Video/DVD
SCARY DOUBLE WHAMMY
FINAL DESTINATION
1 8.2
(15) 98 & 90min (Entertainment DVD retail) 0..
Limited edition box set of these two fascinating editions to the US horror genre. Released in 2000. Final Destination was like a blast of fresh air. Straightforward poison gas suspense gripped this tale of a group of doomed youngsters. The stunts were great and the script was as lean as it was mean. The second
film is more problematic.
as it employs a fairly naff narrative deVice to propel the now unsurpris‘ing story. Both films are immensely watchable though. and the extras (director's commentary.
1 12 THE LIST 30 Oct 18 Nov 2003
deleted scenes. inten/iews and gameS) make this well worth the investment. (Paul Dale)
TRUE CRIME BUNDY
(18) 99min
(Tartan DVDVVHS retail) .0.
a boom: meat; or BCIIAL MILLER “as”
Matthew Freeway Bright's biopic of Ted Bundy takes the audience on a suitably lurid ride. Basically. masturbation-hapi)y Forrest Dump-lookalike Ted (haiiimed up in bug- eyed style by Michael Reilly Burke) is the archetypal quiet Joe next door. That is. when he's not hacking up what look like the cast of the original Charlie's Angels and applying make-up to severed heads. Bondy is not afraid to go out of its way to shock — but even an odd country-rock themed sequence of eye—watering carnage can’t hide the decidedly TV mowe feel. Not so much horror. more Just horrific. (DaVId Pollock) HORROR ClASSlC REZISSUE HALLOWEEN 25TH (18) 101 min (Anchor Bay UK DVD retail) 0...
What we are talking about here is quality over quantity. This two disc DVD set features John Carpenter's classic. rendered in a new high definition widescreen transfer. and it looks fantastic. The second disc extras are great too. (Micky Myers)
tv@list.co.uk
CULT DRAMA
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER - THE FINAL SERIES
BBC2, Tue, Wed & Thu 6.45pm 0...
Say a terrestrial goodbye to a televisual phenomenon as the seventh and final season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is aired on BBC 2. The show’s termination finally puts paid to a license that many considered immortal (how many false endings can one show have?), and the Mutant Enemy production company has made damn sure that the gang have their work cut out in the final series.
This seventh outing treads ostensibly familiar territory, with the Hellmouth, on which the fictional town of Sunnydale precariously teeters, becoming volatile and upward-reaching once again. You couldn’t have such a riotous show going out on a repetitive whimper, however, and creator Joss Wheedon has decreed that the final evil to plague Xander, Willow, Giles, Anya, Dawn and the ‘Buffmeister General’ will outdo all those preceding it. The ‘First Evil’ is a demonic force that manifests itself in the shape of any person who has died, and does quite a lot of other nasty things besides. Needless to say, it’s not conducive to Sunnydale community spirit, and the gang need to summon every reserve of energy if they are to survive an American-length series that builds to a mind-bending crescendo of violence.
It’s arguable that the early loss of Angel to Sky did the show irreparable harm, and it has meandered somewhat since season four, but, even after seven seasons, the story of a young girl never allowed to live a happy, stable life still resonates. It’s been labelled nerdy, silly and generally bubblegum, but the passing of Buffy is a modern tragedy nonetheless. We’ll miss you, girl. (Johnny Regan)
l IVE NAlURE
ABYss briiiy depths of the BBC1, Sun 2 Nov, from ocean. A handful of 3pm separate dives will be
shown as they happen (one. rather excitingly. off the coast of a place called Shark Island). going deeper than ever before and hopefully unearthing all the
This is exactly the kind of thing the BBC does brilliantly — a whole day of live broadcasts searching for weird and wonderful life Within the
grotesque. luminous. freaky things that live at the bottom of all that watery sea. With it all happening live yOu (and theyl take the chance of only spying a couple of haddock being snippy with a cod. On the other hand. giant octopuses could be battling it out with frenzied sharks. Which would be great. I'll be particularly looking out for a possible sighting of a Vampyroteuthis lnfernalis (that's the 'vampire squid from hell' to you). Move over antiques and DIY. science. as for this week at least. nature is the new rock'n'roll.
(Doug Johnstone)
COMEDY DRAMA KEEN EDDIE Sky One, Sun 2 Nov, 8pm 0000
Think of every stereotype of a brash. bumbling US cop. mix it with the clipped tones and stiff upper lip attitude of Scotland Yard and shove in Alexei Sayle as an eccentric criminal chemist and you've got the characters for this brand new top notch 'dramedy'.
Eddie Arlette (Mark Valley) is our NYPD man who makes a mess of a drugs bust and is promptly sent to London by his furious boss to make right and catch the bad guys. A mixture of slapstick moments. kooky one-liners and some brilliant comedy acting. Keen Eddie is the Spooks of the police world: incredibly bizarre in places and even funnier for it.
(Camilla Pia)