No Way Out
by Roger Donaldson
from MGM (Video & DVD)
This implausible, but effective 1987 film stars Kevin Costner (Bull Durham, Wyatt Earp) as a naval officer and CIA agent who may not be what he seems. This sexy thriller is an espionage mystery and an enigmatic character study of two men trying to be faithful to the loyalties they hold. Costner begins a torrid love affair with the mistress (Sean Young) of the Secretary of Defense, but when she turns up dead, Costner is implicated in a web of intrigue that threatens national security and exposes personal secrets at the highest levels. The Secretary and his men try to cover up the affair while simultaneously searching for a Soviet mole in their ranks. Featuring an exciting chase sequence through the Washington, D.C., subways, No Way Out is a standard issue thriller that nonetheless keeps the action coming. --Robert Lane
Imagine being a hunter leading highly trained bloodhounds in pursuit of a killer...and the trail leads directly to you! Starring Academy-Award® winners Kevin Costner* and Gene Hackman** No Way Out is a mesmerizing look at Washington power (The Hollywood Reporter). Capturing a well-deserved four stars from critic Roger Ebert this taut [and] stylish (Newsweek) thriller is fast-paced and powerful -- a perfect nailbiter (Variety)! In a fit of rage Secretary of Defense David Brice (Hackman) murders his mistress. To keep a lid on the scandal Brice s loyal aide (Will Patton) creates the perfect cover up: he invents a more enticing killer -- a Russian spy -- and then enlists naval commander Tom Farrell (Costner) to find him. But as a chilling twist of fate would have it Farrell also has a strong connection to the victim and now all the clues he s been hired to uncover are leading straight to him! In a desperate race against time Farrell s search for the killer is not only a matter of national security but also a matter of saving his own hide.Special Features:Collectible BookletOriginal Theatrical TrailerSystem Requirements: Running Time 114 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Rating: R UPC: 027616843623 Manufacturer No: 908436
Killing Me Softly (Unrated Edition)
by Kaige Chen
from MGM (Video & DVD)
It's easy to identify the biggest attraction of Killing Me Softly: two fetching actors (Heather Graham, Joseph Fiennes) and lots of nudity--especially in the unrated version. It's harder to choose the bigger liability: the dialogue howlers (as Fiennes binds Graham in ropes, she says, "Sometimes I feel like I don't know you") or the incredibly obvious solution to the big mystery. The story is an unofficial update of Hitchcock's Suspicion: a new wife wonders whether her unbelievably charismatic husband might be a murderer. The Chinese filmmaker Chen Kaige (Farewell My Concubine) turns out to be exactly the wrong director for this overheated slice of l'amour fou in London, but with the hopeless pairing of Graham and Fiennes as the passionate lovers, he didn't have much of a chance. A nicely romantic Patrick Doyle score is the only reason not to hit the Mute button and enjoy the visuals. --Robert Horton
Red-hot Heather Graham (Boogie Nights) and Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love) sizzle like never before in this steamy sexual odyssey about the addictive and deadly powers of illicit passion.Too much of a good thing can be deadly. When Alice (Graham) an American living in London meets Adam (Fiennes) a handsome adventurer she's lured out of her safe mundane life to pursue an affair that brings her to the heights of excitement and ecstasy. But when Adam's mysterious and violent past begins to surface Alice investigates and learns that Adam's past and her future may both point to murder!System Requirements:Running Time: 100 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: UNRATED UPC: 027616885135 Manufacturer No: 1004443
Play Misty for Me
by Clint Eastwood
from Universal Studios
Clint Eastwood (making his very assured directorial debut) is a poetry-spouting stud-muffin DJ stalked by a maniacally amorous fan after a misguided one-night stand in this enjoyably schlocky, undeniably effective film about good intentions gone murderously wacky. Although many of the very '70s trappings presented here may ultimately be too dated to be taken seriously (including a very self-indulgent jazz number and a hilariously gooey seduction number between Eastwood and Donna Mills), the core premise of infatuation taken out of bounds remains uncomfortably plausible--and was influential enough to be appropriated by one of the biggest hits of the '80s. (Here's a hint--it starred Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, and a very unfortunate bunny rabbit). A well-staged and occasionally very frightening thriller worth watching for Jessica Walter's peerlessly unhinged performance alone. Frequent Eastwood collaborator Don Siegel (director of Dirty Harry, Coogan's Bluff, and The Beguiled, to name but a few) has a nice cameo as Murphy, the mustachioed, chess-playing bartender. --Andrew Wright
Fatal Attraction (Special Collector's Edition)
from Paramount
The date movie of the late 1980s, this had everyone arguing in the aisles. Does Michael Douglas deserve the unwanted attention he and his family are receiving at the hands of loony stalker Glenn Close? After a weekend extramarital affair with colleague Close, he returns home to wife Anne Archer, and Close becomes progressively angrier. You might even say she is boiling bunny mad.
Directed by Adrian Lyne, this is not your average thriller, as it garnered six Academy Award nominations. The plot is too obvious, but the dialogue rings true and the intense performances hold the story together. Anne Archer deserves kudos for side-stepping cliché as the strong but frightened wife, and Close is a scream as she chews up the scenery.
The film's original ending, which was reshot after poor preview screenings, has been added to the video release. --Rochelle O'Gorman
A rejected woman is driven into madness after an affair with a married man and seeks revenge on his family.
Genre: Suspense
Rating: R
Release Date: 24-JUN-2003
Media Type: DVD
Black Widow
by Bob Rafelson
from Fox Home Entertainment
Bob Rafelson directs this dark psychological thriller about the seductive interplay between two intriguing women. Catharine (THERESA RUSSELL) is a sultry beauty who meticulously sets her traps. Alex (DEBRA WINGER) is a federal sleuth who just as meticulously uncovers what no one else suspects-that this femme fatale tricks wealthy men into marrying her, then kills them to inherit their fortunes. Soon Alex's obsession with the mysterious Catharine draws her deeper and deeper into danger.
Basic Instinct - Director's Cut (Ultimate Edition)
by Paul Verhoeven
from Lions Gate
This steamy thriller to end all steamy thrillers stars Michael Douglas as Nick a boozy San Francisco police detective who finds himself drawn to the prime suspect in a murder case--manipulative sexually uninhibited novelist Catherine Trammell (Sharon Stone). Catherine's latest book features a murder uncannily similar to the one Nick is investigating and as the pair engage in a mating dance of dangerous one-upmanship more murders occur all described in her current work about a boozy cop in love with a killer. Nick's psychiatrist (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and cop partner (George Dzundza) are both worried about him and Catherine s jealous lesbian lover (Leilani Sarelle) may be trying to kill him but Nick is just too turned on to care.Director Paul Verhoeven shows an admirable lack of restraint in this ludicrously enjoyable thriller a sort of postmodern noir with Joe Eszterhas s script coming off like Mamet by way of Penthouse. Stone and Douglas exhibit fine chemistry (and most of their bodies) and there's some lovely Bay Area scenery courtesy of cinematographer Jan de Bont (who went on to direct films such as SPEED and TWISTER). Wayne Knight (Newman from SEINFELD) and Mitch Pileggi (Skinner from THE X-FILES) are precinct heads who question Catherine in the infamous leg-crossing scene.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLERS UPC: 012236188483 Manufacturer No: 19688
The take-no-prisoners sex thriller from 1992 now stands as a milestone in the career of screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, but in the hands of director Paul Verhoeven Basic Instinct is an undeniably stylish and provocative study of obsession. In the role that made her a star (and showed the audience a little more skin than she intended), Sharon Stone plays the cleverly manipulative novelist Catherine Tramell who snares San Francisco detective Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) with her insatiable sexual appetite during the investigation of her boyfriend's murder. Tramell is the prime suspect, but the plot twists and turns until Curran is trapped in a dangerous cycle of dead ends and unsolved murders, never sure if Tramell is committing the crimes or if it is some other, unknown suspect. With a plot that keeps viewers guessing, Basic Instinct is the work of a director who is clearly in his element. --Jeff Shannon
Fear
by James Foley
from Universal Pictures
Two years before he let it all hang out in Boogie Nights, former rapper and Calvin Klein underwear model Mark Wahlberg played the psychotic boyfriend in this derivative but surprisingly effective thriller, aptly described by producer Brian Grazer as "Fatal Attraction for teens." Reese Witherspoon plays Nicole Walker, the unwitting teenager who gets the hots for David McCall (Wahlberg). David only seems like a nice guy until he gets upset by the girl's overly protective father. That's when hell breaks loose and the love-struck Romeo turns into a deadly threat who just won't go away. You'd think this kind of material would be beneath the talents of a fine director like James Foley (whose credits include At Close Range and Glengarry Glen Ross), but Foley gives the film just the right blend of style and tension to match Wahlberg's breakthrough role as an all-too-believable teenage maniac. You might feel silly afterwards, but don't be surprised if you find yourself getting caught up in the expertly manipulative suspense. --Jeff Shannon
Masquerade
by Bob Swaim
from MGM (Video & DVD)
Magnetic Rob Lowe ( The West Wing ) Oscar® nominee* Meg Tilly (The Big Chill) and sultry Kim Cattrall ( Sex in the City ) star in this sexually-charged mystery about a wealthy woman who falls for the wrong man. Olivia (Tilly) seems to have it all: good looks good breeding and a two-hundred-million dollar fortune. But behind the serene fa ade of her Easthampton seaside estate something is missing: passion. Enter Tim (Lowe) the sexy sailing instructor and playboy who s not ashamed of sleeping with his boss insatiable wife (Cattrall) or social climbing for sport. And when he sets his sights on Olivia she falls under the seductive spell of this handsome stranger unaware that he has his eye on more than just her beauty and his mind on something unimaginable!System Requirements: Running Time 91 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Rating: R UPC: 027616906960 Manufacturer No: 1006510
Wild At Heart
by David Lynch
from MGM (Video & DVD)
David Lynch's 1990 Wild at Heart is an utterly random and ugly experience with pockets of startling imagery and inspired set pieces. Based on a Barry Gifford novel, the film stars Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern as lovers on the lam whose relationship is tested and who meet some truly dangerous wackos (including an almost-simian Willem Dafoe). Lynch's thoughts seem to be everywhere, and he expects the audience to keep up with a story that seems more a collection of avant-garde whims than a coherent vision with the intuitive brilliance of his Blue Velvet. Cage gives one of his more chaotic performances, but then he was just reading Lynch's signposts. --Tom Keogh
If Lula knows one thing in this world it s she s destined to be with her ex-con boyfriends Sailor- no matter how many times her mama tries to kill him. But when she and Sailor finally hit the road in a desperate bid to find happiness their journey plunges them into a disturbing underworld filled with sexual secrets and dangerous desires that form a terrifying Tapestry of human extremity (Variety)System Requirements: Running Time 124 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 027616914606 Manufacturer No: 1007379
Wild Things (Unrated Edition)
by John McNaughton
from Sony Pictures
Wild Things is the kind of lurid, trashy thriller that you'll either dive into with unabashed pleasure or turn away from in prudish disgust; it's entirely your choice, but we suggest the former option since it's obviously much more fun. The plot's so convoluted it's hardly worth describing, except to say that it's set in humid Florida and involves a respected high school teacher (Matt Dillon--yes, Matt Dillon as a teacher!) who is faced with accusations of rape by a student (Denise Richards, from Starship Troopers) who had been giving him the kind of attention most people would consider improper for such a "nice" young lady. Another student (Neve Campbell) raises a similar charge against the teacher, and that's when a police officer (Kevin Bacon) begins to investigate the allegations. Just when you think the movie's gone overboard with its shameless sex and absurdly twisted plot, in drops Bill Murray as an unscrupulous lawyer (of course) to spice things up with insurance scams and welcomed comic relief. As directed by John McNaughton (who has a way of making just the right moves with this kind of film noir melodrama), Wild Things is a bona fide guilty pleasure--the kind of movie you may be ashamed to enjoy, but what the heck, you'll enjoy it anyway. --Jeff Shannon
The scheme is far from tame. But whose scheme is it? Assume nothing as you venture beyond Blue Bay's elite beach communities and into the murky waters of the Everglades for a mystery of deceit sex and greed as unpredictable as a hungry gator. And please keep your hands inside the boat at all times. Kevin Bacon Matt Dillon Neve Campbell Denise Richards and Bill Murray star in a swamp-steamy thriller about two high school students the guidance counselor they accuse of rape and the detective who knows there's more to the story.System Requirements:Running Time: 114 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Rating: UNRATED UPC: 043396016286 Manufacturer No: 01628
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