As the third in what became a series of eight, Prince of Darkness was distinguished among the Hammer Dracula movies for several reasons. It was the third and last directed by Terence Fisher and his familiarity with the mythos and studio practices meant the rushed production still came out looking spectacular in places. Moving into the tail end of the 1960s, Hammer looked for ways of cost cutting: the film's dramatic finale on a frozen river takes place on a two-for-one set being used simultaneously for another shoot. This was also the series entry that included a substitute for the Renfield character missing from the first movie. Thorley Walters as Ludwig is a colourful cameo and that's also all that can be said of Christopher Lee. Despite top billing, the mute monster occupies but a fraction of the overall on-screen time. The real frights come from gaunt butler Klove who scares the life (literally) out of hapless travellers Alan, Charles, Helen and Diana. Surely their fate would ensure no-one else took the mountain pass to Carlsbad? But only two years later, audiences discovered Dracula Has Risen from the Grave. On the DVD: apart from scene access there's nothing making use of the DVD format here. The 2. [+]

If you crave an over-the-top historical kung fu-fantasy epic with a good dose of voluptuous nudity, bravura machismo, and passions so intense they verge on ridiculous, then Brotherhood of the Wolf is for you. Based (loosely) on an 18th-century legend, this French film follows a hunky scientist (Samuel Le Bihan) and his Iroquois sidekick/spiritual partner (Mark Dacascos) as they pursue a monstrous wolf ravaging the French countryside. Along the way Le Bihan gets entwined with a beautiful noblewoman (Emilie Dequenne) and a gorgeous prostitute (Monica Belluci) with secrets to tell. The plot grows more and more incomprehensible, but the mix of torrid emotions, outrageous action sequences, and lurid titillation is really what the movie is about. Ignore the highbrow philosophising and confused political intrigue; just enjoy the sensual images. -Bret Fetzer On the DVD: Brotherhood of the Wolf is a film which revels in excess, yet the extra features on the disc are surprisingly sparse. The DVD boasts a programme on the legend of the Beast of the Gevaudan, as well as the original theatrical trailer, which was obviously geared towards an American audience-all action, no (French) dialogue. Unfortunately, though the DVD gives the viewer the option of watching the film in French (with English subtitles) or dubbed in English, only the dubbed version has Dolby 5. 1 sound. Viewers who want to watch this film in its original language are forced to settle for 2. [+]

michelle owens,gregory greer. a female cop is bitten by a serial killing vampire.

The Dead Zone is based on the novel by Stephen King, directed by David Cronenberg (Scanners, The Fly) and produced by Debra Hill (Halloween, The Fog). Such a trio of horror vets would be expected to come up with an evening of shocks and gore, but The Dead Zone is a surprise. While it has great atmospheric eeriness and undeniably scary moments, the movie is at heart a sensitive and thoughtful portrayal of main character's dilemma. Christopher Walken, king of the vaguely creepy, plays Johnny Smith, a man who awakens from a five-year coma with the very mixed blessing of second sight. At the mere touch of a hand, Smith is unwillingly launched into scenes of past and future terror. (Director Cronenberg is said to have fired blanks from a. 357 Magnum just out of camera range to keep Walken's flinching spontaneous. ) The Dead Zone wisely takes its time telling the story, and thus allows for some great performances. Walken gives a rich portrayal of the conflicted Smith, and Colleen Dewhurst and Tom Skerritt both do welcome turns in smaller roles. The most fun of all, though, is clearly had by Martin Sheen, who gives a spirited performance as a complete sleazebag. [+]

Halloween III: Season of the Witch was producer John Carpenter's attempt to get the series away from the original psycho-on-the-loose storyline and turn it into a vehicle for more far-fetched Halloween-themed horror tales. Incredibly, the fans voted for more of the same and Carpenter walked away for others to rehash the Michael Myers plotline in a succession of lookalike movies that are still turning up every few years. Though original screenwriter Nigel Kneale (of the Quatermass series and The Stone Tape) removed his name from the final film after a coarsening rewrite by director Tommy Lee Wallace, his strange touch is evident in the offbeat story. After the mysterious deaths of a toyshop owner, a doctor (Tom Atkins) and the man's daughter (Stacy Nelkin), an investigation takes place in the Irish-dominated Northern California community of Santa Mira, a company town owned by the Silver Shamrock Novelty corporation, whose bestselling Halloween masks are pushed by an amazingly irritating TV jingle you won't ever be able to get out of your head ("Two more days to Halloween, Halloween, Halloween"). Atkins and Nelkin are typical low-rent horror movie protagonists, dim-bulbs who discover an Invasion of the Body Snatchers-style conspiracy involving sharp-suited corporate robots. But guest star Dan O'Herlihy steals the film as a Celtic joke tycoon ("the man who invented sticky toilet paper and the dead dwarf gag") who hates the way American kids are despoiling the religious spirit of Samhain and decides to teach them a nasty lesson. His scheme, which involves a stolen Stonehenge megalith ("sure, you'd never believe how we did it") and a techno-magic spell that turns the heads of TV watchers into writhing masses of snakes and insects, is value for money. O'Herlihy mixes enough serious malice into the charm to come across as a great screen baddie. On the DVD: Halloween III: Season of the Witch is a disappointment on disc. After letterboxed titles, this defaults to full frame throughout, severely cramping Dean Cundey's Panavision cinematography, and it's a grainy, indifferent print that ill-serves the performances or the atmospherics. [+]

You have to hand it to the walking dead. What they lack in speed and agility, they more than make up for in sheer single-minded determination. Im-Ho-Tep is a case in point. He's an ancient Egyptian priest, cursed for his terrible crimes against the gods. A team of British archaeologists digs up his sarcophagus, along with a box inscribed with a warning that opening it will unleash death and destruction. You'll never guess what they do. Once freed, Im-Ho-Tep takes on the appropriately evil alias Ardath Bey and gets to the task of resurrecting his ancient lover-which will, of course, require a living human surrogate. While the premise may sound formulaic, The Mummy in fact turns out to be bracingly weird, relying on atmospheric creepiness rather than on jump-out-and-scare-you effects. Boris Karloff gives a terrific performance as Im-Ho-Tep. He has all the malevolence the film requires, but also manages subtler touches; the expression in his eyes as he is wrapped in preparation for being buried alive is absolutely chilling. [+]

She can't (and won't) drive 55. Stephen King's novel about the twisted love affair between a boy and his car gets transferred to the screen, courtesy of suspense master John Carpenter. Although lacking some of the more outré supernatural elements of the source material, this high-octane cinematic tune-up more than delivers the goods, horror-wise (Christine's midnight rampages will never be forgotten)-as well as being a sly exposé of the random cruelties within the high-school pecking order. Keith Gordon (who has gone on to become a stellar director in his own right, with films such as A Midnight Clear and Mother Night to his credit) gives a wonderfully controlled central performance. Carpenter's atmospheric original score is backed up by a well-chosen collection of rock classics, including George Thorogood's "Bad to the Bone" (the titular character's all-too-apt theme song). -Andrew Wright, Amazon. com.

By Tom Baker's third season in the role the actor had become firmly established in the minds of many fans as the definitive Doctor. First broadcast in early 1977, "Robots of Death" follows on directly from "Face of Evil", which was writer Chris Boucher's debut and also that of Louise Jameson's Leela, the Doctor's most shapely companion (a kind of Neanderthal Seven of Nine if you will). Boucher's second Who story concerns an isolated mining ship on which a series of inexplicable deaths take place-although as the Doctor opines, "nothing is inexplicable, only unexplained". The Doctor and Leela inevitably become embroiled in events, which soon turn into a sci-fi murder-mystery: imagine Isaac Asimov crossed with Agatha Christie in a Frank Herbert Dune-like setting. Add an undercover robot sent by "the company" and the claustrophobic, not to say deadly setting of the mining ship and there is a fascinating foreshadowing of Alien, too. It is tightly plotted, intelligent Saturday teatime entertainment (something that was possible then but is now an unthinkable oxymoron) with a typically strong cast of redoubtable thesps in supporting roles (not to mention extravagant costumes and garish make-up). There may be no Daleks or Cybermen, but this is vintage Who nevertheless. -Mark Walker.