The Blair Witch Project
Rental and DVD (£19.99)
Fox Cert 15
****
The Last Broadcast Rental and DVD (£19.99)
Metrodome Cert 18
**
The famous one and the other one. Both feature US youngsters going into the woods to investigate gruesome, legendary mysteries and failing to return. Both have enough handheld camerawork to make you feel slightly sick, though this effect is minimised on the small screen. Both cost about $25,000. You'll know which one has made well over $100m.
Each has a mystery, but the third one is whether Blair Witch was influenced by Last Broadcast. BWP has a simpler story, a more skilful use of its non-budget and a memorable performance by Heather Donahue, whose heartfelt apology speech has been much parodied. She starts out professional and a little domineering ("We'll all look back on this and laugh heartily. Believe me."), and it's her descent into panic that gives the film its fright quotient.
I found it surprisingly unscary but it's certainly unsettling and has its remarkable moments, such as when a babe in arms tries to cover the mouth of her mother as if to stop her telling the Blair Witch story. Plus its twig people induce the odd shiver. The Blair Witch DVD has plenty of extras for obsessives, including the remarkable 42-minute documentary which helped the film take off in the US. The care and thoroughness of this fake doc on a fake doc (woodcuts, ancient documents and many interviews) is extraordinary.
The Last Broadcast, completed earlier, has the Jersey devils as its demons, and a cable TV show (Fact or Fiction), whose team decide to boost ratings by hiring a psychic to find the site. Bad things ensue ("Are you a psychic or a psycho?") and a murder investigation makes this more like a traditional documentary. Not bad, but not memorable.
The Iron Giant
Retail (£14.99) and DVD (£15.99)
Warner Cert U
****
Witty and delightful cartoon based on Ted Hughes's story, which uses elements from ET, King Kong, Frankenstein and The Snowman but weaves them together in a wholly original way. Hogarth is a frisky kid who discovers a mysterious metal monster, and, knowing adults will mess things up a treat because that's what adults do, decides to keep the giant to himself, with his friend, a designer-stubbled artist who lives in a junkyard.
With a secret serviceman on the trail of the colossus, the story combines humour, suspense and some terrific set pieces, such as the tidal wave when IG jumps into a pond where Hogarth is swimming. Where traditional kids' cartoons spoil things with insipid songs, The Iron Giant gives you the Coasters' wonderful Searchin' - it's set in the 50s. Director and co-writer Brad Bird is executive producer of The Simpsons and voices include John Mahoney and Jennifer Aniston. Unbeatable family Easter viewing, and worth a look for the child-free, too.
Runaway Bride
Rental and DVD (£15.99)
Warner Cert 18
**
A Julia Roberts rom-com, so you'll already know whether you're interested. As usual, there's more rom than com, but it has more laughs than most recent Roberts vehicles, thanks to a witty script. (When Roberts, who works in a hardware store, flees a wedding, the local paper headline is: Hardware honey goes nuts and bolts).
On the downside, the plot is ludicrous, even for this sort of light, screwball mood: nobody's actions make any sense except as a plot device. The concept here is get the stars we have loved back with the director of their hit (Roberts and Richard Gere, Pretty Woman, Garry Marshall). The same idea recently brought us You've Got Mail and, again, William Hill's is not taking bets on you guessing the ending. Night-owl Oz fans will be amused to find the much-married Keller (Chris Meloni) cast as Roberts's current bridegroom-to-be.
