Time once again for our writers to look to their latest Blu-Ray, DVD, and VOD purchases with looks at new releases The Lego Movie, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Alan Partridge, Small Time, The Cold Lands, Tapped Out, and A Wife Alone, and re-releases for The Life Aquatic, Judex, Hearts and Minds, The Revengers, and Countess Dracula.
This week brings looks at some leftover spooks, 'splosions, and some romance as we transition from Halloween in to the deeper recesses of fall. We look at Roland Emmerich's latest blockbuster White House Down, John Carpenter's underrated In the Mouth of Madness, James's Wan's surprise megahit The Conjuring, Richard Linklater's trilogy capping Before Midnight, and Neil Jordan's unjustly slept-on Byzantium.
Probably a third place behind The Exorcist and The Changeling in terms of stories that deal in hauntings and possessions (and ahead of even the best films with Amityville in the title), James Wan’s unnerving effort The Conjuring is nothing if not genuine when it comes to wringing tension and scares from the audience.
