Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

The opening scenes, or prologue if you will, of Christophe Honoré’s Metamorphoses set the tone for the bewildering, somewhat grubby journey that is to follow. A hunter is running through a forest before being confronted by a naked, transgender person who turns him into a deer with a spray of magic dust. Hunter becoming hunted. Mythology updated, with scant exposition, as if the filmmaker is showing his wares, and if you don’t understand or go with it, then that’s your problem.

Primarily concerned with following Europa (Akili), a high school student “kidnapped” by Jupiter (Richard) and introduced to the ways of Bacchus (Chapelle) and Orpheus (Babluani), Honoré’s interpretation of Ovid’s epic poem is a nudity-filled, intertwining selection of stories depicting Gods falling in love with humans, and turning them into cows and the like.

Given the subject matter, you might think Metamorphoses would not be particularly French. But it is, very French in fact. Honoré has filled his elaborately conceived tale with more full-frontal nudity than you’ll find in your average class-less soft porn release, and enough subjective experimentation and dismissive arrogance to make you think he’s channelling Jean-Luc Godard himself, only with less style. The original text is a cascade of surreal-ness and metaphor-laden myths that translate poorly to the cinematic medium whoever the filmmaker might have been, and this is something Honoré never truly overcomes. Stunted, flippantly brief scenes of violence or impromptu sex nestle uncomfortably alongside lingering shots of brooding melancholy, or close-ups of naked flesh as the camera invasively fixates on the young cast. Very French indeed, and Honoré is either chest-puffingly proud of his nation’s use of nudity on screen, or simply voyeuristic in his desire to weigh down his story with as much as possible.

That you become increasingly frustrated with the visuals is telling. The script is both hindersome and vague in depicting the tales, and the cast never really convince in their given roles, as if they themselves are baffled by what they are being asked to do. Other than be naked that is.

As a work of art, Metamophoses carries many of the traits associated with highbrow French cinema, but never delivers on its ambitious premise. Too unwieldy, too cryptic and confusing to be enjoyed as a complete film, it doesn’t honour the work of the predecessors it so desperately wants to impress. Perhaps worth watching as an intellectual challenge, but otherwise is exactly the sort of film used to denigrate French cinema.

METAMORPHOSES / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: CHRISTOPHE HONORÉ / STARRING: AMIRA AKILI, SÉBASTIEN HIREL, DAMIEN CHAPELLE, MÉLODIE RICHARD / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

“Made it, ma! Top of the world!” is often listed as one of the greatest lines in cinema history, and is in fact from a climactic moment in Jimmy Cagney gangster flick White Heat. If you already knew that, you’ll know White Heat is a stone cold classic, but if not, this new dual Blu-ray/DVD release from HMV can remedy the gap in your knowledge.

Cagney plays gang leader Cody Jarrett; after a train heist leaves four dead, Jarrett confesses to a lesser crime as an alibi, getting away with only a short prison sentence. We then follow Edmond O’Brien’s Hank Fallon, a cop going undercover as Jarrett’s cellmate in order to infiltrate the gang. 

It’s a fast-paced, twisting thriller, as Fallon narrowly misses being discovered more than once during his prison stint, and things only get more heart pounding during the later heist sequence. As Jarrett’s unfaithful wife Verna, Virginia Mayo plays it tougher and cooler than the stereotypical gangster moll, though it would be nice for her to have more to do in the final act.

But the star of the show is undoubtedly Cagney, whose performance raises White Heat above typical cops ‘n’ robbers fare into an intense study of a psychologically troubled character. Jarrett is a mob boss audiences hadn’t seen before – not a detached schemer but an absolute psychopath, taking glee at personally offing a disloyal henchman before immediately offering his arm and an unforgettably malevolent grin to Verna. He’s also plagued by headaches and has a strange obsession with his mother, vulnerabilities that Cagney twists into an unhinged unpredictability that terrifies both Jarrett’s cohorts and the viewer. It’s a masterfully unsettling performance, and it makes White Heat a must watch. 

And if you must watch it, you must get this version. The film’s noir-seeped cinematography looks stunning on the cleaned-up Blu-ray format, which also comes with a great set of extras. Most interesting is Warner Night at the Movies, which allows you to watch the film preceded by all the extra bits and pieces you’d have got in a real 1949 movie theatre – a trailer, newsreel, a Bugs Bunny cartoon (in which the rabbit enacts much more violence on a builder than Cagney ever did on anyone) and a zany live action short called So You Think You’re Not Guilty. It’s a really fun way to experience the movie and to learn a little more about cinema history.

Then there’s a featurette analysing White Heat, which is pretty standard fare and has been on DVD releases before, though one of the interviewees is the great Martin Scorsese. An insightful commentary from film historian Dr. Drew Caspar rounds off this high quality package. Treat yourself to a night at the movies with Mr. Cagney (and Bugs), and you’ll feel on top of the world, too. 

WHITE HEAT (1949) / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: RAOUL WALSH / SCREENPLAY: IVAN GOFF, BEN ROBERTS / STARRING: JAMES CAGNEY, VIRGINIA MAYO, EDMOND O’BRIEN / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW (HMV EXCLUSIVE) 

Frank Herbert’s series of Dune novels has not done too well in respect of being adapted for the screen. Through the 1970s various aborted attempts sought to bring it to cinemas. Then in the 1980s David Lynch actually got a film version made but not only did it stall at box offices; it remains a divisive movie among fans, especially of the book. In 2000, the Sci-Fi network (as it was then) broadcast a fairly well received mini-series based on Dune. It followed it up with this sequel in 2003, which adapts the second and third books in the series.

It’s borderline impenetrable from the start, even for those who know the books. Cramming in a looooooot of plot Children of Dune is very talky and at the same time any action sequences seem to clip by too briefly. Characters are frequently indistinguishable from each other and it’s patience testing in its mood and broad-strokes atmosphere attempts. It does not help that the acting ranges from very respectable to jarringly awkward. Happily, things start to improve in the second part with even those dodgy performers having settled into their roles (amazingly, Susan Sarandon, we mean you too here). It folds in the book series’ themes around religion, failing empires and the idea that even the best leaders are inherently flawed and tries to make it at least moderately entertaining.

The production is nearly 15 years old and though grand in visuals at the time, it’s testament to how far CGI has come that the effects now appear so dated. It’s balanced out with some physical sets that save this from being just a nostalgia piece for those who caught it at the time. If nothing else it suggests that if any of the subsequent attempts to start a cinematic franchise for Herbert’s creation ever come to fruition, it should be spectacular stuff. This Blu-ray release comes courtesy of Umbrella Entertainment and the picture is fine (it was shot in widescreen at the time, which helps) for a TV product of the time. The extras are a contemporary 14-minute making of on VFX, storyboards with commentary and another visual effects featurette, so nothing new and nothing that in-depth or essential.

Children is as pretentious as sci-fi TV entertainment gets, and what works on the written page doesn’t always transfer to the screen. Trying to condense Herbert’s mythology and two books totalling hundreds of pages into a coherent and compelling narrative is a hard job. It’s probably reasonable to say then that rather than fans of the books, and considering those inessential extras, this will appeal to those who enjoyed the original mini-series only.

CHILDREN OF DUNE / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: GREG YAITANES / SCREENPLAY: JOHN HARRISON / STARRING: JAMES MCAVOY, ALEC NEWMAN, JULIE COX, SUSAN SARANDON / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Arrow Films bring the New Battles Without Honour and Humanity trilogy to their English language debut home release with a deluxe box set on dual format discs.

In New Battles Without Honour and Humanity, Miyoshi (Bunta Sugawara) is a low-level gang member who botches an attempted assassination. Upon his release, he gets stuck between two warring factions in his crime organisation, a Shakespearean conflict for power against the old guard and the new. The plot struggles with its complications as you try and stay ahead of who is who and how they relate to each other, a point which a voiceover attempts to rectify. It’s also never really clear why Miyoshi is held in such high regard, especially after we see his almost comical bungling of the assassination at the beginning. The film only really comes alive when action breaks out as the camera sways to and fro like it’s a participant trying to keep up.

Part two, The Boss’s Head, is more of the same, with Kuroda (Sugawara) again released from prison into a fracturing crime family and struggling to get his compensation before moving on. It’s the weakest of the trilogy, without much to make it memorable.

Part three, The Last Days of the Boss, is the most entertaining. Nozaki (Sugawara), a labourer who swears allegiance to a crime boss, finds himself embroiled in gang war after the boss is killed. He seeks revenge while the two gangs reconcile a truce. Meanwhile, his sister is in an abuse relationship with one of his former friends. Last Days is a lot more entertaining with a less knotted plot though more interesting things going on. However, the two plots do feel like they’re almost in different movies and play out with only fleeting relation to each other.

Prolific director Kinji Fukasaku, best known for Battle Royale, struggles against bloated plots, bringing only a hint of the flair for camerawork and directorial style that he showed in his late career teenagers-slaughtering-each-other masterpiece. However, Bunta Sugawara is always a joy to watch, harking back to the sixties and seventies era of leading men.

This being an Arrow release, the transfer is of course impeccable. Strict attention to detail has been taken to upgrade the existing print for the Blu-ray home release, even to the point where there is a note inserted into the beginning of the first film explaining the cause for a single dialogue alteration, which in itself is barely noticeable. Visual extras are a little thin on the ground. Each film gets a trailer, with parts one and two also having their teasers, and there are exclusive interviews from the screenwriter, and biographer of Fukasaku. The collection also comes with a booklet containing new writing and essays on the films, genres and director. Of course the biggest draw is the fact that it’s the English language debut of these films so it’s the first time most people will get to see them.

Arrow bring their usual skill and professionalism to an accomplished box set but the films are a little disappointing, lending themselves more to completests than the casual viewer.

NEW BATTLES WITHOUT HONOUR AND HUMANITY / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: KINJI FUKASAKU / SCREENPLAY: FUMIO KŌNAMI, SUSUMU SAJI, KŌJI TAKADA / STARRING: BUNTA SUGAWARA, MEIKO KAJI, TSUTOMU YAMAZAKI / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

All good things must come to an end, but this end came too soon for our liking. Recently, the sad announcement came that Dark Matter was being cancelled after three fun seasons, which is a real shame considering that this show was one of the most exciting, fun and creative shows to have been shown on Syfy. This final series picks up where series 2 left off with Four now becoming a villain and igniting a corporate war that would trouble the crew of the Raza throughout this season, whilst also including alternate doubles, evolving androids and the promise of an alien invasion. As always, this series was super fun throughout as each of the storylines presented were intriguing, the stakes were high, and the characters were still the best aspect about it and what kept the stories grounded. There are some missteps along the way of course; new characters Adrian and Solara exist only to temporarily accommodate the Raza whilst Six goes off to do his own thing, which has been a common problem in past seasons with One, Devon and Nyx. Plus, this series ends on a massive cliffhanger that will never get resolved as a result of the cancellation, which is a true shame considering the potential presented here, as well as the potential of the show as a whole. 

Dark Matter was a show that started off as a unique little show with a fascinating premise, which then gradually improved in quality with each season. This was a series that offered gripping storylines with mind-blowing surprises and twists at every turn, whilst also serving up high intensity action set pieces and heavy doses of humour that was sorely needed when things got grim. Some audiences might see this as being childish or nonsensical, but shows like this need to have levity and optimism otherwise you are just mired down in depression and angst, plus it helps make the dramatic moments even more so despite this show introducing alternate realities, body-possessing aliens and super-tech toys like the Blink Drive. However, what made all of this work throughout its three-season run, and what made audiences keep coming back, was the characters, and the development for each of the Raza crew from the start of the first season to the end of the third season is truly impressive.

We see the nanite-powered Two struggling with the tasks of being a heroic leader despite her instincts telling her she was anything but, the damaged and sardonic Three starting out sarcastic and arrogant before ending up having a beautifully tragic love story with Sarah despite her just being just a digitally-downloaded conscious form, Six going through a redemption-driven arc from betraying his friends at the end of season one to being one their most trusted allies, Five (the youngest crew member) ended up becoming a true badass by the end, and finally the Android gradually evolved into something much more than just a robot. The show stayed true to its characters, maintained its course, and dared to take risks when needed, especially when Four regained his memories during the end of season two, becoming Emperor Ryo Ishida, and effectively being the principal antagonist here. 

The characters were what made this show truly special, and that was largely down to the amazing cast that brought those characters to life. Melissa O’ Neil, Anthony Lemke, Jodelle Ferland and Roger Cross are still effective leads who manage to take their characters to real emotional depths and heights, Alex Mallari Jr. makes a great villainous foil, whilst Zoie Palmer proves to be the true powerhouse as the Android. The chemistry between these actors still holds up strongly, it was evident from day one; it became more integral as the show went on, and the passion for both the show and their characters shines through their performances.

Overall, it’s really sad that this story is going to end in the middle of the book without even having the chance to wrap things up properly, but Dark Matter has been an amazing ride from start to finish. Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie created a show that will continue to be special in its own right after its cancellation, and it was the amazing cast that had us emotionally invested all the way. Thanks for the ride Team Dark Matter, it was worth every episode. 

DARK MATTER: SEASON 3 / CERT: 15 / DIRECTORS: RON MURPHY, BRUCE MCDONALD, STEVE DIMARCO, J.B. SUGAR, GAIL HARVEY, PAUL DAY, JOHN STEAD, CRAIG DAVID WALLACE, MELANIE ORR / SCREENPLAY: JOSEPH MALLOZZI, PAUL MULLIE, ALISON HEPBURN, IVON BARTOK, LAWREN BANCROFT-WILSON / STARRING: MELISSA O’ NEIL, ANTHONY LEMKE, JODELLE FERLAND, ROGER CROSS, ALEX MALLARI JR., ZOIE PALMER / RELEASE DATE: 11TH SEPTEMBER 

Australia has produced its fair share of talented filmmakers such as George Miller, Baz Luhrmann or The Spierig Brothers who all have big ambitions and the smarts to pull it off. Well, you can now add Shane Abbess to that list, as The Osiris Child (AKA Origin Wars) is a solid sci-fi flick that affirms Abbess’ place as a filmmaker who does what he wants and manages to deliver with remarkable results. What this has in common with his previous two movies (2007’s Gabriel and 2015’s Infini) is that this presents a heightened world that is firmly grounded by its cast, which makes the narrative, the action and the drama all the more compelling.

For an independent Australian production with a moderate budget, the film is designed really well with the production design detailed richly in every aspect, plus Abbess crafts concise images gorgeously thanks to the aid of his trusted cinematographer Carl Robertson. The creatures known as the Raggeds are well-designed, fantastically constructed and, in certain close-up shots, look lifelike thanks to the use of practical effects, however it kind of proves to be its downfall as they seem incapable of conveying real movement as a result of the cumbrous suits and iffy puppeteer work. 

As far as performances are concerned, Daniel MacPherson proves to be an engaging lead as the desperate father in search for his daughter, whilst other main lead Kellan Lutz actually provided a surprisingly solid performance as the tortured nurse. Both Luke Ford and Isabel Lucas are pure dynamite as the drug-addled, redneck cousins, and Teagan Croft is a true rising star in the making, radiating innocence and real genuine dramatic weight and emotion.

However, despite the fact that Abbess is commendable for taking on an ambitious feat, this movie does have its limitations. The pacing is kind of uneven, being divided in multiple chapters and told out of order Pulp Fiction style, and it doesn’t quite gel together. The father/daughter relationship feels a tad rushed since the daughter is missing for too much of the movie, so it isn’t quite as emotional as it could’ve been. Perhaps this is due to a limited budget or just not having enough time to realise his creative vision, but despite those faults, still maintains that energy and intensity that keeps you engaged and not once does it become boring or disconnecting.

With all its faults, The Osiris Child is still a solid movie that shows the potential for what can be possible in Australian cinema, just as long as you have the passion, ambition and creativity driving it. Thanks to a talented cast, a talented writer/composer in Brian Cacchia, and a talented filmmaker in Shane Abbess, what we have is an entertaining little movie that provides genuine sci-fi drama and thrills for the good part of 90 minutes. 

THE OSIRIS CHILD (AKA ORIGIN WARS) / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: SHANE ABBESS / SCREENPLAY: BRIAN CACCHIA / STARRING: DANIEL MACPHERSON, KELLAN LUTZ, LUKE FORD, ISABEL LUCAS, TEAGAN CROFT / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

What can we say about Death Pool? Well…the words ‘What the fuck?’ are the first that spring to mind. By the time the end credits roll, the question of whether you’ve just witnessed a comedy or a serious attempt at horror will be swirling round your head like a vicious migraine. A tonally confused mess, Jared Cohn (Little Dead Rotting Hood, The Horde) has written and directed a film so bad that it’s almost good.

 

The acting is wooden, the script is feeble and the premise is nothing short of gobsmackingly dumb. Don’t believe us? Okay, let us give you a brief synopsis. After nearly drowning at the hands of his babysitter, Johnny Taylor (Randy Wayne) grows up to be a man plagued with an irrational fear of water. However, one day he manages to face up to those fears and by doing so, starts to feel a strange compulsion for drowning pretty women. Bathtubs, kitchen sinks, swimming pools – it doesn’t matter which.

Now one of the many problems Death Pool encounters is the awkward looking death scenes in which we see his helpless victims flail about in the water for a couple of seconds before succumbing to their eventual demise. It all looks a little off. There’s something almost schizophrenic about Death Pool which could be attributed to the bizarre interactions between its characters and the tonally erratic inconsistencies that run throughout its 95 minute running time. This is mostly down to the undercooked script which lacks both pacing and structure. What we’re left with instead is a series of sporadic killings that instill neither fear nor revulsion.

It’s bewildering as to why the film never really plays up to its horror aspects and instead tries to shock the viewer to no avail. Death Pool is a strangely put together mess, full of uneven editing and poor directing. With a premise that doesn’t really have much going for it, it’s hardly surprising to see how fast the whole thing falls apart.

Overall, Death Pool is a strange oddity with some genuinely laugh out loud moments. Although we may not be laughing with the film (or are we!?) it doesn’t stop it from providing us with some much needed entertainment…With a comically abrupt ending and plenty of head scratching moments throughout, this’ll appease those who enjoy a bad film. So if you’re one of those people then crack open a few cold ones, sit down with a couple of friends and prepare to be baffled by this peculiar trainwreck.

DEATH POOL / CERT: TBA / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: JARED COHN / STARRING: RANDY WAYNE, SARA MALAKUL LANE, DEMETRIUS STEAR, SHAWN C. PHILLIPS, JAMES CULLEN BRESSACK / RELEASE DATE: 11TH SEPTEMBER

When a group of six friends visit a waxwork museum for a private viewing at midnight, little do they know that the displays are holding their own little secrets. Each exhibit holds an infamous supposed real life killer in them in wax. Cross the red velvet rope at your peril to take a closer look, however, as the moment you do, you are likely to become part of the show.

 

The waxworks are run by Lincoln (Warner) who, having stolen trinkets from eighteen of the most evil people who ever lived from Mark’s (Galligan) grandfather, is in a hurry to complete his collection so that they can all come to life and take over the world. It’s up to Mark, Sarah (Foreman) and wheelchair bound Sir Wilfred (Macnee) to try and stop them before it happens.

 

Now nearly thirty years old, Waxwork was Hickox’s first movie and is still a fun spectacle three decades on. It was supposedly the goriest film ever filmed at the time and had quite a few issues with the MPAA with multiple cuts being made before it passed certification.

 

The scenes where characters meet their demises in the exhibits are individually great, ranging from Egyptian tombs and vampire lairs to a homage to Night of the Living Dead and even the Marquis de Sade’s torture chamber.

 

The environments are richly detailed and although some of the acting is eye-rollingly awful and the plotline is suitably silly, this is ‘80s horror at its best. You could probably tick the boxes of all the tropes that are here, but considering so many sub-genres are crammed in, it’s amazing that just about every part looks great. Even though it was written in only three days, the fact that they managed to secure some decent sized names in Galligan, Warner, Macnee and even John Rhys-Davies should tell you how much people believed in the project.

 

A couple of documentaries are included that give you a few extra bits of trivia to get your teeth into.

 

This is still a great way to spend an evening and the Blu-Ray transfer is very good. This is most fun you’ll ever have with a bunch of wax (honest).

 

WAXWORK (1988) / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: ANTHONY HICKOX / SCREENPLAY: ANTHONY HICKOX / STARRING: ZACH GALLIGAN, DEBORAH FOREMAN, DAVID WARNER, PATRICK MACNEE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Marketed as an exploitation double-bill, the new release from Umbrella entertainment sports two less-seen thrillers of the Ozploitation era: James Bogle’s Kadaicha and Colin Eggleston’s Innocent Prey. Though neither have the emotional wallop of more famous genre entries like Wake in Fright or Walkabout, they definitely have their own charms.

As with any good double-bill there’s a significant quality jump between the two films. Kadaicha is the more amateurish of the two, but then that’s the point. It’s a soapy teen drama penned by long-term Neighbours scribe Ian Coughlan and populated with a cast of fresh-faced kids. Kids who pay for the sins of their parents via a murderous Aboriginal curse summoned by a mysterious crystal. Coughlan is riffing on Poltergeist and A Nightmare on Elm Street but the budget doesn’t permit those big budget thrills. It has its moments though; disturbing nightmare sequences see the kids terrorised by a zombie shaman, and there’s a sincere dialogue about the nature of Australia’s relationship with the natives.

The real star of this double bill though, is Innocent Prey.

Only Eggleston’s second film (third if you count his soft core porno debut) Innocent Prey is a savvy and surprisingly brutal serial killer thriller starring scream queen P.J. Soles as the distraught wife of a vicious escaped murderer. Brian May’s soundtrack is hardly a Hermann or Carpenter, but it’s definitely its own thing whilst Ozploitation cinematographer Vincent Morton helps lend some serious atmosphere to these dingy proceedings. Eggleston and Ron McLean’s script is sharper than many of their contemporaries, avoiding the pitfalls of the slasher genre. Characters are smart and quick thinking, kills are brutal and quick, and there’s actually a surprising amount going on.

Eggleston starts with a bathroom murder scene, shot to perfection, in honour of Hitchcock and continues on a path, which feels indebted to the psycho-thrillers of Robert Bloch. Hell, even Martin Balsam (Psycho’s doomed detective Arbogast) shows up as a kindly sheriff out to capture Kit Taylor’s terrifying psychopath. P.J. Soles’ (Halloween, Carrie) involvement, along with the film’s death count, reveals slasher influences, but Eggleton never gives in to the typical beats of that most lucrative sub-genre. Instead, he lets the film play out like a commentary on the nature of horror victims, complete with its own dingy ‘80s look at voyeurism, men, and victimisation.

Innocent Prey dodges exploiting its many kills and horrible ideas, instead going for a brutal immediacy that we saw in those early ‘70s slashers. The result is a film full of surprises and impressively void of stupid lingering shots of gore or dumbass victims. It still feels sleazy due to the directness of it all, especially when the film shifts to the dark muggy environment of the Australian manor and its pallid weirdo of a landlord. At a time when horror movies made the most money based off of the lurid and gory, Innocent Prey is a refreshing film with an impressive amount of wallop, easily recommendable for slasher, thriller, and Ozploitation enthusiasts.

If you’ve not experienced Ozploitation, there are better examples than Kadaicha, but you could do a lot worse than Innocent Prey. What’s on offer here is an inconsistent, but lovable pairing of a supernatural TV movie and a superbly sleazy serial killer thriller.

KADAICHA & INNOCENT PREY / CERT: 15 / DIRECTORS: JAMES BOGLE, COLIN EGGLESTON / SCREENPLAY: IAN COUGHLAN, COLIN EGGLESTON AND RON MCLEAN / STARRING: ZOE KARIDES, TOM JENNINGS, P.J. SOLES, KIT TAYLOR, MARTIN BALSAM / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

This British comedy from one half of The Mighty Boosh, perhaps one of TV’s most insanely wonderful creations, hardly set the UK box office on fire earlier this year despite good reviews, but its release on Blu-Ray and DVD offers a welcome chance to delve deeper into the world of Mindhorn, thanks to some cracking extras.

Richard Thorncroft (Julian Barratt) used to be famous. As the star of Isle of Man based ‘80s TV show Mindhorn, in which he played the title character, a crime fighting cop with a bionic eye, which allowed him literally to see the truth, he enjoyed the trappings of success and excess. But that all stopped when his attempt to make it in Hollywood failed and now, Thorncroft is a has been, balding, overweight and out of work thesp. But when he gets a call from the Manx police, a chance at putting himself back in the spotlight and reconnecting with his old girlfriend presents itself, as a crazed man accused of murder believes Mindhorn to be real and will talk only to him 

Mindhorn is a glorious creation, played to absolute perfection by Julian Barratt, who also co-wrote. Anyone old enough to remember the likes of The Professionals or Bergerac will love the knowingly recreated part of the film set in the show’s heyday, whilst the story set in the present is filled with great characters and some brilliant laughs. It doesn’t always work (it’s no Hot Fuzz) but it works more than enough.

Barratt is joined by the likes of Essie Davis (The Babadook), Steve Coogan (Alan Partridge being the closest character to Mindhorn in terms of ego and total lack of self awareness), with serious actors like Andrea Riseborough (so unexpected in Oblivion) and even Kenneth Branagh joining in the fun.

As a comedy, it’s laugh out loud funny, as a homage to more innocent TV days it’s enormous fun and it even manages the odd moment of pathos. 

This home release looks great, despite the filmmakers going to great lengths to ensure that the sections from the 80s TV show have a genuinely old school feel to them, bringing back memories of top loading VCRs and static lines interrupting your viewing pleasure.

A host of extras includes interviews and insights into the inspiration for the character, and some based around the show itself. 

The best of these comes from a scene in the film, which says that Thorncroft had had a hit album back in the ‘80s. So, included in the extras is the video for the hit single ‘You Can’t Handcuff the Wind.’ So perfect is it in its pompous ridiculousness and so spot on is the recreation of the pop videos of that era, it’s worth buying the disc just for this. 

MINDHORN / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: SEAN FOLEY / SCREENPLAY: JULIAN BARRATT, SIMON FARNABY / STARRING: JULIAN BARRATT, ESSIE DAVIS, STEVE COOGAN, ANDREA RISEBOROUGH / RELEASE DATE: 4TH SEPTEMBER