"Director: Joe Dante"

• Gremlins | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £7.19   |  Saving you £6.80 (94.58%)   |  RRP £13.99

  When his absent-minded father gives young Billy Pelzer (Zach Galligan) a new pet, he warns him to abide by three rules. The rules get broken, of course, and the pet--a cute Mogwai named Gizmo--unwittingly gives birth to the vicious Gremlins who proceed to terrorise the town. Although the long shadow of Producer Steven Spielberg hangs over Joe Dante's 1984 comedy Gremlins almost as much as it did over Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist (1982), Dante doesn't allow it to overwhelm his own quirky style too much. Glimpses of Robbie the Robot and The Time Machine (which promptly disappears) at an inventors' convention reveal his passion for old-movie references (which culminated with Matinee, 1993). Aided and abetted by Spielberg's guidance and a script by Chris Columbus (who would go on to direct and produce the Home Alone franchise) and a music score by Jerry Goldsmith, Dante had all the help he needed to make the biggest hit of his career. Much of the humour derives from Dante's playful handling of the setting in Smallsville, USA, whose inhabitants are as much the target of his satire as they are of the Gremlins' unwanted solicitations. The xenophobic neighbour who warns prophetically of "gremlins" in foreign cars and machinery provides a subtext for the attack on homely American values, as does showing Invasion of the Body Snatchers on TV while the wicked Gremlins hatch. The sight of the little tykes cavorting in a bar, getting drunk and even dancing in pink leggings looks suspiciously like a satirical dig at the whole 1980's culture of selfishness: with their destructive impulses and overindulgences the Gremlins are the ultimate egotistical yuppies. As with many Spielberg projects, the bland hero saves the day for nostalgic, old-fashioned values, but there are plenty of laughs along the way--for example in the now-classic scene when the hero's mother fights off Gremlins in the kitchen by stuffing them in the blender and microwave. Dante's 1990 sequel is even more satirically pointed, and he effectively remade the original with Small Soldiers (1998), replacing Gremlins with toys. On the DVD: Disappointingly, there are no extra features at all here, aside from subtitles and "interactive menus"--which simply means there is an onscreen menu and it works. --Mark Walker

• Innerspace | Blu Ray | (04/09/2017) from £6.49   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Jack Putter feels funny today, nothing new to this 25-hour-a-day hypochondriac. What's new is that Jack hears something. I'm possessed! he cries. And you're about to be possessed by laughter. Gremlins executive producer Steven Spielberg and director Joe Dante again rev their imaginations into overdrive for this comic adventure that won a 1987 Best Visual Effects Academy Award. The voice Jack (Martin Short) hears is that of hotshot Navy pilot Tuck Pendleton (Dennis Quaid), subject of a secret miniaturization project gone awry and accidentally injected into Jack. And before frazzled Jack can say I've got you under my skin, his unlikely partner propels him into the craziest escapade of his life.

• The Howling (40th Anniversary Restoration) | Blu Ray | (25/10/2021) from £6.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Imagine your worst fear a reality with this brand new 40th anniversary restoration of The Howling, approved by Director Joe Dante (Gremlins). With ground-breaking special effects by Rob Bottin (The Thing, The Fog, Total Recall), The Howling has been stunningly restored for a new generation of horror fans. Graphically violent, sexually explicit and nightmarishly intense, it remains one of the most original werewolf movies of the eighties. After an intense confrontation with a serial killer, news anchor Karen White (Dee Wallace) is left traumatised and suffering from amnesia. In need of recovery, Karen takes refuge within The Colony , a country retreat organised by her psychiatrist Dr Waggner (Patrick Macnee). But things at The Colony aren't as idyllic as they originally seemed and as blood curdling screams break the midnight silence, Karen's memories slowly begin to come into focus. Special Features Inside the Career of Joe Dante Brand new featurette that celebrates the incredible career of Joe Dante Welcome to Werewolfland A lookback into the special effects of The Howling Deleted Scenes Outtakes - These outtakes will leave you howling!

• Innerspace | DVD | (26/08/2002) from £6.49   |  Saving you £7.50 (115.56%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Innerspace is assured a place in the Hollywood history books as the movie which brought Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan together as one of cinema's most famous couples. The film itself belongs among a series of feelgood fantasies presented by Steven Spielberg in the 1980s, including Back to the Future (1984) and from the same director, Joe Dante, Gremlins (1983). Innerspace offers Dante's usual mixture of comedy, exciting action and fantasy, the plot being a variation on Fantastic Voyage (1966). Test pilot Quaid is miniaturised and as a result of a bungled attempt to steal the new experimental technology, accidentally injected into the body of a deeply stressed and insecure Martin Short. Quaid is charismatic and commanding, Ryan gives an early demonstration of her patent romantic comedy persona, but it's Short's picture as he delivers a perfectly nuanced performance pitched between slapstick and paranoia. The Oscar-winning special effects enhance rather than dominate the story, which, though it gets a bit too silly in places, is generally inventive and sufficiently action packed to sustain the almost two-hour running time. Jerry Goldsmith's muscular score is a major asset, while in-joke spotters will have fun picking out everyone from Chuck Jones to William Schallert (the doctor in The Incredible Shrinking Man (1! 957)). On the DVD: Innerspace on disc has a group commentary with director Joe Dante, producer Michael Finnell, visual effects supervisor Dennis Muren and actor Kevin McCarthy. This is engaging if far from riveting. The original trailer is anamorphically enhanced and there are two perfunctory pages listing cast, crew and the film's Oscar for special effects. The original Dolby Spectral soundtrack has been remixed into Dolby Digital 5.1 and is bold, clear and powerful. The picture is presented at 1.78:1 and is a virtually flawless transfer: colours are rich, detail levels are high and the only trace of grain is in a few particularly high contrast shots.--Gary S. Dalkin

• Gremlins 2 - The New Batch | DVD | (23/04/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Here They Grow Again... The rules are the same but the laughs are bigger and thrills are better. This time Billy and everyone's favorite Mogwai Gizmo must face off against a new batch of Gremlins that definitely think New York is their kind of town.

• Piranha | Blu Ray | (28/01/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  When two hiking teens go missing around Lost River Lake private investigator Maggie McKeown teams up with the local drunk to look for clues. Their search takes them to a secret military base where they inadvertently let loose an experimental strain of mutant piranha. Now the guests at every resort downriver are on the menu! Special Features: Audio Commentary with Joe Dante and Jon Davison Behind the Scenes Making of Outtakes Stills Gallery Radio and TV Spots

• Gremlins/Gremlins 2 - The New Batch | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £9.45   |  Saving you £0.54 (5.71%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Cute. Clever. Mischievous. Intelligent. Dangerous. They're here! Gremlins: Don't ever get it wet. Keep it away from bright light. And no matter how much it cries no matter how much it begs--never ever feed it after midnight. With these three instructions young Billy Peltzer takes possession of his cuddly new pet. Billy will get a whole lot more than he bargained for... Gremlins 2 - The New Batch: The rules are the same but the laughs are bigger and thrills are better. This time Billy and everyone's favorite Mogwai Gizmo must face off against a new batch of Gremlins that definitely think New York is their kind of town.

• The Howling | Blu Ray | (09/10/2017) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  An instant werewolf classic, The Howling was directed by Joe Dante, a graduate of Roger Corman's school of low-budget ingenuity who had gained enough momentum with 1978's Piranha to rise to this bigger challenge. He brought along Piranha screenwriter John Sayles, too, and recruited makeup wizard Rob Bottin to create what was then the wildest on-screen transformation ever seen. With Gary Brandner's novel The Howling as a starting point, Sayles and Dante conceived a werewolf colony on the California coast, posing as a self-help haven led by a seemingly benevolent doctor (Patrick Macnee), and populated by a variety of "patients", from sexy, leather-clad sirens (Elisabeth Brooks) to an old coot (John Carradine) who's quite literally long in the tooth. When a TV reporter (Dee Wallace) arrives at the colony to recover from a recent trauma, the resident lycanthropes prepare for a howlin' good time. Dante handles it all with equal measures of humour, sex, gore, and horror, pulling out all the stops when the ravenous Eddie (Dante favourite Robert Picardo, later known as The Doctor on Star Trek: Voyager) transforms into a towering , bloodthirsty werewolf. (Bottin's mentor Rick Baker would soon raise the make-up ante with An American Werewolf in London.) As usual in Dante's movies (qv. Gremlins), in-jokes abound, from characters named after werewolf movie directors, amusing cameos (Corman, Sayles, Forrest J Ackerman), and hammy inserts of wolfish cartoons and Allen Ginsberg's "Howl". It's best appreciated now as a quintessential example of early-80s horror, with low-budget limitations evident throughout, but The Howling remains a giddy genre milestone. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• The 'burbs | Blu Ray | (15/09/2014) from £16.39   |  Saving you £8.60 (52.47%)   |  RRP £24.99

  He's a man of peace in a savage land... suburbia. The films of director Joe Dante have taken us to some strange places - a mysterious Chinatown antique store in Gremlins; a secluded resort populated by werewolves in The Howling; even deep inside the human body in Innerspace. But now he takes us to the strangest place of all - surburbia! Family man Ray Peterson (Tom Hanks) is looking forward to a week of putting his feet up at home in the quiet leafy cul-de-sac of Mayfield Place. But his plans are scuppered by the arrival of new next-door neighbours The Klopeks whose behaviour and habits are more than just a little kooky. But things go from kooky to downright sinister when local old boy Walter disappears leading Ray and his buddies to suspect their new neighbours of killing and eating him! Sure the Klopeks are a strange bunch what with their digging up the backyard in the middle of the night - but they're not devil-worshipping cannibal killers...are they? If you're looking for a knowing slice of tongue-in-cheek terror then look no further than The 'Burbs. A standout horror comedy from a director who has given us more than his fair share of fun frighteners The 'Burbs assembles a superb cast including Tom Hanks Bruce Dern Carrie Fisher and Corey Feldman in a tall tale of small-town terror. You'll never look at those eccentric neighbours in the same way again! Special Features: High Definition Digital Transfer Newly Created Exclusive Content Reversible Sleeve Featuring Original and Newly Commissioned Artwork by Graham Humphreys Collector's Booklet Featuring New Writing on the Film Archive Content and More!

• The New Twilight Zone: Complete 80's Box Set | DVD | (29/04/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £49.99

  Travel into the fifth dimension once again with the Twilight Zone, testing the limits of reality and exploring the mysteries of the universe. Airing from 1985 to 1989, this critically acclaimed anthology series carried on the legacy of the original Rod Serling programme and attracted a brand-new audience of fans Casts featured such stars as Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, Martin Landau, Joe Mantegna and Fred Savage. Episode Directors include Wes Craven, William Friedkin, Joe Dant...

• Looney Tunes Back In Action | DVD | (19/07/2004) from £7.19   |  Saving you £6.80 (94.58%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Warner Bros' beloved assortment of irreverent animated entertainers break out of the studio lot to embark on an adventure that takes them from Hollywood to the jungles of Africa.

• Piranha | Blu Ray | (21/11/2022) from £13.79   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Man has meddled again with mother nature and the result is not only deadly...it's voracious! With a clever screenplay written by John Sayles (Apollo 13) from a story by Richard Robinson, director Joe Dante (Gremlins) creates an eerie and devilishly fun tale of mutant piranha terrorizing a local swimming hole. On an inviting tranquil evening, two venturesome teenagers take a moonlit skinny-dip in the inviting waters of Lost River Lake...little did they know they would quickly become fish food for a hungry school of man-eating piranha!Their deaths prompt an investigation that reveals a governmental cover-up of a top secret experiment called Operation Razorteeth. And it only gets worse. These insatiable, gilled monsters are heading downstream where a newly opened swimming resort will give them a smorgasbord of tasty vacationers, unless a brave outdoorsman (Bradford Dillman) and a sharp, beautiful investigator (Heather Menzies) can stop their deadly spawn...for good.

• Gremlins | Blu Ray | (06/10/2014) from £7.98   |  Saving you £1.27 (18.90%)   |  RRP £7.99

  When his absent-minded father gives young Billy Pelzer (Zach Galligan) a new pet, he warns him to abide by three rules. The rules get broken, of course, and the pet--a cute Mogwai named Gizmo--unwittingly gives birth to the vicious Gremlins who proceed to terrorise the town. Although the long shadow of Producer Steven Spielberg hangs over Joe Dante's 1984 comedy Gremlins almost as much as it did over Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist (1982), Dante doesn't allow it to overwhelm his own quirky style too much. Glimpses of Robbie the Robot and The Time Machine (which promptly disappears) at an inventors' convention reveal his passion for old-movie references (which culminated with Matinee, 1993). Aided and abetted by Spielberg's guidance and a script by Chris Columbus (who would go on to direct and produce the Home Alone franchise) and a music score by Jerry Goldsmith, Dante had all the help he needed to make the biggest hit of his career. Much of the humour derives from Dante's playful handling of the setting in Smallsville, USA, whose inhabitants are as much the target of his satire as they are of the Gremlins' unwanted solicitations. The xenophobic neighbour who warns prophetically of "gremlins" in foreign cars and machinery provides a subtext for the attack on homely American values, as does showing Invasion of the Body Snatchers on TV while the wicked Gremlins hatch. The sight of the little tykes cavorting in a bar, getting drunk and even dancing in pink leggings looks suspiciously like a satirical dig at the whole 1980's culture of selfishness: with their destructive impulses and overindulgences the Gremlins are the ultimate egotistical yuppies. As with many Spielberg projects, the bland hero saves the day for nostalgic, old-fashioned values, but there are plenty of laughs along the way--for example in the now-classic scene when the hero's mother fights off Gremlins in the kitchen by stuffing them in the blender and microwave. Dante's 1990 sequel is even more satirically pointed, and he effectively remade the original with Small Soldiers (1998), replacing Gremlins with toys. On the DVD: Disappointingly, there are no extra features at all here, aside from subtitles and "interactive menus"--which simply means there is an onscreen menu and it works. --Mark Walker

• Burying The Ex | DVD | (19/10/2015) from £18.68   |  Saving you £-5.69 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  When Max discovers that his girlfriend, Evelyn, is controlling and manipulative he is afraid to end the relationship. However, when fate takes over and she is killed in a freak accident Max cant believe his luck and soon has met a new girl who seems perfect. His new romance gets tricky, however, when Evelyn comes back from the dead intent on getting her boyfriend back and she wont take no for an answer. Burying The Ex is a hilarious horror movie from the legendary director of Gremlins.

• Police Squad Season 1 | DVD | (06/11/2006) from £15.73   |  Saving you £4.26 (27.08%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The satirical comedy Police Squad pits an ace detective and his captain (Leslie Nielsen & Alan North) against the criminal elements that befoul a big city. From the creators of Airplane!. Episodes Comprise: 1. A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise) 2. Ring of Fear (A Dangerous Assignment) 3. Butler Did It the (A Bird in the Hand) 4. Revenge and Remorse (The Guilty Alibi) 5. Rendezvous at Big Gulch (Terror in the Neighborhood) 6. Testimony of Evil (Dead Men Don't Laugh)

• Piranha | DVD | (21/11/2022) from £6.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Man has meddled again with mother nature and the result is not only deadly...it's voracious! With a clever screenplay written by John Sayles (Apollo 13) from a story by Richard Robinson, director Joe Dante (Gremlins) creates an eerie and devilishly fun tale of mutant piranha terrorizing a local swimming hole. On an inviting tranquil evening, two venturesome teenagers take a moonlit skinny-dip in the inviting waters of Lost River Lake...little did they know they would quickly become fish food for a hungry school of man-eating piranha!Their deaths prompt an investigation that reveals a governmental cover-up of a top secret experiment called Operation Razorteeth. And it only gets worse. These insatiable, gilled monsters are heading downstream where a newly opened swimming resort will give them a smorgasbord of tasty vacationers, unless a brave outdoorsman (Bradford Dillman) and a sharp, beautiful investigator (Heather Menzies) can stop their deadly spawn...for good.

• The Burbs | DVD | (01/06/2009) from £9.98   |  Saving you £0.01 (0.10%)   |  RRP £9.99

  To the disappointment of his wife Carol Ray decides to spend a relaxing week at home and soon gets into trouble with his neighbours - a hefty busybody a freaked-out ex-soldier and a spacey teenager - as they observe the strange happenings next door at the Klopek's bizarre residence. When the neighborhood grouch suddenly disappears the men are convinced the ramshackle house hides some hideous clues. Armed with assault rifles high-powered binoculars and a shovel they decide to see for themselves exactly what is going on in the Klopek place... Tom Hanks portrays suburbanite Ray Peterson whose plans for a peaceful vacation are disturbed by a creepy new family on the block in this outrageous suspense-comedy directed by Joe Dante. Set in an average neighborhood that is anything but average The Burbs blends slapstick comedy and spine-tingling mystery with the type of witty humour that has made Tom Hanks a star.

• Gremlins / Gremlins 2 - The New Batch | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £8.34   |  Saving you £-1.35 (N/A%)   |  RRP £6.99

  Cute. Clever. Mischievous. Intelligent. Dangerous. They're here! Gremlins: Don't ever get it wet. Keep it away from bright light. And no matter how much it cries no matter how much it begs--never ever feed it after midnight. With these three instructions young Billy Peltzer takes possession of his cuddly new pet. Billy will get a whole lot more than he bargained for... Gremlins 2 - The New Batch: The rules are the same but the laughs are bigger and thrills ar

• Small Soldiers | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £7.63   |  Saving you £2.36 (30.93%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Here's the pitch for Small Soldiers: "It's like Toy Story but these toys that come to life really kick butt!" That's essentially it for this breezy popcorn flick. In a very smart first 10 minutes, new toy-company owner Denis Leary tells his crew he wants toys "that play back". Hence the small soldiers land in Anytown, USA and the loner kid Alan (Gregory Smith) opens them up before they are supposed to be on the shelves. Those military-grade chips sure make them smart and give the toys plenty of pithy retorts to boot. There's plenty of violence and action, most of it fun enough. The vocal talents, including Tommy Lee Jones, Frank Langella and cast members of The Dirty Dozen are inspired characters, the humans less so. With Gremlins director Joe Dante at the helm, it plays like a sequel to that 80s fantasy. Amazing visual effects, of course. --Doug Thomas, Amazon.com

• The Howling (40th Anniversary Restoration) 4K UHD - Collector's Edition | Blu Ray | (25/10/2021) from £46.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Imagine your worst fear a reality with this brand new 4K 40th anniversary restoration of The Howling, approved by Director Joe Dante (Gremlins). With groundbreaking special effects by Rob Bottin (The Thing, The Fog, Total Recall), The Howling has been stunningly restored for a new generation of horror fans. Graphically violent, sexually explicit and nightmarishly intense, it remains one of the most original werewolf movies of the eighties. After an intense confrontation with a serial killer, news anchor Karen White (Dee Wallace) is left traumatised and suffering from amnesia. In need of recovery, Karen takes refuge within The Colony , a country retreat organised by her psychiatrist Dr Waggner (Patrick Macnee). But things at The Colony aren't as idyllic as they originally seemed and as blood curdling screams break the midnight silence, Karen's memories slowly begin to come into focus. Special Features UHD & Blu-ray DVD Disc 5 Artcards 20 page booklet Note: Only 4K Disc is Region Free