Italian director and screenwriter Fulci had a diverse career, and was responsible for films in lots of genres including comedies, westerns and crime thrillers, but it’s his horror films that will make sure he has a place in the hearts of cult film fans everywhere. Revered by gorehounds, his high point is generally accepted as the Lovecraftian, insane, ‘The Beyond’ which features satanic crucifixions, tarantula attacks and a spiffing head-dissolved-by-acid death.

A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin is not quite as graphic, however. Carol Hammond (played by Brazilian hottie Florinda Bolkan) is the daughter of a successful English politician, and is not quite right in the old coconut. She’s beset by mind-bending dreams involving hard partying, dissolute neighbour Julia (Anita Strindberg), where they indulge in some arty lesbionic hanky-panky in what appears to be a wind tunnel. Unable to rid herself of her nightmares with the help of a psychiatrist, they culminate with her stabbing Julia to death in a grisly sequence. Sure enough, she finds out the next day that Julia has been offed in a manner exactly the same as her dream. What follows is a tale of red herrings, chicanery and murderous hippies as Carol and her father set out to unravel the mystery surrounding the murder and prove Carol’s innocence. Did she do it? Who knows? Who cares? Who dares to dream?

Special mention must be made about the scene where Carol stumbles upon a bunch of disembowelled dogs whilst in a clinic. The effects were so realistic that Lucio Fulci was accused of animal cruelty and nearly copped two years in jail. He only managed to get off the hook when special effects savant Carlo Rimbaldi turned up at court bearing a latex hound, proving that it was cinema trickery.

Fulci has crafted an effective thriller, and it’s helped along by a queasy Ennio Morricone score. Not having lived through the decade I can’t say if it was all free love, beads and headbands but he evokes an effective, albeit sinister, sixties vibe here. Within the first five minutes, you’re subjected to more claustrophobia, crash-zooms, razor sharp cheekbones and the type of coiffured manes you see on faded old posters in hairdressers than most other films of this genre. The acting is a bit stiff, but this is to be expected from a cheap seventies giallo and this reviewer would argue that a cult film such as this is all the better for it. This is essential viewing for any Fulci aficionado, but anyone who is a fan of horror or thrillers will enjoy it. It’s a stylish and will keep you guessing right up until the very last frame.

“I coulda lied there forever, but the phone rang.” And with that bit of hard-boiled narration we are introduced to the world of private investigator John Rosow (Shannon), a rumpled burn out cut from the same cloth as Elliott Gould’s gumshoe in The Long Goodbye (1973). Rosow is hired by an attorney over the phone to tail a man (Wood) from Chicago to Los Angeles by train. Rosow may come across as a burn out but when it’s called for, he displays the necessary private eye skills: paying off a taxi cab driver to tail his target, pulling a fast one on the hotel clerk where the man is staying at, and listening in on the man’s room.

Rosow eventually finds out that there is much more to this mystery man than meets the eye and that there is much more to the job than he was initially led to believe. Halfway through the film, the story veers off in an unexpected direction that gives the film noir genre an interesting spin as we gain significant insight into both Rosow and the man he is following. Without giving too much away, we begin to realize that the film’s title applies not only to Rosow’s target but to the private eye himself.

Writer/director Noah Buschel makes good use of Michael Shannon’s world-weary face. Rosow seems to sport a permanent grimace as if every action were a painful chore. It doesn’t help that he appears to be a barely functioning alcoholic. Over the course of the film, it becomes apparent that he is haunted by memories of his past that come to him in his dreams. Through several flashbacks, Buschel hints at a happier time for Rosow when he was involved with a beautiful woman that was probably his wife. Shannon doesn’t overplay his character’s affectations but does make one aware of them by the way he carries himself and through body language.

Buschel has a good ear for snappy film noir dialogue, like when Rosow trades barbs with two FBI agents that are tailing him. It evokes a bygone era which juxtaposes rather nicely with the contemporary setting. For example, Rosow is approached by a dishy, femme fatale (Colin) type and asks her, “You’re not one of those gals that uses sex as a weapon, are ya?” to which she replies, “No. I don’t like violence.”

While Chicago is photographed by cinematographer Ryan Samul to look drab and drained of color, L.A. is sunny and vibrant so that Rosow, with his plain brown suit, looks out of place. Like Gould’s P.I. in The Long Goodbye, Rosow is a man out of time. He listens to music from the 1950s and dresses like a gumshoe from the 1940s which is rather fitting seeing as how Shannon looks like an actor who could’ve had a pretty good career appearing in film noirs from that era. Shannon is fascinating to watch and is an actor that makes interesting choices when it comes to a given scene. The world weary private eye genre has been done to death but Shannon, along with Buschel’s excellent writing, keeps us engaged for the entire running time of The Missing Person.

Special Features:

None.

Set in London, 1897, the film begins with the kidnapping of a kind toymaker mouse by a nasty bat (Candido), leaving his young daughter Olivia (Pollatschek) all alone. Meanwhile, Dr. Dawson (Bettin) has recently arrived in London after living abroad for some time. He meets the distraught Olivia who has taken refuge in a discarded shoe in a rainy alleyway. She’s trying to find Basil (Ingham) of Baker Street, the famous mouse detective. Moved by her plight, Dawson decides to help her.

They soon find Basil, a whirlwind of energy and movement. He’s a master of disguise and very intelligent – within seconds he’s able to deduce Dawson’s past with his powers of perception and deduction. Olivia tells Basil about what happened to her father and we learn that the bat is in the employ of the mouse detective’s arch-nemesis, Professor Ratigan (Price), “a Napoleon of crime.” And so, Basil decides to help out Olivia with Dawson’s help.

The great Vincent Price lends his distinctive voice to the character of Ratigan and sounds like he’s having a blast playing a larger than life villain. Ratigan’s not afraid to punish his underlings, feeding one of them to an obese cat for calling him a rat. The actor has certainly played his share of criminal masterminds and so this was inspired casting – he even gets to sing!

The animation is excellent, blending computer with hand-drawn, and certainly up to the high standards of Disney. It’s very fluid in nature with beautifully rendered backgrounds that are rich in detail. For example, London is presented as a gloomy place with all sorts of nooks and crannies for danger to lurk. The scene where Basil and Dawson track the bat henchman through a toy store where the toys suddenly come to life is not only atmospheric but also exciting and one of the film’s highlights. This rather foreboding setting is tempered by a lot of broad humour as Basil is a bit of a goofball and Dawson his bumbling sidekick.

The film’s conceit – reimagining Sherlock Holmes and Watson as mice – is an inspired one and the filmmakers offer a few glimpses of how the mouse world mirrors the human one. The Great Mouse Detective is a good film but not a great one what with so-so musical numbers (including one sung by Melissa Manchester – remember her?) tempered with a memorable performance by Vincent Price.

Special Features:

There’s not too much difference from the previous DVD release for this film. New to this edition is a pretty superficial featurette entitled, “So You Think You Can Sleuth?” It gives a brief history of detectives and highlights some of the most famous in history. It also gives a brief example of a mystery for you to solve.

Ported over from the previous release is all-too brief “The Making of The Great Mouse Detective” which traces the origins of the film. It took more than four years to make blended computer animation with hand-drawn characters for the first time in Disney’s history. We see footage of the voice actors giving line readings while Vincent Price speaks highly of his character, expressing his joy at being able to appear in a Disney film.

Finally, there is “’The World’s Greatest Criminal Mind’ Sing-Along Song” which allows you to sing along with Professor Ratigan’s song and dance number.

Richard Castle (Fillion) is a best-selling writer of crime fiction and we first meet him at the launching of his latest novel, basking in the crowd’s adulation while autographing women’s chests. He’s just killed off the popular recurring protagonist in his novels and is late in delivering his new one because he’s lost that creative spark. He’s got three weeks until his publisher, and ex-wife (Mazur), demands the return of his sizable advance.

Castle’s life is about to get a whole lot more interesting thanks to police detective Kate Beckett (Katic). She’s investigating a series of murders that are patterned after ones in his novels and needs his help. He uses his pull with the mayor (“He’s a fan.”) to tag along with Beckett, much to her chagrin. It turns out that he’s an excellent judge of character in addition to shamelessly flirting with her. Naturally, they prove to be a successful team and end up working on several other cases over the course of the first season’s ten episodes.

Castle’s premise is hardly original as the notion of an author solving murders is taken from Murder, She Wrote, while the suave yet smart alecky guy teamed up with the straight-laced woman is right out of Remington Steele and Moonlighting, which gives Castle a kind of retro feel. But let’s face it, the real reason to watch this show is Nathan Fillion who uses his considerable charisma and highly entertaining way of delivering fairly standard dialogue to make this show something of a guilty pleasure. It looks like he’s having a blast putting just the right smarmy spin on his give and take with Stana Katic’s no-nonsense detective.

The show’s creator, Andrew Marlowe, has wisely surrounded Fillion with a supporting cast that allows him to showcase his considerable talents. Stana Katic does a fine job as the dedicated cop and Castle’s foil. She’s more than capable of delivering the snappy dialogue in the scenes where she rebuffs his shameless come-ons. T.V. veteran Susan Sullivan (Dharma & Greg) plays Castle’s brassy, gold-digging mother who is a constant source of frustration and embarrassment. Molly Quinn is also a stand-out as Castle’s smart daughter and voice of reason when he acts out. These two characters not only deflate Castle’s ego, they also humanize him. Sure, they are character types we’ve seen before but Sullivan and Quinn do a good job of making them watchable.

Castle is more of an entertaining show then it should be given the collection of well-worn clichés and stereotypes and this is due in large part to Fillion’s presence. Hopefully, mainstream audiences will realize just how good he is – something that his fans have known for years.

Special Features:

The first disc features an audio commentary on “Flowers for Your Grave” by creator/executive producer Andrew Marlowe, executive producer Rob Bowman, and actors Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic, and Jon Huertas. The book launch sequences were actually shot on location in New York City as part of a presentation before the show was picked up. Marlowe talks about the challenge of introducing all the regular characters while also telling a mystery story. Marlowe and Bowman talk about casting Fillion and Katic. Meanwhile, Fillion cracks jokes and is his usual entertaining self.

The second disc includes a commentary on “A Chill Goes Through Her Veins” by Marlowe, Bowman, Fillion, Katic, Huertas and Molly Quinn. They talk about the challenge of filming on an actual construction site. Marlowe and Fillion talk about their approach to the character of Castle. Katic goes into detail about her character’s backstory and how it informs what she does.

Disc three starts off with two commentaries on “A Death in the Family.” The first one features Marlowe, Bowman, Fillion, Katic, Huertas, and Quinn. Everyone banters back and forth while sharing anecdotes about shooting this episode. Katic talks about the dramatic material in this episode and how it changes the relationship between Castle and Beckett.

There is also another commentary for this episode by Huertas and fellow cast member Seamus Dever. These guys crack jokes and praise the episode’s guest stars. They also tell all sorts of filming anecdotes.

“Whodunit: The Genesis of Castle” features Andrew Marlowe talking about the origins of the show – a desire to hearken back to shows like The Rockford Files and Moonlighting. Fillion, Katic and the other regular cast members talk about their characters.

“Castle’s Godfather” is an interview between Marlowe, Bowman and T.V. producer/writer and legend Stephen J. Cannell. Bowman knew Cannell when he was a kid and got his start on T.V. working for him. The two men share entertaining anecdotes about some of the shows they’ve worked on together.

“Write-Along with Nathan Fillion” is a hilarious mock-featurette as the actor spends the day with Cannell. The actor shows up to the man’s house late and is forced to camp out until the next day. Fillion hangs on Cannell’s every word but seems more impressed by the T.V. mogul’s numerous classic cars. This is a fun extra as these two guys play well off each other. Give these guys their own show!

Finally, there is “Misdemeanors: Bloopers and Outtakes” which is an amusing montage of the cast goofing around and blowing their lines with Fillion getting the lion’s share of the laughs.

Veteran police detective Dave Robicheaux (Jones) is investigating the brutal murder of a young woman and how it might be related to a recently uncovered body of an African American man murdered 40 years ago – both occurred deep in the Louisiana bayou. Robicheaux does some good ol’ fashioned legwork and finds out that the woman was a prostitute and may have been involved with notorious New Orleans mobster “Baby Feet” Balboni (Goodman) who fancies himself a movie producer. He’s helping finance a film about the American Civil War that features the actor (Sarsgaard) who found the remains of the African American man. The deeper he digs, the more Robicheaux realizes that everything is connected. As a result, he and his family find themselves in increasing danger.

Tavernier does an excellent job capturing the local colour of the area in the scenes where Robicheaux canvases the locals. The entire film was shot on location and this only enhances the authenticity of the story’s setting which is rich in atmosphere – also helped by the liberal use of blues and zydeco music. The cinematography has a textured quality to it that really brings out the lushness of the region.

The cast is outstanding with Tommy Lee Jones doing his patented gruff yet savvy lawman, Peter Sarsgaard portraying a boozy actor, and John Goodman as a scene-stealing mobster with a genial facade that barely masks a threatening demeanour. The cast is rounded out by fascinating veteran character actors like Mary Steenburgen, Pruitt Taylor Vince and Ned Beatty.

Like Clint Eastwood and Robert Altman before him, Tavernier presents his own distinctive take on the Deep South with a veteran cast of actor playing characters embroiled in a mystery that exposes long-standing corruption. In the Electric Mist is also similar to Altman’s The Gingerbread Man (1998) in that both auteurs met with producer interference which resulted in a poor performance at the box office. Despite the production and post-production problems that plagued the film, this version is engaging and entertaining but one still wonders what Tavernier’s original cut is like.

Special Features:

Theatrical trailer.

The dead man is struggling screenwriter Joe Gillis (Holden) and we meet him floating face down in the swimming pool of legendary silent movie star Norma Desmond (Swanson). He takes us back six months before and tells the story of how he got there. Gillis is trying to break into Hollywood but hasn’t been too successful and needs to scrape together $290 to prevent his car from being repossessed. He has a contact at Paramount Pictures and pitches a story about a baseball player but his screenplay is criticized as being “flat and trite.”

After being rejected by the studio, Gillis tries to borrow money from his agent but is rebuffed by him as well. While trying to evade two finance company goons, he gets a flat tire and quickly pulls into the nearest driveway off of Sunset Boulevard. He pulls into a mostly empty garage attached to a run-down looking, seemingly deserted mansion – only it’s not. Gillis meets its sole resident: Norma Desmond.

She mistakes Gillis for an undertaker and he eventually figures out who she is and her has-been status. In response, Desmond utters the now classic line, “I am big. It’s the pictures that got small.” The veteran actress is bitter because she fell out of favour when movies were no longer silent. When she finds out that Gillis is a screenwriter, she pitches her plan for a comeback: an adaptation of Salome with her in the title role and Cecil B. DeMille directing. Gillis reads the script Desmond’s written and agrees to give it a polish, staying in the mansion in order to prevent the finance company from finding him and taking his car.

Hollywood has always been attracted to films about itself with memorable efforts like The Day of the Locust (1975), The Player (1992), and, more recently, Tropic Thunder (2008). It’s a cutthroat business driven by money even though a select few aspire to make art as well as turn in a profit. Billy Wilder’s films all feature a wickedly cynical view of humanity and Sunset Boulevard is no different. Norma Desmond is portrayed as a vain, self-absorbed diva consumed by her own ego and she has no problems using Gillis, a writer desperate to make it in show business and not above milking the actress for whatever money he can get out of her. Sunset Boulevard portrays Hollywood as a money-making machine that chews up and spits out people like Desmond and Gillis once they can no longer generate a profit.

Special Features:

The first disc features an audio commentary by Ed Sikov, author of On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder. The original director’s cut began in the morgue with Gillis’ corpse talking to another one but test audiences laughed at it and Wilder re-shot it. The filmmaker identified with Gillis because before he became successful, he hustled and struggled to get his projects made. This is a very informative track filled with tons of factoids.

Disc two starts off with “Sunset Boulevard: The Beginning,” which takes a look at how Wilder came to direct the film. This featurette covers aspects like casting with colleagues and critics telling anecdotes.

“The Noir Side of Sunset Boulevard by Joseph Wambaugh” features this best-selling author of crime and mystery novels talking about why this is one of his favourite films of all-time. He also discusses the film noir aspects of Sunset Boulevard.

“Sunset Boulevard Becomes a Classic” takes a look at how the film was received when it first came out and then became regarded as a classic over the years with the likes of film critic Andrew Sarris praising it.

“Two Sides of Ms. Swanson” is a brief profile of Gloria Swanson with relatives and colleagues offering their impressions of the famous actress.

“Stories of Sunset Boulevard” features a collection of miscellaneous anecdotes and factoids pertaining to the film, including the disastrous test screening.

“Mad About the Boy: A Portrait of William Holden” briefly examines the career of the actor with associates and people who knew him offering their impressions.

“Recording Sunset Boulevard” takes a look at the film’s score by Franz Waxman and it was so highly regarded that it won an Academy Award.

“The City of Sunset Boulevard” examines the various locations mentioned in the film and their significance.

“Morgue Prologue Script Pages” features two versions of the infamous morgue scene with excerpts from two drafts of the screenplay and actual footage (without sound) from this sequence.

“Franz Waxman and the Music of Sunset Boulevard” takes another look at the score but with more of a focus on Waxman and his career.

“Behind the Gates: The Lot” features a brief look at the creation of Paramount Studios.

“Hollywood Location Map” features an interactive map of five key locations from the film. Clicking on them provides various factoids about each one.

“Edith Head: The Paramount Years” is a profile of this legendary costume designer who worked on many of the studio’s most memorable films.

“Paramount in the 50’s” takes us through the studio year-by-year with clips from many of its films from this decade.

Also included is the theatrical trailer.

Finally, there are galleries of production photographs, movie stills, and publicity shots.

For some reason I’ve always had an interest in serial killers. The whys and wherefores, the methods, and most importantly how they were caught. Ted Bundy, Jeffery Dahmer and John Wayne Gacey have been particular pet projects of mine over the years but it’s the as yet unsolved ones that really stir my imagination. For this reason I’ve paid particular interest to the career of Jack the Ripper.

Despite only officially murdering six women in the Whitechapel area of London in 1888, Jack has become the most talked about murderer in history. He’s had more books and films made about him than any other killer, and more speculation about the investigation carried out than any other, save perhaps the Kennedy assassination.

I’d treat each new film about Jack as an opportunity to find out new information and provide a new insight into the happenings of my boyhood hero, I mean fiend. So when From Hell was announced I thought that we might finally get the definitive answer as to who Jack really was. Unfortunately this was not the case as From Hell is about as factually accurate as a testimony from Jeffrey Archer. Based on a graphic novel that sensationalised the Ripper murders, and then borrowing from several other films and books on the subject From Hell has become more fantasy than fact. The accurately recreated murder scenes are strung together with a story that stops short of blaming alien invaders for the crimes.

One of the directors explained how they were basing From Hell on the graphic novel and a series of other films to craft a unique story when surely the original case file would have produced the best results? Using the existing literature as they did From Hell has been crafted in something of a unique film touching lightly on actual events. This doesn’t harm the film as entertainment but does leave it devoid of any real factual value.

From Hell is also a particularly violent and graphic film. The murder scenes are recreated in vivid detail and become more intense as the film goes on. The climactic murder of Mary Jane Kelly is recreated in horrific detail, perhaps more that we the viewers actually needed. It was done to show the relationship between Jack the Ripper and his trade as a surgeon with the clinical dissection of his victims, but I didn’t feel the need to see that much detail and I’m certain I’m not alone.

Shot on a modest budget From Hell makes good use of some great set design in the Czech capital Prague. As one of the accompanying interviews with the directors says, they originally went to Prague because the streets looked a little like Victorian London. The fact that there were cars on the streets took them by surprise, I guess Americans are shocked to see other countries with petrol powered transport. The cost of shooting in Prague is also very low, another enticing feature for the low-modest budget film maker. They then built an entire recreation of Victorian London in a field, which took just several weeks and was one hell of an achievement. Some of Prague’s more splendid buildings were also used for the refined interiors of London’s aristocracy.

One of the biggest grumbles from the UK about From Hell was the decision to cast American Johnny Depp as Inspector Abberline. While equally aggrieved at this decision I found his performance to be of his usual high standard, if not too similar to all of his Tim Burton directed efforts, and his accent to be most amusing. Sure he’s no Michael Caine, but then Robbie Coltrane takes the role played by Lewis Collins in the 1988 TV movie Jack the Ripper so it’s horses for courses.

In From Hell Inspector Abberline is a mystic suffering from premonitions of the future, allowing him to solve cases the good old fashioned Hollywood way. He also ‘chases the dragon’ which is term used to imply he partakes of a little opium. To my knowledge the real inspector Abberline wasn’t a drug addict, nor did he have any psychic ability. You’d think the real story of Jack the Ripper would be interesting enough.

Among the special features on From Hell, which are plentiful, there exists a docu styled film about the victims and suspects from the Ripper murders. While interesting in detail, the presentation is particularly bad to the point of being unwatchable. It looks as though it has just been assemble edited and they’ve forgotten to tighten it up. You need to have a genuine interest in the case to get through this.

There are also a series of deleted scenes that were cut at the last minute. All of which you can see why they were cut, and it’s mainly for pacing purposes but one of them does feature some classic Robbie Coltrane comedy. Worth a look.

It seems every decade or so we get a new take on the Jack the Ripper case, each promising to throw new light on the murders. Yet as the years go by the facts become even more blurred by time and the chances of ever truly finding out who Jack was are more remote than ever. Sadly we may never know the answer, and if we keep getting *new* information every few years we could end up in thirty years or so with the revelation that Jack the Ripper was in fact a time traveller from the year 2150 and he had an affair with the King of England. That’s the price of marrying fact with fiction, the two become hard to separate.

Despite the factual inaccuracies, this is a thoroughly enjoyable film – if that’s the right word. It moves along at a scintillating pace and plays out the inevitable ‘who is the ripper’ scene with great style. Superior to almost all contemporary slasher movies and with a grounding in historical facts, From Hell is a worthwhile watch if you’re into horror. If you’re after some new information about the case and possibly a clue as to who Jack really was then you’ll be disappointed.