DVD Collectors Online

Rope, a review by Tom

Title: Rope
Year: 1948
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Rating: PG
Length: 77 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Mono, German: Dolby Digital Mono
Subtitles: Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, German, Norwegian, Swedish

Stars:
Dick Hogan
John Dall
Farley Granger
Edith Evanson
Douglas Dick

Plot:
James Stewart stars with Farley Granger and John Dall in a highly-charged thriller inspired by the real-life Leopold-Loeb murder case. Granger and Dall give riveting performances as two friends who strangle a classmate for intellectual thrills, then proceed to throw a party for the victim's family and friends - with the body stuffed inside the trunk they use for a buffet table. As the killers turn the conversation to committing the "perfect murder", their former teacher (Stewart) becomes increasingly suspicious. Before the night is over, the professor will discover how brutally his students have turned his academic theories into chilling reality in Hitchcock's spellbinding excursion into the macabre.

Extras:
Featurettes
Photo Gallery
Scene Access
Trailers

Technically a fun film to watch. Playing it like a stage play with long shots. Great camera work switching between the different parts of the set. Great acting. The conceiled cuts are very obvious but for its time a good achievement.
But I didn't really like the story. Two men who think have done the perfect crime, but make the stupidest mistakes. I know it's part of the characters presumptuousness, but it didn't work for me.

And is this plays in real-time, the party was awfully short. Probably about 40 minutes long. Those poor guests who probably were longer on the road then the party took.

And did one of the lead characters also remind you of Ben Affleck?

Rating:

(From Alfred Hitchcock Marathon on July 4th, 2009)

Anthropophagus, a review by Jimmy

Title : Anthropophagus (1980)

Overview
A group of tourists take a boat ride to a deserted island. Once there, they discover that most of the residents have disappeared and soon find themselves being stalked by a malevolent presence. They try to uncover the mystery but nothing could possibly prepare them for what they would eventually find.

My Impression
Obviously this one will never meet my high expectations before watching it and after more than one viewing this haven't change. It was on the UK video nasty list with some great film like The Beyond, Cannibal Ferox, Cannibal Holocaust, etc. (of course some stupid film like Don't Go Near the Park and Snuff were also on this list ). So I was expecting a movie more gruesome and shocking than this, but I've to say that one of the scene near the end is really shocking. Without those expectations, I would had appreciate this film more since it's a good variation of the close room theme (the room here being an isolated island) with the mysterious vanishing of all its population. Joe D'Amato for a rare time had created a good suspense in this film, we have time to know the characters and, in some degree, to get attach to them.

Without the false hope created by the British censor board my rating would have been  , but since I feel cheated my rating will be lower...  

Rating :

(From Jimmy's 2009 Horror Marathon on October 5th, 2009)

Lesbian Movie Marathon, a review by Tom

Title: Tipping the Velvet
Year: 2002
Director:
Rating: 15
Length: 175 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles:

Stars:
Rachael Stirling
Keeley Hawes
Sally Hawkins
Jodhi May
Hugh Bonneville

Plot:
Set in England in the 1890s, Tipping the Velvet is a colourful, passionate and entertaining love story, which follows our heroine's growth into womanhood.

EPISODE 1

The glamorous world of the 19th -century music hall provides the backdrop for Nan's first love affair with Kitty Butler, a popular male impersonator. When Kitty is offered the chance to perform in London, a delighted Nan accompanies her as a dresser, but true success doesn't happen until Nan becomes part of the act.

EPISODE 2

Alone and devastated by her betrayal, Nan cannot return to her family in Whitstable so takes to the streets to survive. In her guise as a male impersonator, she finds a niche in the Victorian sexual underworld and is also drawn into the web of a rich Sapphic, society widow who offers sex, excitement and luxury but at a perilous price.

EPISODE 3

Diana throws out Nan and Blake and Blake disappears with all of the money leaving a totally destitute Nan. The only person she can think to turn to ends up unwelcoming to her. So begins a very different phase for Nan, which leads ultimately to her making the most important decision of her life

Extras:
Interviews
Photo Gallery
Scene Access

This mini series is based on another novel by the same author, whom provided the source for "Fingersmith", the other mini series I reviewed recently. And I liked this adaption just as much, if not more, as "Fingersmith".
I am surprised, with what you can get away with in a BBC series. If it had been an American series, it would have to be at least HBO (or something similar), to be able to show this. Of course here in Germany it wouldn't have any trouble to be on normal prime time

Rating:

(From Lesbian Movie Marathon on April 29th, 2009)