Wolf Creek's 'Crocodile Dundee turns bad' plot does the job, the edge has been taken off the high-adrenaline, real-life rags-to-riches story of skateboard legend Stacy Peralta in Lords Of Dogtown and the acting is strong in Saints & Soldiers...
****
When three juicily portrayed twentysomethings break down on an Outback road trip (kilometres from anywhere, naturally), a friendly redneck is on hand to help out. Yep, it's your usual 'Crocodile Dundee turns bad' plot but it does the job. Writer/director Greg McLean boasts the confident assurance that allows characterisation to mature fully before making merry with the gore.
Which means his consummate debut not only has a texture that's rich, dark and dense but its slow-burn suspense will get you yelling 'run, run' at the screen and hiding behind the sofa.
Extras: Commentaries, deleted scenes, 50min making-of doc.
***
Yet, if you're fresh to the material, the added emotional aspects of director Catherine Hardwicke's fictionalised account of surfing and skateboarding in 1970s California neatly partner the awesome skate action. It's a bit too slick, a bit too pretty, but it nicely captures the youthful innocence and hunger of this teen posse of rough-neck LA 'surf rats' - as well as their inevitable tumble from fame.
Extras: Director and cast commentary, featurettes, bloopers.
****
When a couple go on a camping break to a remote beach in an attempt to save their marriage after the wife has had an abortion, the wildlife has other ideas. 'Their crime was against nature... nature found them guilty' is the tagline of this modern alienation fable, whose nasty, creeping suspense will have you reaching a trembling hand for the light switch. Brrr.
Extras: The movie trailer. Pah.
***
The saga begins at the Malmedy Massacre in the Ardennes Forest in Belgium in 1944. German soldiers are opening fire on American prisoners but, in the milee, four escape. After a chance meeting with a British soldier with vital information, they try to cross the frontline to Allied territory, through the striking, snow-covered forest with no food and few weapons.
Along the way, they learn more of each other's lives and the focus here is how the path to friendship and morality can be a rocky one. If this was a one-off drama you'd found on TV while channel hopping, it would be an engaging distraction; as a DVD, it's a bit too simple and plodding.
Extras: Making-of doc, director's commentary.
