"Actor: a ha"

• Jacob's Ladder | DVD | (17/03/2003) from £15.02   |  Saving you £0.97 (6.46%)   |  RRP £15.99

  In Jacob's Ladder, Vietnam veteran Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) thinks he is going insane. Or worse. When his nightmares begin spilling into his waking hours, Jacob believes he is experiencing the after-effects of a powerful drug tested on him during Vietnam. Or perhaps his post-traumatic stress disorder is worse than most. Whatever is happening to him, it's not good. Director Adrian Lyne sparks our interest and maintains high production values, but this confusing film chokes on its "surprise" ending. It owes much to Ambrose Bierce's haunting and more straightforward short story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek. Written by Bruce Joel Rubin, who also explored the "other side" in Ghost and My Life, Jacob's Ladder ultimately feels like an exercise in self-indulgence. A spirited performance by Elizabeth Peña outshines Robbins, who is surprisingly lethargic. --Rochelle O'Gorman

• The Amityville Curse | DVD | (09/10/2006) from £12.99   |  Saving you £-7.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  In the fifth installment of the ""Amityville"" series six friends move into the infamous haunted home. Soon their lives are turned upside-down when supernatural forces residing in the cellar wreak bloody havoc upon them.

• a-ha - The Movie | DVD | (15/03/2022) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Dawn Of The Dead - Uncut | DVD | (14/04/2003) from £17.31   |  Saving you £-7.32 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The quite terrifying and gory Dawn of the Dead was George Romero's 1978 follow-up to his classic 1968 Night of the Living Dead. But it is also just as comically satiric as the first film in its take on contemporary values. This time, we follow the fortunes of four people who lock themselves inside a shopping centre to get away from the marauding dead and who then immerse themselves in unabashed consumerism, taking what they want from an array of clothing and jewellery shops, making gourmet meals and so on. It is Romero's take on Louis XVI in the modern world: keep the starving masses at bay and crank up the insulated indulgence. Still, this is a horror film after all and even some of Romero's best visual jokes (a Hare Krishna turned blue-skinned zombie) can make you sweat. --Tom Keogh

• Anywhere But Here | DVD | (01/03/2004) from £7.61   |  Saving you £6.64 (104.57%)   |  RRP £12.99

  ""Funny and poignant. Sarandon and Portman sparkle!"" -Jami Bernard NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Adele is a flashy flirtatious dreamer. Her daughter Ann is a quiet no-nonsense realist. On the surface they're like oil and water but deep down they're two of a kind. ""Susan Sarandon makes magic"" (Chicago Tribune) and ""Natalie Portman soars"" (NY-1) in this funny and touching story about a mother who knows best...and a daughter who knows better!

• Hamburger Hill | DVD | (10/09/2007) from £6.46   |  Saving you £9.53 (147.52%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The men of Bravo Company are facing a battle that's all uphill... up Hamburger Hill. Fourteen war-weary soldiers are battling for a mud-covered mound of earth so named because it chews up soldiers like chopped meat. They are fighting for their country their fellow soldiers and their lives. War is hell but this is worse. Hamburger Hill tells it the way it was the way it really was. It's a raw gritty and totally unrelenting dramatic depiction of one of the fiercest battles of America's bloodiest war. Dodge the gunfire. Get caught behind enemy lines. Go into battle beside the brave young men who fought and died. Feel their desperation and futility. This happened. Hamburger Hill - war at its worst men at their best.

• The Animatrix | DVD | (02/06/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Collection of nine short animated films telling the backstory of the Matrix.

• Wer | DVD | (19/10/2015) from £7.69   |  Saving you £5.30 (40.80%)   |  RRP £12.99

  When a family is brutally slain near an isolated rural village, a suspicious local man is soon arrested and brought in for questioning. During the interrogation process it becomes clear that the suspect is not quite what he seems as he begins to transform into a rampaging werewolf set on destroying anything in his path. As the bloodbath ensues, the authorities must do whatever they can to survive the surrounding terror and prevent the chaos from spreading.

• Whitney | DVD | (17/07/2017) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A chronicle of Whitney Houston's rise to fame and turbulent relationship with husband Bobby Brown.

• British Transport Films Collection - Vol. 3 - Running A Railway | DVD | (29/05/2006) from £10.99   |  Saving you £9.00 (81.89%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Running a Railway is the third release in bfi Video's digitally re-mastered double-disc DVD series of British Transport Films combining favourites from the much loved and best-selling video series with additional material. This new collection contains four hours of footage including the multi-award-winning Terminus directed by John Schlesinger. Among these rare gems are: Farmer Moving South (1952): The true story of a Yorkshire farmer who decided to sell his land and move his entire stock - cattle pigs and poultry machinery ploughs and tractors - south to Sussex by rail in December on what was the coldest night of the year. I Am A Litter Basket (1959): Every day the people who use railway stations drop hundreds of tons of litter all over the place while me and my mates have to stand by empty and starving. Until one day we get so desperate we go foraging for ourselves. And what happens? Take a look at this film. It makes me weep to think of it. I nearly gave up all hope until - but wait and see! Modelling for the Future (1961) Visions of an earlier Channel Tunnel scheme and a model of the proposed terminal. This film demonstrates a range of facilities and shows the possibilities of an age-old dream - a dry land crossing between England and France. The Third Sam (1962) - Sam Smith is taught to drive an electric locomotive. He learns the new job without difficulty but one day his train breaks down and Sam summons up three sides of his character to deal with the emergency. With narration in typical rhyming monologue by Stanley Holloway this is an original and amusing approach to instructional filmmaking. E For Experimental (1975): An account of the development of British Rail's experimental Advanced Passenger Train (APT) The film explains in simple terms some of the many novel design features of the APT including the tilt mechanism and the hydro-kinetic brake and shows the train in action during its trials. All these films are now preserved in the bfi National Film and Television Archive. The DVDs are a 'must' not only for the transport enthusiast but also for anyone who enjoys historical documentary films. A booklet containing an introduction and film notes by BTF historian Steven Foxon accompanies the discs.

• Disturbing Behavior | DVD | (14/06/2004) from £8.08   |  Saving you £-2.09 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  This paranoia-fuelled thriller, more intelligent and imaginative than you would have reason to believe, owes a huge debt to The Stepford Wives with its premise of a goody-good high school clique programmed by an evil doctor to be wholesome, academically driven and shining examples of clean living. Unlike its predecessor, though, David Nutter's film opts to open up its premise for everyone to see, diluting the scares but amplifying the creepy atmosphere. There's never any question of what's happening to the students of Cradle Bay High, who go from being druggies and sex fiends to the academically excellent Blue Ribbons, but it's a lot of fun to see these programmed teens run amok--and start killing people--when their hormones kick in. And considering they're all horny teenagers, this happens, oh, at least a few times a day. Model-perfect James Marsden, with stunning cheekbones and piercing blue eyes, is the new kid in town who stumbles on the plot with a little help from metalhead Nick Stahl. Moody Marsden stirs up trouble when he refuses to join up with the Blue Ribbons, prompting his concerned parents to consider signing him up for the program, especially after it turns Stahl into a vest-wearing, pep-rallying brainiac. The satire isn't entirely fulfilled (the evil kids hang out at the yoghurt shop and spout inspirational platitudes), but once the action kicks in it's quite an enjoyable ride, thanks primarily to Bruce Greenwood (The Sweet Hereafter) as the mad scientist behind it all and Katie Holmes (Go) as Marsden's love interest. Refusing the advances of the star football player and fighting gamely alongside Marsden, Holmes manages to deck a few bad guys with a fervour that squarely puts her in Linda Hamilton and Jamie Lee Curtis territory. Steve Railsback stars as the colluding chief of police and Dan Zudovic as a janitor with a penchant for getting rid of "rats," rodent and otherwise. --Mark Englehart, Amazon.com

• Legend Of A Fighter | DVD | (05/03/2001) from £9.98   |  Saving you £10.01 (100.30%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In the historically based Kung fu drama Legend of a Fighter director Yuen Woo Ping offers his version of the early life of martial artist Fok Yuen Gap (played by Leung Kar Yan). Set at the beginning of the 20th century, Fok is considered too weak to learn the family Kung fu style. Still, as his father can break eggs by growling, he probably considers most people weak. The teenager forms a bond with his humane Japanese tutor (Kurata Yusuaki), who secretly teaches martial arts. The story builds to a moving climax as 12 years later pupil and now ageing master are forced by honour into a deadly duel. The opening and closing acts are by far the strongest, the plentiful fight scenes being balanced by gentle humour and emotions torn between friendship and duty. Both lead actors are excellent, with Yusuaki being particularly fine as the noble warrior-teacher. The middle, a series of disconnected tableaux in which Fok establishes his stature as a Kung fu expert, goes on much too long to sustain interest. Nevertheless the story of Fok Yuen Gap, a genuine Chinese hero who was also the inspiration for Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury (1972), is fine and Woo Ping delivers the one-on-one Kung fu action with the touch of a master.On the DVD: The 1.77:1 image doesn't benefit at all from its anamorphic enhancement, the entire film being presented slightly out of focus so that by the end eyes are likely to be aching. The opening 4:3 Academy ratio archive footage has been distorted to 1.77:1, while the original trailer shows Legend of a Fighter was shot in an extremely wide format--possibly the Hong Kong equivalent of early 2.66:1 CinemaScope, or even 2.74:1 Techniscope--which means that large amounts of the original image are missing. This is very obvious as characters constantly vanish off the sides of the screen or are cropped in half. Additionally, and again compared to the crisp, sharp trailer, colours are washed out, while the mono sound distorts whenever the music gets loud. The film is available in Mandarin with optional English subtitles, or in an awful English dub littered with inappropriate obscene language. There is a nine-minute interview with Leung Kar Yan, and a 23-minute interview with Yuen Woo Ping, which is a slightly longer version of the conversation presented on the Magnificent Butcher DVD: it's notable how he expresses his love of science fiction and indicates he would like to make a SF Kung-fu movie, something he achieved with The Matrix (1999). There is a Hong Kong Legends' promo for the film, together with seven further new trailers. The photo gallery is pointless, simply cropping some shots even further than the main presentation. --Gary S Dalkin

• The Front Line | DVD | (27/02/2012) from £6.59   |  Saving you £11.40 (172.99%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Experience breath-taking action sequences and heart-wrenching performances in this critically acclaimed Korean box-office smash-hit. In the final decisive battles of The Korean War, the battle-worn armies of North and South Korea face a brutal deadlock on the rugged Aerok Hills. Fears of treachery and collusion with enemy forces trigger an investigation into the men of the South Korean Alligator Company. A veteran intelligence officer accepts the assignment and discovers mysterious and tragic occurrences surrounding a former comrade he had long thought dead.In the epic battle for survival that follows, the two men become locked in a deadly battle of wills. One will sacrifice his humanity for the sake of his ‘brothers’; the other will discover compassion in the agonies of war. Ultimately, both will be forced to fight side-by-side, so their loved ones can enjoy freedom for just one more day… Special Features: Dolby Digital Korean 2.0 & 5.1 English Subtitles Audio Commentary Trailer Gallery Making of Gallery Production Design

• Napola | DVD | (08/05/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Men Make History. We Make The Men. As Hitler launches the first major military aggressions of World War II the strongest and smartest German young men enter exclusive schools known as ""Napolas"" to train as future leaders of the Third Reich. In 1942 a recruiter from one such Napola sets his sights on Friedrich a talented adolescent boxer who sees the training and prestige offered by the Napola as his ticket out of an impoverished family unit run by his anti-Nazi father. In

• Whispering Corridors | DVD | (14/11/2005) from £12.97   |  Saving you £2.02 (15.57%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Ostensibly a teen fright-fest about a vengeful ghost Whispering Corridors follows in the horror tradition of using the supernatural for displaced social commentary. The film is an illustration of the growing gap in Korean society between the values of the youth and the older generations focused around the misogyny and cutthroat competition in the educational system. It became a huge hit in its native country after word got out that the ministry of education wanted to

• Flame | DVD | (17/03/2003) from £99.99   |  Saving you £-84.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

• Black Sheep | DVD | (03/11/2011) from £5.38   |  Saving you £10.61 (66.40%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Deviant, multi-stranded black comedy set in the dark underbelly of modern Berlin. The story follows a group of deadbeats as they act out their bizarre and twisted plans to hit the big time. Satanists, prostitutes, artists and thieves are just some of the unsavoury characters looming large in this anarchically offbeat urban parody.

• How To Make A Monster | DVD | (24/06/2002) from £8.07   |  Saving you £11.92 (59.60%)   |  RRP £19.99

  More than any other of the Creature feature titles How To Make a Monster truly brings the classic 1950's horror genre into the 21st Century. Reality and fantasy collide head-on in the adolescent world of computer game creation. A greedy band of misfit programmers is hired to create the most gruesome monster for the ultimate scary video game ""Evil-ution."" However each game programmer begins to disappear as they are individually hunted and killed by an indestructible monster - the mo

• Flu | DVD | (30/06/2014) from £6.19   |  Saving you £13.80 (222.94%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Sung-su Kim directs this Korean action film starring Hyuk Jang and Soo Ae. When a shipping container carrying illegal immigrants is opened in Bungang, South Korea, all of the occupants are found to be dead. All, that is, except one man who quickly flees the scene. One of the traffickers who had been in contact with the escapee admits himself to the hospital with flu-like symptoms. Lockdown is declared on the city as it becomes clear there is a deadly strain of H5N1 bird flu infecting its peop.

• Pirates of Somalia | DVD | (29/01/2018) from £9.52   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  In 2008, rookie journalist Jay Bahadur forms a half-baked plan to embed himself among the pirates of Somalia. He ultimately succeeds in providing the first close-up look into who these men are, how they live, and the forces that drive them.