Directed by: Paul Weitz

Reviewed by: Fergus McShane

Price: DVD £15.99 Blue-ray £19.99

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The first of a possible new franchise involving vampires, werewolves, magic and mysticism aimed squarely at Teens kicks off with an amalgamation of the first two novels in a 12-part series.

While many will look at this with a sense of déjà vu and cashing-in on vampires because of the recent Twilight saga It must be mentioned that this novel series is a precursor and possible inspiration to Stephanie Meyer’s series and one which received almost as much success, both cult and popular, on it’s literary release. Unfortunately this similarity was not the case with the cinematic release.

Telling the tale of Darren Shan, we follow a regular teen turned half-vamp who starts on the path of destiny. Joining the relative safety of the travelling Cirque du Freak he finds a new family and mentor in the vampire, Mr Crepsley (John C. Reilly).

Initial response to this movie is that of light-hearted fun. Regrettably, from here this film becomes convoluted, chaotic and ultimately forgettable. Though there is talent on display in Reilly, Salma Hayek and Ken Watanabe to name a few, they seem to sweep through dragging a lifeless film along. There are simply too many nonsensical plot points and time slips to create any coherency in Cirque du Freak.

The biggest failing for the franchises future is that it takes itself a little too seriously while simultaneously trying to force comedy. Coupled with an awkward tone that doesn’t appeal to either adult or teen audiences head on, this may be one vampire epic we don’t get to see play out.

Review by: Fergus McShane

Price: £22.99 (Blu-ray)

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With superhero franchise mode well and truly under way now, it was never going to be long before the first (of many) major spin-offs arrived. X-Men Origins: Wolverine sets the precedence for this ‘new breed’, landing with a bang in a period jam-packed with comic-related box office extravaganzas.

While fanboys worldwide have been chomping at the bit for a Wolverine origin tale for quite some time now, most will be somewhat under-whelmed by the stuttering thud of its arrival.

The film starts out in 1840s Canada at the moment when Logan (Wolverine) ‘realises’ his mutant abilities and runs right through to a point/ state that would allow for the character to slot neatly into the X-Men Trilogy. For fans of the character, series and genre this will come as a welcome addition as we get to find out exactly how Logan became the animalistic, furry ball of rage with adamantium claws that we all know.

However, on the whole Wolverine is let down by the fragmented plot and surprisingly poor special effects on show. Jumping from one action sequence to another, it is little more than a passable action movie, leaving you feeling that a period piece of Wolverine and his brother at war (as seen in the opening montage) would have been a much more enjoyable and original film to watch.

Unfortunately for Wolverine this origin while highly anticipated doesn’t quite live up to its characters invincibility. But if there is a silver lining (which is tenuous!), there is sure to be many more spin offs that will improve on this.

Directed by: Alex Proyas

Price: £19.99

Reviewed by Fergus McShane

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When summer blockbuster season arrives you can expect it to land with a bang… then explosion… then screams. What you wouldn’t expect are quasi-religious questions of fatalism and pre-determinism thrown in, but that is what Knowing delivers.

One part disaster/special-effects thriller, one part supernatural Sci-fi, Knowing follows MIT astrophysicist Nicholas Cage as he uncovers a code inexplicably linked to catastrophes that take place worldwide.

Essentially a disaster movie with some Close Encounters thrown in for good measure, the film loses its way when forced to decide exactly what it wants to be. Instead of fully going down the road of apocalypse movies like The Day After Tomorrow, mysteries like The Number 23, or sci-fi’s like Cocoon, it blends aspects of all, leaving a disjointed epic in the wake. There are even scenes slipped in that could have come straight from horror of the Twilight Zone variety (whispering albinos sneakily doling out black stones).

However there are some redeeming features to Knowing – the plane and train crashes are certainly spectacular and gripping, the ending is well executed (if predictable) and for the most part it packs in the entertainment we have come to expect from an early summer blockbuster.

It may not work on all the portentous levels that it tries to, but Knowing is an enjoyable ‘popcorn’ thriller.

Price: £17.99

Reviewed by Fergus McShane

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Long have vampires inhabited our screens. And like the mythical monsters themselves, vampire films often seem to have everlasting life and the ability to be reborn with every generation. Let the Right One In is the latest of these rebirths and easily one of the best.

Containing all the freshness of the Swedish landscape, the film circles around the relationship between two children – Oskar a lonely boy and Eli a reclusive vampire. The pair naturally come together, forming a friendship (with childish allusions to more) out of isolation and become the focal point of this chilling, often brutal tale.

With all the glamour of the ‘vampire’ wholly removed, we get a glimpse of a ‘true’ demon. Reclusive (living in a bare council flat), fearful of people, being pulled between blood-lust and not wanting to draw attention, Eli lives a miserable life looked after by a murderous, highly disturbing father figure.

The relationship between Oskar and Eli highlights the quality of the film and indeed the novel it is based on. Moving from childishly naïve to playful to horrific and tender, the pair forms the heart of an astonishing piece of cinema.

Alfredson has somehow brought a little bit of love and light into the darkest of landscapes, showing a new side to the vampire in the process. Definitely the right one to let in!

Directed by: Zack Snyder

Price: £19.99

Reviewed by Fergus McShane

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Many have tried and many have failed to adapt Alan Moore’s meandering comic book Watchmen. Zack Snyder has been the latest to tackle the epic comic and surprisingly he seems to have pulled it off.

After a lengthy legal battle between Paramount and Fox threatening to destroy Watchmen before it even hit the screen; Alan Moore’s discontentment with his work being adapted to cinema; and one of the largest groups of diehard fans waiting with bated breath… the odds were stacked heavily against Snyder’s adaptation.

Astonishingly what emerged is a wholly enjoyable and immensely sized extravaganza. Keeping firm hold of the best aspects of the book while losing the parts mainstream audiences wouldn’t accept from a realistically styled film, Watchmen comes as yet another new way for the superhero movie to go.

At times Snyder’s style may be on the indulgent side, similarly to that seen in 300, but as an ode to Moore’s epic Snyder has stayed mainly faithful. Following the escapades of what would really happen if there really were superheroes among us, Watchmen is a weird and wonderful rehash of history.

For the sheer size of the film Snyder will take the plaudits. It may not reach the quality of the book, but really it was never going to. And if anything, Watchmen’s greatest success will be attracting those unfamiliar with the comic to a new world of everyday superheroes.

HTV series reissued by Network

Price: £12.72

Reviewed by Richard Holland

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Sky was just one of a slew of extraordinary sci-fi fantasies that stimulated the minds and eyeballs of kids throughout the 1970s. Produced in 1975 by HTV, Sky is very much a product of its time – big hair, androgynous youths, warnings of a dystopian future and a John Michellinspired melange of ley-lines, stone circles and Glastonbury Tor.

Dr Who writers Bob Baker & Dave Martin (writers of The Three Doctors, creators of K9 etc) weave these threads into an uneven but
stylish story about an angelic-looking, sonorously declaiming teenager from the distant future who has accidentally arrived in our time. He desperately needs to find a ‘Juganet’ to get him to where he wants to be but finds it impossible to explain exactly what a Juganet is (but most viewers will guess before the cast do!).

Sky and his new young friends’ quest is hampered by the machinations of the malevolent Goodchild, a villain brought into being by Mother Earth, who is rejecting the presence of the boy from the future in the same way a living body rejects an invading virus. This unexpected twist on the New Age theme is perhaps the most interesting aspect of the story.

Unknown (to me at least) young actor Marc Harrison is excellent as the increasingly godlike Sky and the whole show is firmly handled with serious intent, the radiophonic-style incidental music and Chroma Key special effects adding to the period charm.

Unfortunately, a muddled and unfocussed narrative means that the slow pace one expects of shows of this period begins to drag as the seven episodes play out. In all other respects, though, Sky is an enjoyable example of the sort of imaginative series that made kids’ telly was so much better 35 years ago.

Directed by: Frank Miller
Price: £19.99
Reviewed by Fergus McShane

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Frank Miller’s first full directorial effort sees him in familiar territory, adapting Will Eisner’s comic book, The Spirit. But can he live up to his Sin City/ graphic novelist hype in his role as director?

Murdered cop, Denny Colt, somehow returns to life as the invulnerable protector of Central city, The Spirit. When an old flame
returns to town on a quest for jewels, he must battle with an equally invulnerable supervillain, The Octopus, to uncover the secret of his resurrection and save the city.

Unfortunately, The Spirit doesn’t quite hit expectations, becoming a noir-ish example of over-the-top cinematic indulgence. The ultra-stylized cinematography simply doesn’t work alongside clumsy, slapstick action and comedy – especially when Samuel L. Jackson’s
uncomfortably melodramatic parody of evil is thrown in the mix.

The Spirit seems to have gone the way of Dick Tracy and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, becoming too overwrought for its own good. And while comic adaptations are the flavour of Hollywood right now, perhaps Miller’s talents are better suited to working on pulp paper rather than the silver screen.

It is a pity, but The Spirit stumbles its way over the rooftops of Central City into an ostentatious display of CGI, allowing for little emotional connection with any characters in the process.

Directed by: Gerald McMorrow

Price: £15.99

Reviewed by: Fergus McShane

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A remarkably bold and original debut feature, the likes of which hasn’t been seen coming out of Britain since Terry Gilliam’s Brazil and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner.

Franklyn follows four individual but somehow entwined characters as each is propelled towards an inexorable, fatal coming together. Switching between gritty London and the parallel Gothic metropolis of Meanwhile city, it is a unique, daring and expansive urban fairytale.

Some of the plot lines and ideas may not work on every intended level, but for sheer visual imagination and audacious ambition, McMorrow must be praised for Franklyn. The fragmented nature of the film means it could probably benefit from being split into two completely separate entities, but the quality of the worlds on display and the characters who inhabit each make this complaint a mere afterthought.

While the visual flair of this first-time director will be the reason many watch Franklyn, the real quality comes out in the characters. Each, tragically lost in their world, is complex and captivating, from the standout Bernard Hill to the fresher faces of Sam Riley and Eva Green.

Franklyn is a surprisingly accomplished, fantastical feature that merits multiple viewings. It may get a little convoluted at times, but it is definitely a tale you will happily get lost in.

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Directed by: Fernando Meirelles

Price: £15.99

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It’s difficult to portray the physical conditions of human suffering on screen and have the audience thoughtfully empathise, especially if the condition is to do with the removal of vision (impossible to present in cinema). But this is exactly the apocalyptic setting of Blindness.

From acclaimed director Fernando Meirelles, of City of God and The Constant Gardner fame, Blindness is a visceral, sense-deprivating film based on the novel from Spanish Nobel Prizewinning author Jose Saramago.

When an outbreak of sudden blindness occurs in a nameless metropolis and quickly develops pandemic proportions, similarly nameless victims are quarantined in a derelict hospital: a brutal, unforgiving home. Only Julianne Moore’s character keeps her sight as she is forced to watch the world descend into chaos, all the while taking care of her husband (Mark Ruffalo) and a ramshackle group of infected followers.

In a style reminiscent of Children of Men, Meirelles portrays a dystopian world that questions just how quickly our society would crumble in the face of adversity. Realistically, too quickly is the answer we get… While Blindness may not have been too well received at cinemas, this chilling, bold and thought provoking alternate reality is definitely worth keeping your eyes open for on DVD.

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Directed by: Catherine Hardwicke

Price: £15.99

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With the vampire resurrection now in full swing, it comes as no surprise to see the infamous gothic villain hitting cinemas in search of younger blood to allow the revival a few more years of popularity. When Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) moves to a small, gloomy town to live with her father, she gets involved with some of the less than usual residents, a family of vampires. Falling in love with vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattison), she must risk everything to be with him and stay alive in the process.

Aimed squarely at female teens, Twilight ticks all the necessary boxes by providing a strong female lead (from the Buffy school of thought) and a brooding, good-looking vampire to make the girls swoon. And entering into this period of post-gothic vampire films, Twilight has all the atmosphere, mood and temperament you would expect from what can best be described as Emo-drama.

Twilight may not have the same level of insight or quality as some of director Hardwicke’s other teenage market offerings, most notably Lords of Dogtown and Thirteen. But as a good quality adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s vampire-romance novel series, Twilight is a surefire sensation among teenage fans that will undoubtedly grant the franchise vampiric ever-lasting life.