Review, buy General: Nightbreed [1990], Parasite [1981], Thirteen Ghosts [2002], Survivors 6 - Revenge / Something Of Value / A Beginning [1975], Highlander: Family Tree, Star Trek The Next Generation 47 : The Nth Degree / QPID [1991], The Deadly Spawn [1983], A Nightmare On Elm Street [1984], Star Trek The Next Generation 21 : Pen Pals / Q-Who [1989], House 2 - The Second Story [1987], The Stranger - The Zero Imperative [1994], Santa Sangre [1990], House 2 - The Second Story [1987], Babylon 5 - Thirdspace, Deranged [1974], Star Trek The Next Generation 22 : Samaritan Snare / Up The Long Ladder [1989], Waxwork II : Lost In Time (1992), Magic [1978], Star Trek : Episodes 55-56 - Assignment Earth / Spectre Of The Gun [1968], Doctor Who The Ark in Space [1963]

A by-the-numbers haunted house movie, albeit one with some neat twists, a couple of good performances and impressive design work, Thirteen Ghosts is a remake of the 1960 original by exploitation superstar William Castle. When ghost-hunter Cyrus (F Murray Abraham) dies his quietly decent widower nephew Arthur (Tony Shaloub) inherits his house. With almost infinite predictability, he, his teenage daughter (Shannon Elizabeth) and young son, as well as a rival ghost-hunter and Cyrus' untrustworthy tame psychic (Mathew Lillard), are trapped in the house, which is a glass labyrinth of sliding panels and shifting staircases. As the woman ghost-hunter Kalina helpfully explains, the house is "a machine designed by the devil and powered by the dead"-specifically by 12 ghosts, most of them murderously malevolent. Shaloub and Lillard manage to make us care about this farrago and Abraham lends his few scenes his usual malignant authority, but the real star is the inventively designed house itself and the outrageous horror-comic makeup of the ghosts. This is a knowingly trashy film enjoyable on its own level. On the DVD: Thirteen Ghosts comes with a short textual explanation of who Castle was and why he should get this sort of homage, a self-congratulatory making-of documentary and filmographies for cast and crew, as well as odd short featurettes explaining the imagined back-story for each of the ghosts. The disc has Dolby sound and is presented in a 1. 85:1 widescreen ratio. -Roz Kaveney.

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Review Sovereign Multimedia Ltd / Survivors 6 - Revenge / Something Of Value / A Beginning [1975]

Survivors 6 - Revenge / Something Of Value / A Beginning [1975] (Sovereign Multimedia Ltd)

Release date: 1998-07-06
Run time: 148 min.
Price: £10.99

Review Survivors 6 - Revenge / Something Of Value / A Beginning [1975] / Sovereign Multimedia Ltd:

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Review Entertainment in Video / Highlander: Family Tree

Highlander: Family Tree (Entertainment in Video)

Actors & Directors

Stan Kirsch
Alexandra Vandernoot
Adrian Paul

Release date: 1994-02-02
Run time: 91 min.
RRP: ~~£10.99~~
Price: £4.99

Review Highlander: Family Tree / Entertainment in Video:

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Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Star Trek The Next Generation 47 : The Nth Degree / QPID [1991]

Star Trek The Next Generation 47 : The Nth Degree / QPID [1991] (Paramount Home Entertainment)

Actors & Directors

Jonathan Frakes
Michael Dorn
LeVar Burton
Robert Legato
Gates McFadden
Cliff Bole
Patrick Stewart

Run time: 87 min.
RRP: ~~£10.99~~
Price: £0.98

Review Star Trek The Next Generation 47 : The Nth Degree / QPID [1991] / Paramount Home Entertainment:

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The Deadly Spawn [1983] (Vipco)

Actors & Directors

Tom DeFranco
Charles George Hildebrandt
Jean Tafler
Douglas McKeown
Richard Lee Porter
Karen Tighe

Release date: 2000-07-17
Run time: 78 min.
Price: £10.99

Review The Deadly Spawn [1983] / Vipco:

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Review Entertainment in Video / A Nightmare On Elm Street [1984]

A Nightmare On Elm Street [1984] (Entertainment in Video)

Actors & Directors

Heather Langenkamp
Amanda Wyss
John Saxon
Ronee Blakley
Wes Craven
Jsu Garcia

Release date: 1998-09-28
Run time: 88 min.
RRP: ~~£5.99~~
Price: £0.98

Review A Nightmare On Elm Street [1984] / Entertainment in Video:

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Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Star Trek The Next Generation 21 : Pen Pals / Q-Who [1989]

Star Trek The Next Generation 21 : Pen Pals / Q-Who [1989] (Paramount Home Entertainment)

Actors & Directors

Patrick Stewart
Rob Bowman
LeVar Burton
Winrich Kolbe
Nikki Cox
Nicholas Cascone
Jonathan Frakes

Run time: 90 min.
RRP: ~~£10.99~~
Price: £3.00

Review Star Trek The Next Generation 21 : Pen Pals / Q-Who [1989] / Paramount Home Entertainment:

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Review Cinema Club / House 2 - The Second Story [1987]

House 2 - The Second Story [1987] (Cinema Club)

Actors & Directors

Ethan Wiley
Jonathan Stark
Royal Dano
John Ratzenberger
Lar Park Lincoln
Arye Gross

Release date: 2001-07-02
Run time: 84 min.
RRP: ~~£5.99~~
Price: £6.99

Review House 2 - The Second Story [1987] / Cinema Club:

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Review ITV DVD / The Stranger - The Zero Imperative [1994]

The Stranger - The Zero Imperative [1994] (ITV DVD)

Actors & Directors

Caroline John
Jon Pertwee
Linda Lusardi
Sylvester McCoy
Bill Baggs
Colin Baker

Release date: 1995-08-14
Run time: 60 min.
Price: £10.99

Review The Stranger - The Zero Imperative [1994] / ITV DVD:

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Santa Sangre [1990] (Fabulous Films Ltd.)

Actors & Directors

Blanca Guerra
Alejandro Jodorowsky
Thelma Tixou
Axel Jodorowsky
Guy Stockwell
Sabrina Dennison

Run time: 118 min.

Review Santa Sangre [1990] / Fabulous Films Ltd.:

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House 2 - The Second Story [1987] (Cinema Club)

Actors & Directors

Royal Dano
Ethan Wiley
Jonathan Stark
John Ratzenberger
Arye Gross
Lar Park Lincoln

Release date: 2001-07-02
Run time: 84 min.
RRP: ~~£5.99~~
Price: £6.99

Review House 2 - The Second Story [1987] / Cinema Club:

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Review Warner Home Video / Babylon 5 - Thirdspace

Babylon 5 - Thirdspace (Warner Home Video)

Actors & Directors

Mira Furlan
Bruce Boxleitner
Jeff Conaway
Jesús Salvador Treviño
Richard Biggs
Claudia Christian

Release date: 1998-09-14
Run time: 95 min.
RRP: ~~£14.99~~
Price: £0.50

Review Babylon 5 - Thirdspace / Warner Home Video:

This second TV movie spin-off from the cult sci-fi series Babylon 5 occurs sometime shortly after the end of the Shadow War. On patrol in hyperspace Commander Ivanova (Claudia Christian) discovers a most peculiar object, and decides to have it investigated at the station. The fly in the ointment is an overly eager "aide" from IPX (Interplanetary Expeditions) who insists on assisting the research. The motivations of IPX clearly aren't pure, and there's something else going on in their interest toward telepath Lyta Alexander (Patricia Tallman). Before you can say "it's behind you", spooky things start happening, with crewmembers dreaming of an alien world and a small cult rising in worship of the object. The whole idea of this standalone tale is that of a haunted house in space. Lighting and design contribute to a claustrophobic atmosphere, and the soundtrack by regular series composer (and ex-Tangerine Dream member) Christopher Franke is suitably eerie, making use of the Theremin, an early electronic instrument much used in 1950s B-movies. Since it falls outside of the arc of the series' continuing storyline, Thirdspace is basically a good excuse for a Halloween Special. -Paul Tonks.

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