronne (Elvis) is a swashbuckling action-adventure movie star on a goodwill tour of the Middle East to promote his latest film. Disaster strikes when he is kidnapped by a clandestine group of assassins who want him to kill a desert king!