Browse Drama. Murder & Mayhem

New Price: $15.00

The Silence of the Lambs

Actors: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Anthony Heald, Ted Levine
ASIN : 6305073333
Sales Rank : 78977
Director : Jonathan Demme
Studio : Image Entertainment
Region Code : 0
Format : AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9786305073338
ISBN : 6305073333
UPC : 014381406924
Release Date : December 03, 1997
Publisher : Image Entertainment
Manufacturer : Image Entertainment
Label : Image Entertainment
Running Time : 118

Description

As Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter, Anthony Hopkins is the archetypical antihero--cultured, quick-witted, uncontainable--a portrait of the sharpest human faculties gone diabolically wrong. His performance marked him as a major star in America, and the movie swept the 1991 Academy Awards--Best Picture, Director (Jonathan Demme), Actor (Hopkins), Actress (Foster), and Screenplay Adaptation (Ted Tally, from the novel by Thomas Harris).

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Based on Thomas Harris's novel, this terrifying film by Jonathan Demme really only contains a couple of genuinely shocking moments (one involving an autopsy, the other a prison break). The rest of the film is a splatter-free visual and psychological descent into the hell of madness, redeemed astonishingly by an unlikely connection between a monster and a haunted young woman. Anthony Hopkins is extraordinary as the cannibalistic psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter, virtually entombed in a subterranean prison for the criminally insane. At the behest of the FBI, agent-in-training Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) approaches Lecter, requesting his insights into the identity and methods of a serial killer named Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine). In exchange, Lecter demands the right to penetrate Starling's most painful memories, creating a bizarre but palpable intimacy that liberates them both under separate but equally horrific circumstances. Demme, a filmmaker with a uniquely populist vision (Melvin and Howard, Something Wild), also spent his early years making pulp for Roger Corman (Caged Heat), and he hasn't forgotten the significance of tone, atmosphere, and the unsettling nature of a crudely effective close-up. Much of the film, in fact, consists of actors staring straight into the camera (usually from Clarice's point of view), making every bridge between one set of eyes to another seem terribly dangerous. --Tom Keogh

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Price: $4.95

Dead End

Actors: Earl Askam, Wendy Barrie, Don "Red" Barry, Humphrey Bogart, Ward Bond
ASIN : B000AYELJC
Sales Rank : 59030
Studio : Cheezy Flicks Ent
Region Code : 1
Format : Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0827421000538
UPC : 827421000538
Release Date : December 05, 2006
Publisher : Cheezy Flicks Ent
Manufacturer : Cheezy Flicks Ent
Availability : In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served.
Label : Cheezy Flicks Ent
Running Time : 93

Description

Noted New York gangster Baby Face Martin, decides to come home to visit his mother and the girl he left behind. While he is there he hooks up with Dave Connell, a former friend who is now a struggling architect. At first Connell is a little disturbed th

New Price: $2.97

The Firm

Actors: Joey Anderson, Tobin Bell, Wilford Brimley, Gary Busey, Paul Calderon
ASIN : B00003CXA1
Sales Rank : 87400
Studio : Paramount
Region Code : 1
Format : Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780792164951
ISBN : 0792164954
UPC : 097363252375
Release Date : December 23, 2000
Publisher : Paramount
Manufacturer : Paramount
Label : Paramount
Running Time : 154

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This first film adaptation of a John Grisham novel is a crackerjack popcorn movie that satisfies even though it radically changes the last half of the book. The novel's dynamic setup is intact: Mitch McDeere, a hot law graduate (a well-suited Tom Cruise), finds a dream job in a luxurious Memphis law firm. His superiors (Gene Hackman, Hal Holbrook) provide Mitch and his young wife, Abby (Jeanne Tripplehorn), with a house and plenty of money in exchange for lots of work, and maybe something more. Soon FBI agents (including a bald Ed Harris) encircle Mitch, telling him his firm has a sinister secret, forcing Mitch into a heck of a pickle. How Mitch deals with his situation is where the book and movie differ, yet by the time Mitch is running from bad guys with suitcase in hand, the movie delivers Grisham's goods. For Sydney Pollack's film, Mitch is more confrontational and heroic. Plot aside, the care Pollack put into this fair-weather thriller is unimpeachable, as is his cast. There's hardly a better all-star cast in any '90s thriller, from Hackman and Harris in key roles to actors in smaller parts, sometimes with only a scene or two. Standouts include David Strathairn as Mitch's wayward brother, Wilford Brimley as the head of security, film producer Jerry Weintraub as an angry client, Gary Busey as a private investigator, and Holly Hunter in a delicious, Oscar-nominated supporting role as Busey's most loyal of secretaries. The cast seems to have had as much fun making the film as we do watching it. It's slick Hollywood product, but first-rate all the way. --Doug Thomas

New Price: $99.99

The Night Stalker/The Night Strangler

Actors: Darren McGavin, Carol Lynley, Simon Oakland, Ralph Meeker, Claude Akins
ASIN : 6305095450
Sales Rank : 88030
Director : John Llewellyn Moxey, Dan Curtis
Studio : Starz / Anchor Bay
Region Code : 0
Format : Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9786305095453
ISBN : 6305095450
UPC : 013131050196
Release Date : December 05, 1998
Publisher : Starz / Anchor Bay
Manufacturer : Starz / Anchor Bay
Label : Starz / Anchor Bay
Running Time : 164

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The Night Stalker
Wisecracking Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) is a rumpled news hound plucked from the fast-talking newspaper flicks of the 1940s and dropped into the swinging '70s. What makes the eccentric Kolchak even more unique, however, is his nose for the supernatural, a trait that leaves his editor (Simon Oakland) exasperated and the police less than amused. When he insists that a late-night Las Vegas serial killer (who leaves his victims drained of blood and sporting twin holes in the neck) is a modern-day vampire, he's practically run out of town by the local authorities. Naturally, he stalks the vampire himself, an unlikely Van Helsing armed with a silver cross, a wooden stake, and his ever-present tape recorder and flashbulb camera. Carol Lynley is his understanding girlfriend, and Ralph Meeker, Claude Akins, Kent Smith, and Charles McGraw costar as the Vegas cops and politicians Kolchak systematically alienates with his abrasive charm and smart mouth. Directed by Dan Curtis from a witty script by Richard Matheson, the quirky mix of horror and humor turned The Night Stalker into a ratings sensation that inspired a sequel (The Night Strangler) and a short-lived TV series (Kolchak: The Night Stalker). The X-Files creator Chris Carter acknowledges the show as a major inspiration, and has cast McGavin in a recurring role as a retired X-Files veteran with an acerbic personality and a familiar rumpled wardrobe. Kolchak lives! --Sean Axmaker

The Night Strangler
The Night Strangler finds down-on-his-luck investigator Carl Kolchak in Seattle, hot on the trail of a serial killer hiding in the underground city beneath the streets, a gas-lit fantasy world frozen in time (L.A.'s famous Bradbury Building--which has also appeared in Blade Runner and DOA--becomes the spooky city's architectural centerpiece). Exotic dancer and medical student Jo Ann Pflug tags along as partner and bait, and the exasperated Simon Oakland returns as Kolchak's harried editor. Genre fans will enjoy the appearances of popular character actors John Carradine, Margaret Hamilton, Wally Cox, and Al Lewis. Noted horror and science fiction author Richard Matheson scripted this meandering, low-key thriller with plenty of humor, which McGavin delivers with deadpan delight. --Sean Axmaker

New Price: $7.99

Dead Again

Actors: Jo Anderson, Obba Babatundé, Raymond Cruz, Patrick Doyle, Richard Easton (II)
ASIN : B00004T9BY
Sales Rank : 83190
Studio : Paramount
Region Code : 1
Format : Anamorphic, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0097363205777
UPC : 097363205777
Release Date : December 27, 2000
Publisher : Paramount
Manufacturer : Paramount
Label : Paramount
Running Time : 107

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British thespian and sophomore director Kenneth Branagh follows up his adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry V with this abrupt change of pace, a slick, stylish thriller evocative of Hitchcock, classic film noir, and gothic shockers. Sporting an exaggerated American accent, Branagh stars as L.A. private eye Mike Church, a hard-boiled but softhearted detective who takes on the case of a mysterious amnesiac (Branagh's then-real-life wife, Emma Thompson). With the help of an offbeat furniture dealer and part-time hypnotist (Derek Jacobi), Grace (as Mike has named her) dredges up her hidden memories. Little do they realize that her recollections are of a past life in L.A.'s recent history, and as she recounts the details of a famous marriage that ended with a notorious murder (played out as black-and-white flashbacks starring Branagh and Thompson), events of the present begin to mirror the past, as if fate were pulling the two into fatal replay of history. Branagh's flashy, flourished direction echoes with an array of '40s and '50s classics and near classics (most notably Hitchcock's Rebecca and Spellbound) and drives the story with an edgy urgency, all the better to distract from some of the sillier elements of the plot. But while this film may not make literal sense in the harsh light of day, in the twilit, shadowy world of classic Hollywood this slyly inventive thriller is a bravura bit of old-fashioned entertainment, done up with modern flair. --Sean Axmaker

New Price: $39.95

The American Soldier

Actors: Marius Aicher, Hark Bohm, Marquard Bohm, Ingrid Caven, Gustl Datz
ASIN : B00006LPCY
Sales Rank : 43930
Studio : Fox Lorber
Region Code : 1
Format : Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780794202576
ISBN : 0794202578
UPC : 720917533926
Release Date : December 19, 2002
Publisher : Fox Lorber
Manufacturer : Fox Lorber
Label : Fox Lorber
Running Time : 80

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Rainer Werner Fassbinder's tribute to American gangster films is an exercise in pure pulp fantasy. Ricky (Karl Scheydt) is a German hit man who returns home after a stint in America and is hired by renegade police detectives to assassinate Berlin criminals they have been unable to nab. Ricky wistfully revisits his old neighborhood and attempts to reconcile with his estranged mother and brother--but on the job, this antihero is a hard-boiled, stone-cold killer. Complications set in as he falls for a call girl, unaware she's actually his boss's girl sent to keep tabs on him. Shot in sharp, high-contrast black and white, this self-consciously stylish crime thriller recalls American film noir and gangster films with its heavy shadows and pools of light. Fassbinder's sleazy Berlin underworld is populated by denizens named after his favorite directors (Walsh, Fuller, Murnau), all dressed as if they just stepped out of a Humphrey Bogart detective movie. It's a playful lark from a director who had yet to complete his first masterpiece, but Fassbinder's developing style comes across in crisp images, terse dialogue, and a stunning, unexpected climax. Future director Margarethe von Trotta plays a suicidal chambermaid telling the story of an elderly German woman who marries a young Turkish man, a tale Fassbinder later transformed into Ali: Fear Eats the Soul. --Sean Axmaker

New Price: $40.99

Little Odessa

Actors: Tim Roth, Edward Furlong, Moira Kelly, Vanessa Redgrave, Paul Guilfoyle (II)
ASIN : B00000IBSM
Sales Rank : 90252
Director : James Gray
Studio : Geneon [Pioneer]
Region Code : 0
Format : Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0013023015593
UPC : 013023015593
Release Date : December 22, 2000
Publisher : Geneon [Pioneer]
Manufacturer : Geneon [Pioneer]
Label : Geneon [Pioneer]
Running Time : 98

Description

The lure of power has snared two brothers into a deadly web of danger, deceit and passion too strong to resist. Torn between the sinister yet seductive world of crime and the bonds of family loyalty, the brothers must risk their lives to make a stand in this brutal struggle for survival in the mean streets of New York. Starring: Tim Roth, Edward Furlong, Vanessa Redgrave. Special Features include: Audio Commentary with Director James Gray and Star Tim Roth. Film to storyboard comparison with comments by the director. Production photo gallery. 2:35:1 Widescreen

New Price: $24.95

Fallen Angels

Actors: Leon Lai, Michelle Reis, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Charlie Yeung, Karen Mok
ASIN : B00000ILEM
Sales Rank : 84029
Director : Kar Wai Wong
Studio : Kino Video
Region Code : 0
Format : Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0738329012021
UPC : 738329012021
Release Date : December 02, 2003
Publisher : Kino Video
Manufacturer : Kino Video
Label : Kino Video
Running Time : 96

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Fallen Angels was originally planned as one section of director Wong Kar-Wai's best-known film, Chungking Express, but eventually it grew into its own distinct and delirious shape. In many ways, Fallen Angels may be the better film, a dark, frantic fun-house ride through Hong Kong's nighttime world. Part of the film is a love story between two people who have barely met: a young, ultra-hip hit man (Leon Lai) and the dreamy operative (Michele Reis) who plans his jobs. Much of the movie is given over to a very strange subplot about a manic mute (Takeshi Kaneshiro) who goes on bizarre nocturnal prowls through a closed food market--like almost everything else in Wong's films, this is antic, stylish, and oddly touching, all at the same time. It must be said that, also like Wong's other films, Fallen Angels is fragmented and oblique to the point of occasional incomprehensibility…but then suddenly something wild or wonderful happens, such as the moment when the killer leaves the scene of a spectacular shooting and is promptly waylaid by a cheerful old school chum on a public bus. These coups--whether lyrical, violent, or simply "how on earth did they get that shot?"--are tossed off by Wong and cinematographer Christopher Doyle with all the cool of the hired killer, as though the movie were a cigarette dangling from a pair of oh-so-casual lips. This is exactly why so many otherwise calm critics fell all over themselves in hailing Wong Kar-Wai as one of the most exciting filmmakers of his generation. --Robert Horton

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The Silence of the Lambs

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Dead End

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The Firm

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The Night Stalker/The Night Strangler

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Dead Again

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The American Soldier

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Friend (Widescreen Edition)

Little Odessa

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Lucky Man

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Fallen Angels

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