Bookmark this page!

Check out our new blog! We'll be posting great discounts and deals there often.

Cult DVDs

Doctor Who - New Beginnings (The Keeper of Traken / Logopolis / Castrovalva)

Sales Rank:6462
List Price: $49.98
Lowest New Price: $25.99
Lowest Used Price: $24.99
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)

Format:

Box set
Closed-captioned
Color
Full Screen
NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

Tom Baker
Peter Davison

Keeper of the Traken
The Keeper of Traken was the beginning of the end for Tom Baker's tenure as the venerable TV sci-fi hero Doctor Who. By the end of the next serial, Logopolis, Baker had been replaced by the Fifth Doctor, Peter Davidson (whose debut, Castrovalva, is also available on DVD, as is Logopolis; both, along with Keeper of Traken, can be found in a three-disc boxed set titled New Beginnings). But fans got one more witty and suspenseful dose of Baker's Doctor with this story, which sends the Time Lord and companion Adric to the planet Traken, a peaceful haven ruled by the all-wise Keeper for a thousand years. The Keeper feels his reign is coming to an end, and with it, the rise of evil from within Traken's governing council itself. The Doctor, however, recognizes the presence of a old and familiar foe at the heart of the mystery--one he thought had been vanquished long ago.

Well-played by the cast (especially Baker, who is given a wealth of amusing lines), and an excellent launching pad for new companion Nyssa (Sarah Sutton), The Keeper of Traken is both a fine addition to the Baker canon and an enjoyable serial for new and old Who fans alike. Extras on the single disc include commentary by Sutton, actors Matthew Waterhouse (Adric) and Anthony Ainley (Consul Tremas), and writer Johnny Byrne; a 30-minute documentary on the serial, which includes interviews with most of the cast and production team; a clip of Sutton on the BBC series Swap Shop; and a featurette on the true identity of the evil plaguing Traken. The by-now-standard photo gallery, text-only commentary track, and PDF of the Doctor Who Annual (here from 1982), Radio Times listings, and BBC sales literature rounds out the crowd-pleasing supplements. --Paul Gaita

Logopolis
After seven years as the Doctor on England's long-running science fiction series Doctor Who, actor Tom Baker hung up his scarf and retired from the role in this four-part serial from 1981. )(The second in a three-part story arc focused around the Doctor's longtime adversary The Master (Anthony Ainley), (The other parts of the arc, Castrovalva and The Keeper of Traken, are also available on DVD as single discs and in a three-disc set titled New Beginnings) Logopolis finds the Time Lord in a contemplative mood as he attempts to repair the TARDIS' broken chameleon circuit, which has left the shape-shifting vehicle in the form of a police box. The Doctor and Adric (Matthew Waterhouse) travel to Logopolis, a planet run by mathematical geniuses, but encounter the Master as he plots to steal the secret of the planet's massive radio telescope. His scheme accidentally releases a wave of entropy that threatens to destroy the universe, and the! Doctor and the Master must work together to prevent the end of existence itself. A sense of finality pervades Logopolis, and certainly for Baker fans, it does mark the end of the actor's run in the role, as well as a period of considerable popularity for the series. Baker's replacement, Peter Davidson, faced an uphill battle when he assumed the Doctor's mantle, and for many fans, his arrival signaled a downward turn for the program that was not reversed until its revival in 2005. The story itself is an intriguing one, and well played by its cast, which included newcomer Janet Fielding as airline stewardess Tegan Jovanka, who became one of the Doctor's companions for several seasons. Extras on the disc include commentary on all four episodes by Baker and Fielding, as well as writer Christopher Bidmead; a trio of BBC news program interviews with Baker on his departure and Davidson on his assumption of the role; a terrific 50-minute featurette titled "A New Body At Las! t," which interviews many of the principal cast and crew on the transi tion from Baker to Davidson; and the usual PDF of printed material from The Doctor Who Annual and Radio Times, as well as the excellent text-only commentary and isolated music tracks fans have come to expect from the discs. -- Paul Gaita

Castrovalva
The four-episode serial Castrovalva not only kicked off the 19th season of Doctor Who, but introduced the fifth incarnation of the venerable British sci-fi hero in the younger (and blonder) form of Peter Davidson, who replaced fan favorite Tom Baker at the end of the previous season. Castrovalva picks up where the Baker finale, Logopolis (also available on DVD), left off, with the Doctor in a weakened state after his transformation, and in need of rest and recuperation. His companions set a course for the planet of Castrovalva, but all is not as it seems on the peaceful and educated world: Could the Doctor's old nemesis The Master be setting a trap for the ailing Time Lord? It's a strong debut for Davidson, who quickly sets his own path as the Doctor (while referencing his predecessor's traits and quirks in several clever bits), and the single disc DVD's extras do an excellent job of covering the transitional phase that the cast and crew underwent during the serial's production. Davidson is front and center on the commentary tracks for all four episodes, and he's joined by castmate Janet Fielding (Tegan), director Fiona Cumming, and writer Christopher H. Bidmead. And he's the focus of two featurettes: "Being Doctor Who," which covers his tenure as the Doctor, and "The Crowded TARDIS," in which he joins Baker, Fielding, and Sarah Sutton (Nyssa) to discuss the Doctor's multiple companions in the Davidson years. Cumming is also profiled in a short feature on directing the episode, and the BBC vaults yield interviews with Davidson from the period on the children's shows Blue Peter and Swap Shop. A pair of deleted scenes, continuity announcements, a photo gallery, the usual above-par text commentary, a PDF of printed material on the show, and a music video for a remix of Peter Howell's theme music round out the supplements. -- Paul Gaita

Click here for Customer Reviews and more...

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes - 25th Anniversary Edition

Sales Rank:5412
List Price: $14.95
Lowest New Price: $7.76
Lowest Used Price: $7.49
MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Format:

Color
DVD-Video
NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

Jerry Anderson
Don Birch
Eric Christmas
Tom Coleman (II)
Art K. Koustik

Movies with "wacky" titles are almost never any good, and Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! was intentionally made to be an instant golden turkey. Despite that, and the grade-Z production values, this is a regularly funny film. You need to be a fan of the kind of low-budget horror movie it's spoofing, and you need to be very forgiving of the technical ineptness and frequent clunkers, but it works. The story? Well, tomatoes attack, basically. Jack Riley and the San Diego Chicken are in it, and that genuinely alarming helicopter crash you see in an early scene was a real accident. Seen now, the whole ratty affair brings back agreeable memories of the circa-1978 college-movie/midnight-cinema era, when seeing this film was virtually unavoidable. The sequel, Return of the Killer Tomatoes! (with a young George Clooney), is actually an even funnier film. Director John De Bello would continue to squeeze the Tomatoes franchise for years to come. --Robert Horton

Click here for Customer Reviews and more...

High Plains Drifter

Sales Rank:9269
List Price: $12.98
Lowest New Price: $6.16
Lowest Used Price: $4.97
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)

Format:

Closed-captioned
Color
DVD-Video
Letterboxed
Widescreen
NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

Walter Barnes
Verna Bloom
Paul Brinegar
Richard Bull
Billy Curtis

Clint Eastwood's second film as a director (and his first Western) is a variation on the "man with no name" theme, starring Eastwood as the drifter known only as "the Stranger." He rides into the desert town of Lagos and is quickly attacked by three gunmen. Recovering with the aid of a local dwarf (a memorable role for Billy Curtis), the Stranger is hired by the intimidated townsfolk to fend off a band of violent ex-convicts. After teaching the citizens self-defense and instructing them to paint the entire town red and rename it "Hell," the Stranger vanishes. He reappears when the marauding criminals arrive, and delivers justice and teaches the townsfolk a harsh lesson about moral obligation. Is he a figure from their past or a kind of supernatural avenger? Combining humor with action, High Plains Drifter is both a serious and tongue-in-cheek tribute to the Westerns that made Eastwood a household name. --Jeff Shannon

Click here for Customer Reviews and more...

The Little Vampire

Sales Rank:9953
List Price: $12.98
Lowest New Price: $3.11
Lowest Used Price: $2.25
MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Format:

Closed-captioned
Color
Dolby
DVD-Video
Widescreen
NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

Jonathan Lipnicki
Richard E. Grant
Jim Carter
Alice Krige
Pamela Gidley

The Little Vampire is excellently acted and great to look at. Stuart Little's Jonathan Lipnicki carries, on his pint-sized shoulders, his every scene as 8-year-old Tony, befriender of vampires, and the Scottish setting lends itself nicely to spookiness. But where this video earns most points is in the plot department. A continent away from his native California, Tony's having a tough time making new friends when a band of vagabond vampires enters his life through his bedroom window. The encounter seems pure coincidence at first, but then the scary truth surfaces: Tony, though he's not a vampire himself, has "sympathy for our kind," as the dad of the bat-linked brood puts it. Visions of vampire happenings from generations past invade the third-grader's consciousness, and they hold the key to the clan's current gypsy-like predicament. Through his clairvoyance and, by extension, the discovery of a long-lost amulet, the mostly benevolent bloodsuckers are able to reclaim their rightful status as proper cave dwellers in their homeland. Clueless-parent predicaments abound and are cleverer than most--Tony's mom and dad smirk at their son's vampire-obsessed imagination until the cape-draped heads of the clan drop by for a visit--and the gang's adventures eluding a bumbling vampire hunter are genuinely chuckleworthy. At-home Twizzler munchers ages 8 and older won't soon tire of this charmer of a Transylvanian transplant. --Tammy La Gorce

Click here for Customer Reviews and more...

The Masque of the Red Death / The Premature Burial

Sales Rank:10736
List Price: $14.98
Lowest New Price: $5.24
Lowest Used Price: $5.21
MPAA Rating: Unrated

Format:

Anamorphic
Closed-captioned
Color
Dolby
DVD-Video
Widescreen
NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

Vincent Price
Hazel Court
Jane Asher
David Weston
Nigel Green

The Masque of the Red Death (1964) is Roger Corman's, and most people's, choice as the best of the Edgar Allan Poe pictures. Masque offers the expected creepy atmosphere and violence against peasants, plus metaphysical ponderings and pointed satanic cruelty. (Corman was operating as much under the influence of Ingmar Bergman as of Edgar Allan Poe.) Nicolas Roeg's color cinematography and Daniel Haller's elaborate production design would be stellar in any Hollywood A-movie; the mono-colored rooms of the prince's castle are a startling effect. Vincent Price is in fine fettle as Prince Prospero, the devil-worshipping sadist who throws lavish parties while the countryside is ravaged by the plague.

The Premature Burial (1962) substitutes Ray Milland in the usual Price role. He's a snarky landowner (with a sideline in art--dig those mod paintings) haunted by the fear of being buried alive. This single-minded focus limits the film, but it also adds to the smothering sense of anxiety that prevails throughout its unhealthy scenario. Luscious Hazel Court is Milland's new missus, and old-school cameraman Floyd Crosby proves his facility for photographing women in a classical style. Lots of cobwebs-on-candelabra in the customary Corman-Poe manner, with special emphasis on Milland's crypt, with its supposedly foolproof exit schemes. --Robert Horton

Click here for Customer Reviews and more...

The Wanderers

Sales Rank:5419
List Price: $19.98
Lowest New Price: $13.40
Lowest Used Price: $11.96
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)

Format:

Anamorphic
Closed-captioned
Color
DVD-Video
Subtitled
Widescreen
NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

Ken Wahl
John Friedrich
Karen Allen
Toni Kalem
Alan Rosenberg

Tully High School seniors Richie, Joey and Perry run with a gang called the Wanderers in the Bronx. The time is fall 1963 but their experiences are universal: falling in love, surviving in school and defending turf against rivals like the Fordham Baldies, the Del Bombers and the Ducky Boys.

Click here for Customer Reviews and more...

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Sales Rank:6668
List Price: $14.98
Lowest New Price: $4.04
Lowest Used Price: $2.09
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)

Format:

Anamorphic
Closed-captioned
Color
Dolby
DVD-Video
Widescreen
NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

Eli Wallach
Clint Eastwood
Lee Van Cleef
Aldo Giuffrè
Luigi Pistilli

Clint Eastwood (the Man with No Name) is good, Lee Van Cleef (Angel Eyes Sentenza) is bad, and Eli Wallach (Tuco Benedito Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez) is ugly in the final chapter of Sergio Leone's trilogy of spaghetti westerns (the first two were A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More). In this sweeping film, the characters form treacherous alliances in a ruthless quest for Confederate gold. Leone is sometimes underrated as a director, but the excellent resolution on this digital video disc should enhance appreciation of his considerable photographic talent and gorgeous widescreen compositions. Ennio Morricone's jokey score is justifiably famous.

Click here for Customer Reviews and more...

Star Wars - Clone Wars, Vol. 2

Sales Rank:2812
List Price: $19.98
Lowest New Price: $17.99
Lowest Used Price: $14.38
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)

Format:

Animated
Closed-captioned
Color
Dolby
Dubbed
DVD-Video
Subtitled
Widescreen
NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

Mat Lucas
Jerome Beidler
James Arnold Taylor
Wanja Gerick
Philipp Moog

Volume 2 of the stylish animated series Star Wars: Clone Wars picks up where volume 1 left off, with General Grievous threatening a group of Jedi. The war between the Republic and the Separatists continues to rage, and due to desperate need, Anakin Skywalker is bestowed the title of Jedi Knight, though he must undergo one final rite of passage by traveling to the frozen planet of Nelvan. The action is at its fiercest when the Separatists launch an overwhelming assault on Coruscant, and Masters Windu and Yoda get to show their stuff to defend the city. However, it's just a diversion from the main goal: Grievious's attempt to kidnap Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. In the series' most dramatic moment, Shaak Ti and other Jedi try to fend off the droid's attack. Clone Wars Volume 2 aired on the Cartoon Network in March 2005, and it's a bit more substantial than volume 1, taking place in five 12-minute chapters (nos. 21-25) rather than 3-minute chapters. And while volume 1 was mostly flat-out action, the developments in volume 2 lead directly to the opening of Episode III, Revenge of the Sith. And you even get small tidbits such as C-3PO (again voiced by Anthony Daniels) unveiling his new gold look, Padme sporting a cinnamon-bun hairdo, and the reason why General Grievous has difficulty breathing. Let casual fans content themselves with the feature films; Clone Wars remains essential viewing for the Star Wars aficionado. (Rated Y7 for cartoon action and violence) --David Horiuchi

DVD features
In both a commentary track and a featurette, Genndy Tartakovsky and his creative team discuss the making of Clone Wars and how it ties into Episode III, Revenge of the Sith. If you're not a fan of the Lego Star Wars, you might become one after you watch the amusing "Revenge of the Brick" trailer. There's also the same Xbox demo of Battlefront II that was on the Sith DVD, and the Dolby 5.1 sound is an improvement over volume 1's 2.0 Surround. --David Horiuchi

Click here for Customer Reviews and more...

Black Sunday

Sales Rank:7325
List Price: $19.97
Lowest New Price: $7.99
Lowest Used Price: $11.93
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)

Format:

Color
DVD-Video
NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

Barbara Steele
John Richardson

The reigning masterpiece of Italian horror cinema, Mario Bava's Black Sunday remains one of the most stylishly photographed of all horror films, ranking with any other black-and-white film of lasting repute. This was the master cameraman's official directorial debut, and his striking compositions are the work of a genuine artist in peak form. Loosely adapted from a story by Nikolai Gogol, this chilling vampire tale begins in 17th-century Moldavia, where the evil Princess Asa (Barbara Steele) is executed for witchcraft and vampirism, along with her brother Javutich (Arturo Dominici). Two centuries later, a pair of traveling doctors discover Asa's crypt and inadvertently revive the evil princess, whose scheme of vampiric revenge is aimed at her own identical descendant Princess Katia, an innocent beauty (also played by Steele) whose lifeblood will ensure Asa's immortality.

Influenced by Universal's classic horror films of the '30s and British Hammer films of the late '50s, Black Sunday (released in Italy as The Mask of Satan) is a dark fairy tale, with horror queen Steele as the definitive embodiment of erotic horror. With shocking violence (tame by today's standards) and visual emphasis on tombs, secret passages, ominous castles, and unseen forces, the film offers a wealth of memorable imagery and inventive technique. Redubbed, rescored, and harshly edited for its American release in 1961, Black Sunday is presented on DVD in the original English-language director's cut of The Mask of Satan, never before available in the U.S. The perfect movie to watch on a dark and stormy night, this timeless classic is the Citizen Kane of horror films, entirely worthy of its lofty reputation. --Jeff Shannon

Click here for Customer Reviews and more...

Doctor Who - Robot (Episode 75)

Sales Rank:7797
List Price: $24.98
Lowest New Price: $14.98
Lowest Used Price: $11.19
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)

Format:

Closed-captioned
Color
DVD-Video
Full Screen
NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

Tom Baker's reign as the venerable British science fiction hero Doctor Who began with this four-part serial from 1974-75; it also marked the dawn of what was arguably the most popular period in the program's history. Written by Terrance Dicks, Robot also introduces the late Ian Marter as the Doctor's companion-to-be Harry Sullivan, a UNIT medic who is pulled into the adventure after treating the Doctor, who is recovering from his fourth regeneration (third Doctor Jon Pertwee appears briefly at the beginning of the first episode). Meanwhile, Sarah Jane (Elisabeth Sladen) and the Brigadier (Nicholas Courtney) investigate a series of robberies involving a top secret weapons project that seem to have been carried out not by humans, but a colossal object. Could the mysterious "Think Tank" and its robotics division be involved? Robot is a terrific launching point for "The Baker Years"--the star himself is charming and amusing, and the story itself is brisk, involving, and quite suspenseful at times. In short, it's an excellent point for Who newcomers to introduce themselves to this most well-loved of Doctors.

The single-disc DVD includes commentary by Baker, Sladen, Dicks, and producer Barry Letts, as well as a 40-minute documentary titled "Are Friends Electric?" which recalls the production of Baker's first serial via interviews with the cast and production team, including producer Phillip Hinchcliffe and director Christopher Barry. "The Tunnel Effect" is a 13-minute interview with graphic designer Bernard Lodge on how he created the memorable "infinite tunnel" titles for the Baker stories, and there's a clip from the U.K. children's program Blue Peter, which was broadcast from the set of Robot. The by-now standard photo gallery, production notes, and a PDF of the Radio Times listings round out the extras. --Paul Gaita

Click here for Customer Reviews and more...

Previous | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | Next

Quick Links

Home
Amazon
Our Shops
Merchants
Reviews
Blog
Price Drops

Check out our new blog! We'll be posting great discounts and deals there often.

Cult DVDs

Quick Links

Categories