American thriller writer Peter Neal (Tony Franciosa) arrives in Rome to publicise his latest novel. Then people start dying in increasingly grisly ways—all copied from Neal's book. Dario Argento's long-banned blood-drenched whodunnit is released in uncut form for the first time... but this hasn't cured the gaping holes in the plot. For gorehounds only.
Comedy terrorist Chris Morris writes and directs this extended riff on what could have been one of his more unsettling TV sketches—think Kafka remixed by Chris Cunningham. Paddy Considine, a talking dog, a demonic baby and a nerve-jangling soundtrack blur the line between black humour and abstract art. More please.
DVD EXTRAS: Runner's commentary, alternative 5.1 mix, original radio monologue, dog animation, remix of the film by Cartel.
(SD)
Pulp's early-'90s videos for "Babies" and "Lipgloss" perfectly capture that periods new optimism, while the promos for "Common People" and "Disco 2000" were Britpop's peak visual moments. But it's the extras on this three-hour DVD that provide evidence of Jarvis Cocker's surreal ubiquity back then: impersonations courtesy of Harry Hill, Chris Morris and Mr Blobby, appearances on This Morning With Richard & Judy and Da Ali G Show, and a take-off on Stars In Their Eyes.
The first gig since Castlemorton to make front-page news, Fatboy Slim's massively over-attended 2002 beach-front hoedown was greeted as armaggedon by the Daily Mail but, as this film shows in fact consisted of a bald man in a Hawaiian shirt playing 19 records very loud. Watch 200,000 ecstatic bodies moving in unison to "Born Slippy", though, and you'll realise the Mail had a point. Goosebump-inducing.
DVD EXTRAS: Interview with and full commentary by Norman Cook, choice of playing the tracks in your own order.
A document of their 1994 Dog Man Star tour, this captures Suede just about surviving the notorious crisis of losing that album's principal architect, Bernard Butler. Still, Brett Anderson bumps and minces with considerable verve and new boy Richard Oakes oozes confidence nevertheless. More interesting are the accompanying tour films, dedicated to Derek Jarman and visibly influenced by said director's Smiths promos.
DVD EXTRAS: Lyrics menu, rare NFT video footage, teaser for accompanying Lost in TV DVD.
By the early-to-mid '80s, Nico was holed up in Manchester on the comeback trail junkie habit in tow. A live performance at the Library Theatre, Heroine is a funereal study of stark cool, drawing on The Velvet Underground—"All Tomorrow's Parties", "Femme Fatale"—alongside rather less celebrated fare from Camera Obscura (1985) and Drama Of Exile (1981).
The inferior An Underground Experience places her in a nameless club—haunted, drawn and distant.
On this "Special Edition" DVD you get a wealth of biographical information and visual material, as well as a Renault 21 TV ad based on this legendary Cold War-era feast for late-'60s conspiracy theorists. The holy grail for Prisoner fanatics, however, is a rough-cut, alternative version of episode one, "Arrival", never officially available before, featuring different intro music.
Richard Linklater takes the po-faced monologues of Slacker up a level with this extraordinary, state-of-the-art, animated dream trip. The endless navel-gazing and philosophising (Are we alive? Are we imagining everything? There's not gonna be a car chase in this, is there?) are undeniably wearing, but you have to admire the only sentient Texan's ambition and nerve.
DVD EXTRAS: None.
(CR)
It's tempting to see Pedro Almodóvar's career as one steady progression from early Warholian kitsch like Pepi, Luci, Bom to recent audience-pleasing, Oscar-winning standouts like All About My Mother. If so, then the breathtaking Talk To Her is easily his career apogee and deftly confirms his status as one of the world's foremost filmmakers.