Category: Thriller

Manhunter

Manhunter on VHS video. Starring William Petersen, Kim Greist, Joan Allen, Brian Cox, Dennis Farina, Tom Noonan, Stephen Lang. Based on the book Red Dragon by Thomas Harris. Directed by Michael Mann. 1986.

Manhunter on VHS video. Starring William Petersen, Kim Greist, Joan Allen, Brian Cox, Dennis Farina, Tom Noonan, Stephen Lang. Based on the book Red Dragon by Thomas Harris. Directed by Michael Mann. 1986.

From the VHS box cover:

Enter the mind of a killer… you might never return.

“It’s just you and me now, sport.”

He knows how to kill you. And how to get away with it. How to silence the family pet, how to break into your house, where and when you sleep. He’s cool. Cunning. Determined. He is also your only hope. Because he’s the detective tracking down an elusive serial killer who strikes when the moon is full.

William L. Petersen stars as Manhunter Will Graham. Graham has an uncanny knack for getting inside the head of his deranged quarry. That’s great for crimefighting. But is it good for Graham? The line between thinking like the killer and being the killer can be a narrow one.

“It’s the best detective story I ever came across,” says screenwriter/director Michael Mann about Thomas Harris’ Red Dragon, the novel from which Manhunter was adapted. Mann should know a can’t-miss police thriller when he sees one; he’s the executive producer of Miami Vice and Crime Story. And the Miami Vice style he originated — electrifying visuals, a pulsing soundtrack, music video-inspired editing — is the perfect match for this sleek, frightening film.

Read Hannibal Lecter Book 1: Red Dragon

DVD upgrade: Manhunter (Limited Edition)


Predator

Predator on VHS. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Kevin Peter Hall. With Elpidia Carrillo, Bill Duke, Jesse Ventura, Sonny Landham. Directed by John McTiernan. 1987.

Predator on VHS. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Kevin Peter Hall. With Elpidia Carrillo, Bill Duke, Jesse Ventura, Sonny Landham. Directed by John McTiernan. 1987.

From the VHS box:

A creature from another world and this time Schwarzenegger is the prey!

Arnold Schwarzenegger stars in this action-packed adventure story of fighting men pitted against an unseen enemy, a force more powerful than their fiercest weapons. Recruited by the CIA to rescue hostages held by guerrilla fighters in a Central American country, Schwarzenegger and his men encounter an enemy unimaginably more deadly than any on Earth — because the Predator is not of this Earth. Packed with spectacular special effects and combat scenes of gut-wrenching power, PREDATOR is the most terrifying — and most exciting — Schwarzenegger movie yet.

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Strangeland

Dee Snider's StrangeLand on VHS. Starring Kevin Gage, Elizabeth Peña, Brett Harrelson, Robert Englund, Linda Cardellini, Dee Snider. Written by Dee Snider. Directed by John Pieplow. 1998.

Dee Snider’s StrangeLand on VHS. Starring Kevin Gage, Elizabeth Peña, Brett Harrelson, Robert Englund, Linda Cardellini, Dee Snider. Written by Dee Snider. Directed by John Pieplow. 1998.

From the box:

Let The Ritual Begin

[obscured by label]… the glow of the screen illuminates his heavily pierced tattoo-stained face as his fingers dance nimbly across the keyboard… searching, hunting.

His computer handle is Captain Howdy, and he surfs the local chat rooms for young female prey. Girls like Genevieve and Tiana, who mysteriously vanish after an online conversation with the cunning cyber-predator. Detective Mike Gage has a personal stake in the case–Genevieve is his daughter.

When Tiana’s corpse — tortured, pierced and scarred — is discovered in the river, Gage realizes that time is running out for Genevieve. Taking sadistic delight is Gage’s desperation, Captain Howdy sends the detective a series of taunting e-mails. challenging him to a deadly online game of cat and house, and drawing him into his “modern primitive” world — a strangle land of fetish bars, S&M, body modification and goth-rock.

DVD upgrade: StrangeLand

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Dee Snider on Dee Snider: Shut Up and Give Me the Mic




Coffy

Coffy on VHS. Movie starring Pam Grier. With Booker Bradshaw, Robert DoQui, William Elliot, Allan Arbus, Sid Haig. Written and directed by Jack Hill. 1973.

Coffy on VHS. Starring Pam Grier. With Booker Bradshaw, Robert DoQui, William Elliot, Allan Arbus, Sid Haig. Written and directed by Jack Hill. 1973.

From the box:

Grier is Coffy, nurse by day and avenging angel by night. When she discovers that her little sister has been doped up — and freaked out — by a greedy drug pusher, she not only puts an end to his miserable days, but she also vows to follow his trail of corruption up to the top — the very top. But what Coffy doesn’t realize is that all is not as it seems… and that the leafy green behind the pusher’s scene just may come from someone she knows!

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Freeway

Freeway on VHS. Thriller movie starring Michael Callan, Darlanne Fluegel, James Russo, Billy Drago, Richard Belzer. Directed by Francis Delia. 1988.

Freeway on VHS. Movie starring Michael Callan, Darlanne Fluegel, James Russo, Billy Drago, Richard Belzer. Directed by Francis Delia. 1988.

From the VHS box:

Next Time Someone Cuts You Off… Let ‘Em.

The Traffic Is Murder

If you’re going out on the freeway tonight, fasten your seatbelt and keep checking your rear view mirror. Because HE’S back there, ready to pull up alongside… and blow you away! FREEWAY — the murder thriller where life in the fast lane is a one-way ticket to oblivion.

Los Angeles is in a panic. The cops can’t find him, but they’re trying. Detective Boyle (Michael Callan) is close. He’s never seen the belly of the beast… but he will. So will Sunny Harper (Darlanne Fluegel), the beautiful young nurse working the graveyard shift. And so will Quinn (James Russo), the mysterious stranger Sunny meets on the freeway.

They’re all waiting for the next call from his cellular phone. They’re all waiting for his next talk show tip-off. And they’re all hoping that they don’t become his next grisly statistic. FREEWAY — driving will never be quite the same.

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Reservoir Dogs

Reservoir Dogs on VHS. Movie starring Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney. Directed by Quentin Tarantino. 1992.

Reservoir Dogs on VHS. Starring Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney. Directed by Quentin Tarantino. 1992.

From the box:

Four Perfect Killers. One Perfect Crime. Now All They To Fear Is Each Other.

Full-Length Screener

They were perfect strangers, assembled to pull off the perfect crime. Then their simple robbery explodes into a bloody ambush, and the ruthless killers realize one of them is a police informer. But which one? Critically acclaimed for its raw power and breathtaking ferocity, it’s a brilliant new American gangster movie classic from writer-director Quentin Tarantino.

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Graduation Day

Graduation Day on VHS video. Horror movie starring Christopher George, Patch Mackenzie, E. Danny Murphy, E.J. Peaker, Michael Pataki. With Linnea Quigley, Vanna White. Directed by Herb Freed. 1981.

Graduation Day on VHS video. Horror movie starring Christopher George, Patch Mackenzie, E. Danny Murphy, E.J. Peaker, Michael Pataki. With Linnea Quigley, Vanna White. Directed by Herb Freed. 1981.

From the box:

The seniors of Midvale High are being fitted for caps and gowns — and coffins.

Taut suspense, heart-stopping shocks and mystery are all awaiting in Graduation Day. It’s just weeks before high school graduation and members of the track team are being mysteriously and gruesomely murdered, one at a time. When the team’s star runner, Laura Ramstead, falls dead at the end of a championship meet, her sister Anne (Patch MacKenzie) comes to town and a series of grisly murders begins. Is Anne responsible? Or is it coach Michaels (Christopher George) who has been fired because of Laura’s death? Perhaps it’s the campus policeman who is disliked because of his over-zealous drug investigations. Or is it Laura’s boyfriend, Kevin (E. Danny Murphy), who can’t reconcile himself to Laura’s death? You won’t want to see this one alone!

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Rush Hour

Rush Hour VHS cover. Action comedy thriller movie starring Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker. Directed by Brett Ratner. 1998.

Rush Hour on VHS. Movie starring Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker. Directed by Brett Ratner. 1998.

From the box:

The Fastest Hands In The East Meet The Biggest Mouth In The West

One’s all talk… the other’s all action… Jackie Chan (Rumble in the Bronx, First Strike) and Chris Tucker (Money Talks, Friday) mix punches with punchlines in this hilarious action-comedy.

Chan is a tough Hong Kong cop in Los Angeles to solve the kidnapping of a Chinese diplomat’s daughter. But the FBI wants none of his help and recruits a fast-talking LAPD detective (Tucker) to babysit him. Cultures clash and tempers flare as these two cops from different worlds quickly discover one thing in common: they can’t stand each other. With time running out, they must join forces to catch the criminals — if they don’t kill each other first!

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The Omega Man

The Omega Man VHS box cover art. Action sci-fi thriller movie starring Charlton Heston, Rosalind Cash, Anthony Zerbe. Directed by Boris Sagal. Based on the novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. 1971.

The Omega Man on VHS. Starring Charlton Heston, Rosalind Cash, Anthony Zerbe. Directed by Boris Sagal. Based on the novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. 1971.

From the VHS box:

Pray For The Last Man Alive. Because He’s Not Alone.

Welcome to the future. Biological warfare has decimated humankind. Los Angeles is a windswept ghost town where Robert Neville tools his convertible through sunlit streets foraging for supplies. And makes damn sure he gets undercover before sundown, when other “survivors” emerge.

The Omega Man adapts Twilight Zone alumnus Richard Matheson’s classic sci-fi novel I Am Legend into a high-impact, high-tension tale of a future not far removed from the realm of possibility. Charlton Heston (who has starred in other futuristic movie greats as Planet of the Apes and Soylent Green) is Neville, crusading to keep himself alive — and to fend off “The Family,” blood-thirsty neopeople that aren’t quite human anymore.

Rosalind Cash co-stars as the caretaker of a small band of healthy children who represent the future of our species — if she and Neville can keep them from “The Family’s” grasp. Take The Omega Man into your grasp. At first a sensational action film, it also raises chilling questions about where humankind is headed. Like the best science fiction always does.

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The Wicker Man

The Wicker Man VHS cover. Horror mystery cult classic movie starring Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento, Britt Ekland, Ingrid Pitt. Directed by Robin Hardy. 1973.

The Wicker Man on VHS. Starring Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento, Britt Ekland, Ingrid Pitt. Directed by Robin Hardy. 1973.

From the VHS box:

The 20th Century never touched Summerisle, where pagan fertility rites — and blood sacrifice — live on!

This eerie, evocative tale ensnares you in a world where pagan gods still rule. The search for a missing child sends a British police sergeant (Edward Woodward) to the isolated island of Summerisle. Here he is drawn into an ancient fertility cult led by the obsessed Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee) and a sensual Aphrodite (Britt Ekland). Modern police techniques are no match for pagan magic when the sergeant finally learns the unspeakable secret of the Wicker Man. “Pure, brilliant, spine-tingling fun,” said The Boston Globe about this award-winning cult classic.

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Watch Now: The Wicker Man (1973)

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