Sales Rank:820 List Price: $9.98 Lowest New Price: $4.33 Lowest Used Price: $5.32 MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
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Anthony James PICK UP: Jill Senter
Gini Eastwood
Katherine Justice
Anne Saxon
Nancy Ison
Pick-Up: An off-beat story about two young women whose lives are forever changed when they hitchhike a ride in a mobile home.
The Sister-In-Law: A punchy story about the sexual entanglements of four people and how their moral conflicts lead to heartache and destruction.
The Stepmother: A high-living architect who - as a result of his violent temper - finds himself enmeshed in two accidental deaths. When he discovers his 2nd wife having an affair with his teenage son...there's almost a third murder!
The Teacher: She corrupted the youthful morality of an entire school! An explosively tense story about a beautiful, provocative 28-year-old high school teacher whose seduction of one particular student proves fatal.
Trip with the Teacher: A chilling experience in terror as a group of female students and their pretty teacher are ambushed, while on a field trip, by two sadistic bikers, forcing the women to learn a lesson in survival.
Best Friends: Two young couples taste the free and easy life on a cross country motor-home tour until love backfires and tragedy follows.
Cindy and Donna: Two sisters, growing up in a middle-class home with parents too preoccupied with booze and sex, find that being grown up doesn't mean acting like their folks, as experiments with drugs and sex teach them.
Malibu High: High school senior Kim is having her share of problems. Her grades are poor, her boyfriend dumped her for a rich girl and her financial situation is disastrous. So she makes an after hours deal with one of her teachers to improve her grade point average. Soon, she is working her way through the faculty room and taking on paying customers.
Sales Rank:829 List Price: $29.98 Lowest New Price: $11.98 Lowest Used Price: $6.00 MPAA Rating: Unrated
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Scott Speedman
Liv Tyler
Gemma Ward
Alex Fisher
Peter Clayton-Luce
A lean, briskly paced and exceptionally creepy thriller, The Strangers earns its scares the old-fashioned way: through atmosphere, sound design, and a simple yet undeniably upsetting central premise that allows for maximum tension throughout its running time. Attractive young lovers Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman are already having a bad day--she's turned down his marriage proposal--before a knock on the door in the middle of the night announces a full-fledged siege on their remote vacation home by a trio of masked assailants. The film's first third delivers the most consistent shivers as the visitors make their presence and intentions known to Tyler; the second half grows more frantic and bloody before a gruesome finale that may leave viewers either rattled to their core or bothered by its empty nihilism. Speedman is fine as the downtrodden male lead (who's seen tucking into a carton of ice cream after being rejected), but it's Tyler who impresses the most by shouldering the lion's share of the terror. First-time writer/director Bryan Bertino impresses by forsaking the current passion for over-the-top violence (save for the finale) in favor of more traditional means of generating fear, and if his project borrows heavily from other films, most notably the French chiller Them (which shares its "inspired by a true story" origin) and Michael Haneke's Funny Games, at least he's taking from the best. The sound design is among the many technical standouts, and the unsettling score by tomandandy (The Hills Have Eyes) pleasantly evokes Ennio Morricone's fuzztone-heavy work for Dario Argento in the early '70s. On a completely unrelated note, LP fanatics should appreciate how both the film's heroes and villains share an affinity for folk and country music on vinyl. --Paul Gaita
Sales Rank:1272 List Price: $12.98 Lowest New Price: $3.38 Lowest Used Price: $2.15 MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
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Keanu Reeves
Rachel Weisz
Djimon Hounsou
Shia LaBeouf
Max Baker
In the grand scheme of theological thrillers, Constantine aspires for the greatness of The Exorcist but ranks more closely with The Order. Based on the popular Hellblazer comic book series, and directed with nary a shred of intelligence by music video veteran Francis Lawrence, it's basically The Matrix with swarming demons instead of swarming machines. Keanu Reeves slightly modifies his Matrix persona as John Constantine, who roams the dark-spots of Los Angeles looking for good-evil, angel-devil half-breeds to ensure that "the balance" between God and Satan is properly maintained. An ancient artifact and the detective twin of a woman who committed evil-induced suicide (Rachel Weisz) factor into the plot, which is taken so seriously that you'll want to stand up and cheer when Tilda Swinton swoops down as the cross-dressing angel Gabriel and turns this silliness into the camp-fest it really is. The digital effects are way cool (dig those hellspawn with the tops of their heads lopped off!), so if you don't mind a juvenile lesson in pseudo-Catholic salvation, Constantine is just the movie for you! --Jeff Shannon
Sales Rank:2770 List Price: $39.99 Lowest New Price: $17.95 Lowest Used Price: $17.29 MPAA Rating: Unrated
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Vladimir Menshov
Valery Zolotukhin
Nikolai Olyalin
Anna Dubrovskaya
Nurzhuman Ikhtymbaev
The dizzying supernatural Russian epic started in Night Watch continues with Day Watch, in which once again the battle between the forces of Light (the Night Watch) and Dark (the Day Watch) threatens to crack open the world as we know it. The plot centers around Anton (Russian superstar Konstantin Khabensky), an Other (one of many beings with varied supernatural powers) whose son, Yegor, has joined the Day Watch, who are grooming him to be their superpowerful savior. Anton's protoge, Svetlana, also has high-capacity power, and if Yegor and Svetlana come into conflict, the resulting devastation could shatter everything. The key to success seems to lie with the Chalk of Fate, a simple piece of chalk that can rewrite reality. Day Watch is full of plotholes and underdeveloped story points (at one point, to keep him safe, Anton's consciousness is switched into the body of his Night Watch colleague Olga--but mere moments later the Day Watch knows what's happened, before any suspense could be mined from it; as a result, this promising plot twist seems only to exist to allow for some girl-on-girl action), but it's forgivable. As with the first film, Day Watch bubbles over with its wildly imaginative world, its ravishing style, and its fantastic visual effects. If a Hollywood blockbuster had half as much creativity, it would be praised to the skies and be the hit of the year. Don't let the subtitles put you off (particularly since even the subtitles reflect the movie's wit and imagination)--Day Watch is a cinematic feast that any movie fan should devour. --Bret Fetzer
Sales Rank:2642 List Price: $12.98 Lowest New Price: $3.75 Lowest Used Price: $0.50 MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
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Hugh Jackman
Kate Beckinsale
Richard Roxburgh
Shuler Hensley
Will Kemp
Like a roller coaster ready to fly off its rails, Van Helsing rockets to maximum velocity and never slows down. Having earned blockbuster clout with The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, writer-director Stephen Sommers once again plunders Universal's monster vault and pulls out all the stops for this mammoth $148-million action-adventure-horror-comedy, which opens (sans credits) with a terrific black-and-white prologue that pays homage to the Universal horror classics that inspired it. The plot pits legendary vampire hunter Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) against Dracula (the deliciously campy Richard Roxburgh), his deadly blood-sucking brides, and the Wolfman (Will Kemp) in a two-hour parade of outstanding special effects (980 in all) that turn Sommers' juvenile plot into a triple-overtime bonus for CGI animators. In alliance with a Transylvanian princess (Kate Beckinsale) and the Frankenstein monster (Shuler Hensley), Van Helsing must prevent Dracula from hatching his bat-winged progeny, and there's so much good-humored action that you're guaranteed to be thrilled and exhausted by the time the 10-minute end-credits roll. It's loud, obnoxious, filled with revisionist horror folklore, and aimed at addicted gamers and eight-year-olds, but this colossal monster mash (including Mr. Hyde, just for kicks) will never, ever bore you. A sequel is virtually guaranteed. --Jeff Shannon
Sales Rank:894 List Price: $27.98 Lowest New Price: $15.69 Lowest Used Price: $14.84 MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
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Director(s):
Alf Kjellin
Fielder Cook
Harry Harris
Harvey S. Laidman
Ivan Dixon
Actor(s):
Jon Walmsley
Mary Beth McDonough
Eric Scott
Earl Hamner Jr.
Judy Norton-Taylor
The Waltons: The Complete Third Season finds series creator Earl Hamner's running story about the proud, Depression-era family living and working on Walton's Mountain going through some changes. The big news is that oldest son John-Boy (Richard Thomas) is now a freshman at Boatwright University, pursuing his dream of becoming a writer but encountering a lot of tough challenges and distractions. Still living at home but driving to classes every day, John-Boy gets an unpleasant taste of hazing from arrogant upperclassmen, grief from impatient professors, insecurity in a competitive writing class, and an ever-broadening sense of how the other half lives through exotic, quirky, yet sometimes sweet and attractive young women he meets on campus.
Meanwhile, John-Boy's father, John Walton (Ralph Waite), nurses a dream of opening a father-and-son-operated lumber mill, knowing full well that the very busy John-Boy can't do much without sacrificing his education. (John also discovers next-in-line son Jason (Jon Walmsley) is already dreaming about his own career beyond the mountain.) Walton mom Olivia (Michael Learned) looks wistful over the speed with which her children are growing up, and Grandpa (Will Geer) tries to do his part for the family's well-being within the limits of his age and rocky health. The Complete Third Season starts powerfully with a story about Walton kin, living elsewhere on the mountain, who refuse to leave their generations-long home in an eminent domain struggle with the government. Glimpses of the world Grandpa grew up in--full of moonshine, guns, and hardheaded men and women--abound in this fascinating episode. Other dramas concern heart problems for Grandpa; a runaway crisis when Jim-Bob (David W. Harper) bolts from home; a proper (and long-delayed) wedding for formerly eloped couple John and Olivia; a horse race that's supposed to be fun but takes on greater dimension; and troubles for John-Boy with a femme fatale and Boatwright's flawed honor code. --Tom Keogh
Sales Rank:1121 List Price: $14.98 Lowest New Price: $4.76 Lowest Used Price: $4.42 MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
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Director(s):
Christian Nyby
Howard Hawks
Actor(s):
Kenneth Tobey
Margaret Sheridan
Robert Cornthwaite
Douglas Spencer
James R. Young
With its modest special effects, lean plot, and small cast of lesser stars, this 1951 thriller remains a sturdy blueprint for fusing horror and science fiction. The formula has been employed countless times since, fleshed out with more extensive and elaborate production values, and manned by higher profiled marquee names, but the results have yet to improve on The Thing from Another World, Howard Hawks's lone foray into sci-fi.
The story begins as military airmen are dispatched to a remote Arctic research station where scientists have detected the crash of a spacecraft. An effort to retrieve the saucer-shaped vehicle fails, but the team returns to the station with the frozen body of its sole occupant. When the extraterrestrial pilot is accidentally thawed, the crew, headed by a tough-talking pilot (Kenneth Tobey), grapples with a massive, chlorophyll-based humanoid (James Arness) thirsty for blood and in no mood for galactic diplomacy.
Hawks takes only a production credit for this low-budget exercise, but his filmmaking style transcends Christian Nyby's nominal direction: rapid-fire, overlapping dialogue, an ensemble of comrades whose professionalism is tempered by wisecracks, and unsentimental female characters (embodied by feisty romantic interest Margaret Sheridan) recall Hawks's signature works, while propelling the plot over any potential gaps in credibility. It's hardly surprising, then, that The Thing from Another World remains among the most influential science fiction movies ever shot, or that it remains exciting entertainment a half century later. --Sam Sutherland
Sales Rank:1402 List Price: $14.97 Lowest New Price: $4.52 Lowest Used Price: $4.49 MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
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Actor(s):
Phoebe Cates
Ron Fassler
Kathleen Freeman
Zach Galligan
John Glover
Zach Galligan, the star of the first Gremlins, is back, along with Phoebe Cates, his girlfriend from the first film. They're both working in an ultramodern skyscraper owned by a Donald Trump clone (a hilarious John Glover). Galligan's furry little buddy is captured by a mad scientist, who not only helps it multiply, but invests the nasty, scaly offspring with intelligence and the ability to talk. (Watch for the one that has Tony Randall's voice.) What follows is imaginative mayhem that spoofs old movies, modern television, and the conveniences of postmodern technology. In some ways, the sequel is even more inventive and laughter-inducing than the original. --Marshall Fine
Sales Rank:964 List Price: $12.98 Lowest New Price: $5.75 Lowest Used Price: $3.24 MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
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Actor(s):
Kate Ashfield
Tim Baggaley
Nicola Cunningham
Sonnell Dadral
Lucy Davis (II)
British horror/comedy Shaun of the Dead is a scream in all senses of the word. Brain-hungry zombies shamble through the streets of London, but all unambitious electronics salesman Shaun (Simon Pegg) cares about is his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield), who just dumped him. With the help of his slacker roommate Ed (Nick Frost), Shaun fights his way across town to rescue Liz, but the petty concerns of life keep getting in the way: When they're trying to use vinyl records to decapitate a pair of zombies, Shaun and Ed bicker about which bands deserve preservation--New Order they keep, but Sade becomes a lethal frisbee. Many zombie movies are comedies by accident, but Shaun of the Dead is deliberately and brilliantly funny, while still delivering a few delicious jolts of fear. Also featuring the stealthy comic presence of Bill Nighy (Love Actually) and some familar faces from The Office. --Bret Fetzer
Sales Rank:2066 List Price: $9.99 Lowest New Price: $2.32 Lowest Used Price: $0.69 MPAA Rating: Unrated
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Sarah Polley
Ving Rhames
Jake Weber
Mekhi Phifer
Lindy Booth
Are you ready to get down with the sickness? Movie logic dictates that you shouldn't remake a classic, but Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead defies that logic and comes up a winner. You could argue that George A. Romero's 1978 original was sacred ground for horror buffs, but it was a low-budget classic, and Snyder's action-packed upgrade benefits from the same manic pacing that energized Romero's continuing zombie saga. Romero's indictment of mega-mall commercialism is lost (it's arguably outmoded anyway), so Snyder and screenwriter James Gunn compensate with the same setting--in this case, a Milwaukee shopping mall under siege by cannibalistic zombies in the wake of a devastating viral outbreak--a well-chosen cast (led by Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Weber, and Mekhi Phifer), some outrageously morbid humor, and a no-frills plot that keeps tension high and blood splattering by the bucketful. Horror buffs will catch plenty of tributes to Romero's film (including cameos by three of its cast members, including gore-makeup wizard Tom Savini), and shocking images are abundant enough to qualify this Dawn as an excellent zombie-flick double-feature with 28 Days Later, its de facto British counterpart. --Jeff Shannon