Skip to main content
Games Radar
  • Newsarama
  • Total Film
  • Edge
  • Retro Gamer
  • SFX
Total Film The smarter take on movies
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
flag of UK
UK
flag of US
US
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of Australia
Australia
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • More
    • PS5
    • Xbox Series X
    • Nintendo Switch
    • Nintendo Switch 2
    • PC
    • Platforms
    • Tabletop Gaming
    • Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • SFX
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Newsletters
    • About us
    • Features
Gaming Magazines
Gaming Magazines
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe from just £3
  • Takes you closer to the games, movies and TV you love
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$12
View
Trending
  • Best Netflix Movies
  • Best movies on Disney Plus
  • Movie Release Dates
  • Best Netflix Shows
Recommended reading
Havoc
Streaming Services 6 new movies and shows to watch this weekend on Netflix, Prime, Disney Plus, and more (April 25 - 27)
Uma Thurman as Discord in The Old Guard 2.
Movies The 25 best movies on Netflix to watch this week
Bring Her Back
Horror Movies The most exciting upcoming horror movies coming in 2025 and beyond
Anna Kendrick in Another Simple Favor
Streaming Services 6 new movies and shows to watch this weekend on Netflix, Prime, Disney Plus, and more (May 2 - 4)
Matthew McConaughey as Cooper, next to a floating space ship in Christopher Nolan's Interstellar.
Streaming Services The 10 best movies on Paramount Plus to watch right now
Daisy Ridley in Cleaner
Streaming Services 6 new movies and shows to watch this weekend on Netflix, Prime, Disney Plus, and more (June 13 - 15)
Lost in Starlight
Streaming Services 6 new movies and shows to watch this weekend on Netflix, Prime, Disney Plus, and more (May 30 - June 1)
  1. Entertainment
  2. Movies

Movies to watch on Blu-Ray and DVD: Sunset Song, Victor Frankenstein, more...

Features
By Total Film Staff published 2 April 2016

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Out on 4 April and 11 April

Out on 4 April and 11 April

An intimate epic of Scots rural life from Terence Davies. A trip into the weird world of cinephilia with Guy Maddin.

Yes, here's the new DVD and Blu-Ray releases coming out in the next two weeks. Click on for our reviews of Sunset Song, The Forbidden Room, Kill Your Friends, Victor Frankenstein, Bande à Part, A Kiss Before Dying, Justice League: Cosmic Clash, Bridge of Spies, Three Days of the Condor, Bride of Re-Animator, Grandma, Creepshow 2, Chronic, Bullset!, Snow White: A Tale of Terror, and The Sound Barrier.

For the best movie reviews, subscribe to Total Film.

Page 1 of 17
Page 1 of 17
SUNSET SONG

SUNSET SONG

Scotland, the early 1900s: aspiring teacher Chris (Agyness Deyn) is finding it hard to escape her bleak rural life (personified by grizzled pa Peter Mullan). This adap of Lewis Grassic Gibbon's classic novel (included as an E-book) is clearly a labour of love for director Terence Davies, becoming a characteristic study of how environment and circumstances shape communities and individuals.

Yet while Davies' meticulous, patient approach offers beautiful, burnished visuals, the episodic narrative can't help but become a dour soap opera, in which Deyn stoically withstands one overfamiliar tragedy after another without ever achieving the necessary emotional wallop.

EXTRAS: E-book

Director: Terence Davies Starring: Agyness Deyn, Peter Mullan, Kevin Guthrie DVD, BD release: April 4, 2016

Simon Kinnear

Page 2 of 17
Page 2 of 17
THE FORBIDDEN ROOM

THE FORBIDDEN ROOM

Combining the aesthetics of silent cinema with the avant-garde, director Guy Maddin dives deep into the rabbit hole for this surreal, spellbinding experience of a film. Comprising a series of vignettes that flow into each other with the logic of a dream, it serves up everything from a man possessed by the bust of the two-faced god Janus to an infomercial explaining the best way to take a bath.

Some are unsettling in their mystery, while others are burdened by an ironic detachment from the genres they're pastiching. But overall this is cinema bursting at the seams with activity and imagination.

EXTRAS: Commentary > Features

Director: Guy Maddin Starring: Roy Dupuis, Clara Furey, Louis Negin Dual format release: April 4, 2016

Simon Puddicombe

Page 3 of 17
Page 3 of 17
KILL YOUR FRIENDS

KILL YOUR FRIENDS

John Niven adapts his own cult novel into a self-impressed American Psycho rip-off set in Brit-pop London that's entertaining enough but doesn’t always hit the right notes. Nicholas Hoult does his charismatic best as wunderkind A&R sociopath Steven Stelfox, a man so desperate to find the next big thing and climb the industry pile he'll stove in heads to get it.

But if Niven's repellent speeches work on paper, that doesn't always fly as dialogue. And despite the cracking '90s soundtrack, a clear sense of the era is missing, making the more grotesque elements of this dark comedy seem trite and try-hard rather than bleakly funny.

EXTRAS: Interviews

Director: Owen Harris Starring: Ed Skrein, Nicholas Hoult, James Corden, Rosanna Arquette DVD, BD, Digital HD release: April 4, 2016

Jane Crowther

Page 4 of 17
Page 4 of 17
VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN

VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN

Under-promoted and overly criticised on release, Victor Frankenstein fell under the radar and under box-office expectation. But Max Landis' reimagining is a perfectly entertaining small-screen watch. In Frankenstein (James McAvoy in manic form) is a socially inept dick kept in moral check by his former-circus-freak sidekick, Igor (Daniel Radcliffe) as the duo try to reanimate corpses.

Jessica brown Findlay adds little in a romantic sideline, especially as Sherlock director Paul McGuigan is more interested in replicating the Cumberbatch/Freeman emotional dynamic, complete with Andrew Scott's cock-blocking adversary. Derivative but diverting.

EXTRAS: None

Director: Paul McGuigan Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, James McAvoy, Jessica Brown Findlay DVD, BD, Digital HD release: April 11, 2016

Jane Crowther

Page 5 of 17
Page 5 of 17
BANDE À PART

BANDE À PART

Three young outsiders entangled in a love triangle (Anna Karina, Claude Brasseur and Sami Frey) wander Paris contemplating whether to carry out a robbery. Jean-Luc Godard's iconic caper is not as thrillingly original as the auteur at his best, but neither is it as off-puttingly detached as his most maddening work.

It resonates most as a slice of effortlessly cool '60s chic, one that peaks in the famous cafe dance sequence. That scene and the race through the Louvre have secured the film's place in cine-history – which is expanded upon at length in the scholarly extras.

EXTRAS: Commentary > Interviews > Short film > Booklet

Director: Jean-Luc Godard Starring: Anna Karina, Claude Brasseur, Danièle Girard BD release: March 21, 2016

Simon Puddicombe

Page 6 of 17
Page 6 of 17
A KISS BEFORE DYING

A KISS BEFORE DYING

You get two Sean Youngs for the price of one in this pulpy adap of Ira Levin's novel about a homicidal social climber (Matt Dillon) who, having thrown one sister off a tall building, sets his sights on her identical twin. (Two too many Sean Youngs for some, among them the Razzie voters who gave her two prizes for her pains.)

It's a loopy premise to which director James Dearden gives a floridly Hitchcockian treatment, right down to a shower scene, artificial back projection and Bernard Herrmann-esque score. The result? A guilty pleasure that can be enjoyed and tittered at in equal measure.

EXTRAS: None

Director: James Dearden Starring: Matt Dillon, Sean Young, Max von Sydow DVD release: March 21, 2016

Neil Smith

Page 7 of 17
Page 7 of 17
JUSTICE LEAGUE: COSMIC CLASH

JUSTICE LEAGUE: COSMIC CLASH

This gleefully silly animation acts as a fun, colourful chaser for Zack Snyder's live-action League, but is strictly for kids and hardcore DC completists only. When brainiac (Phil LaMarr) attempts to shrink the earth for his planet collection, Batman (Troy Baker) has to time travel to save the other League members from temporal-displacement doom.

The fun is in the characters sending up their own reputations, particularly with Batman's Adam West-ian deadpan delivery, but don't be fooled – this is skewed much more to a kiddie audience than The LEGO Movie. One throwaway extra: an incoherent, redubbed, fake 'gag reel'.

EXTRAS: Gag reel

Director: Rick Morales Starring: Troy Baker, Nolan North, Khary Payton DVD, BD release: March 21, 2016

Matt Looker

Page 8 of 17
Page 8 of 17
BRIDGE OF SPIES

BRIDGE OF SPIES

Not Steven Spielberg's most explosive political film, but perhaps – quietly – one of his most insightful and pertinent. Bridge Of Spies is a slow-burn thriller about American values set against the icy backdrop of Cold War Berlin, with Tom Hanks (who has American values firmly locked down) the obdurate lawyer sticking to his guns while defending an alleged Russian agent.

Mr Smith Goes to Eastern Europe, then – but it's the Oscar-winning Mark Rylance as the gentle spy himself who steals it. If the sentimental coda bugs you, blame Hanks – it was his idea, as revealed in the featurette-centric extras.

EXTRAS: Featurettes

Director: Steven Spielberg Starring: Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Alan Alda DVD, BD, Digital HD release: March 28, 2016

Nathan Ditum

Page 9 of 17
Page 9 of 17
THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR

THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR

In one of Hollywood’s definitive conspiracy thrillers, Robert Redford is CIA analyst Joe Turner, codename Condor, on the run after surviving a hit by renegade spooks. Director Sydney Pollack plays a satisfyingly long game, achieving tension via watchful lensing and cerebral set-pieces; Max Von Sydow’s suave, practical assassin symbolises the classiness.

While Redford’s love affair with hostage-turned-helper Faye Dunaway is far-fetched, the spy-jinks retain a frisson of plausibility. Though made in the wake of Watergate, its jaundiced vision of furtive foreign policy and media manipulation is still worryingly pertinent.

EXTRAS: Booklet > Video essay > Documentary

Director: Sydney Pollack; Starring: Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Cliff Robertson; Dual format release: April 11, 2016

Simon Kinnear

Page 10 of 17
Page 10 of 17
BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR

BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR

Based on the uncanny writings of HP Lovecraft, Brian Yuzna’s sequel owes more to the era’s splatter films, including his own Society: straight-faced, sniff-the-fart acting and imaginatively squishy FX.

It finds Drs Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) and Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott) bringing life to “dead-heads and no-bodies” as cop Claude earl Jones investigates. It never quite reaches the delirium of part 1, but the hallucinatory climax has to be seen to be believed. The extras complete a more-than-competent package.

EXTRAS: Booklet > Commentaries > Comic > Featurettes > Deleted scenes

Director: Brian Yuzan; Starring: Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott; Dual format release: April 11, 2016

Matt Glasby

Page 11 of 17
Page 11 of 17
GRANDMA

GRANDMA

  

When you consider this year’s Oscar snubs, spare a thought for Lily Tomlin, who rips up the screen in Paul Weitz’s comic drama. She plays Elle, a lesbian poet who sets out to help her granddaughter Sage (Julia Garner) deal with her unplanned pregnancy.

As she tries to rustle up $600 for Sage’s abortion from an assortment of old friends and lovers, Elle is anything but the adorable grandma the title might suggest, and Weitz expertly sketches out a life lived. At 79 minutes, it’s small-but-perfectly formed, with Marcia Gay Harden as Elle’s daughter rivalling Tomlin for the film’s best turn. Don’t miss.

EXTRAS: Commentary > Q&A

Director: Paul Weitz; Starring: Lily Tomlin, Julia Garner; DVD, Blu-ray release: April 4, 2016

James Mottram

Page 12 of 17
Page 12 of 17
CREEPSHOW 2

CREEPSHOW 2

Creepshow 2: the sequel that was so cheap, it had to ditch two of its stories just to stay afloat. What’s left hardly justifies the loose change. (And definitely not the 18 certificate.) Once again boasting perversely impressive horror credentials – stories by Stephen King, screenplay by George A. Romero – its most effective segment is ‘The Raft’, in which teens are chased by a menacing oil slick.

The creepiest thing here, though, is King’s cameo as a truck driver attending the scene of a hit and run – presaging his own near-fatal road accident by a dozen years. Spooky.

EXTRAS: Interviews, Featurette, Stills gallery

Director: Michael Gornick; Starring: George Kennedy, Lois Chiles, Domenick John, Tom Savini; DVD, BD release: April 11, 2016

Ali Catterall

Page 13 of 17
Page 13 of 17
CHRONIC

CHRONIC

The innermost secrets of the terminally ill are explored in Michel Franco’s bleak whiteout of a film. Tim Roth is a powerful presence as David, a nurse who cares for the dying, morphing into their lives in a way that makes his patients’ relatives deeply uneasy.

David’s own life is explored in little detail – an ex-wife and stepdaughter exist on the fringes – and his dispassionate expression leaves his inner life a mystery. Yet he shocks us at the finale, and it is this that makes Chronic a worthwhile, if disturbing, watch.

EXTRAS: None

Director: Michel Franco; Tim Roth, Bitsie Tulloch, Claire van der Boom, David Dastmalchian; DVD, Digital  release: April 11, 2016

Cassie Whittell

Page 14 of 17
Page 14 of 17
BULLSEYE!

BULLSEYE!

Everyone’s a loser in this Michael Winner stinker, a laughter-banishing crime caper that asks those noted chameleons Michael Caine and Roger Moore to take on double roles: a couple of nuclear scientists out to flog their cold fusion formula to the highest bidder, and a pair of con-artists out to relieve them of it first.

The ensuing antics are lowbrow even by this filmmaker’s subterranean standards, though Eddie Kidd’s stunt-biking does at least enliven a Scotland-set last third. The only reason to even contemplate a purchase is a tacked-on Moore interview, in which he happily concedes it’s not much cop.

EXTRAS: Interview

Director: Michael Winner; Starring: Michael Caine, Roger Moore, Sally Kirkland; DVD release: April 4, 2016

Neil Smith

Page 15 of 17
Page 15 of 17
SNOW WHITE: A TALE OF TERROR

SNOW WHITE: A TALE OF TERROR

Upholding the dark overtones of the original story, this TV-movie version of the Snow White tale really is Grimm in places. Sigourney Weaver plays a more sympathetic evil stepmother, who’s consumed with insane jealousy after Lilli (Monica Keena) proves to be a spoilt brat unwilling to accept her nobleman father’s (Sam Neill) new wife.

The traditional story unfolds in disturbing ways, such as the witch’s black magic reviving a still-born baby, and one of the seven ‘dwarves’ threatening to rape Lilli. Just don’t leave it on your kids’ Disney shelf...

EXTRAS: None

Director: Michael Cohn; Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Sam Neill, Gil Bellows, Taryn Davis; DVD release: April 4, 2016

Matt Looker

Page 16 of 17
Page 16 of 17
THE SOUND BARRIER

THE SOUND BARRIER

A massive hit in its day, David Lean’s restored tale of peacetime test pilots tackling air speed records has aged in a way his better-known works haven’t (sample line: “What’s so ruddy peculiar about the Sound Barrier?”).

Dedicated to RAF flyboys – one of them “the late Trevor S. Wade” – it combines balletic aerial footage with dodgy back projection to stirring effect, even if the only thing stiffer than star Nigel Patrick’s upper lip is the class system. Appropriately, Lean spends the disc’s interview smoking like an engine exhaust.

EXTRAS: Interviews

Director: David Lean; Starring: Ralph Richardson, Ann Todd, Nigel Patrick, John Justin; DVD, BD, VOD release: April 11, 2016

Matt Glasby

Page 17 of 17
Page 17 of 17
Total Film Staff

The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine. 

See more Movies Features
Read more
Havoc
6 new movies and shows to watch this weekend on Netflix, Prime, Disney Plus, and more (April 25 - 27)
Uma Thurman as Discord in The Old Guard 2.
The 25 best movies on Netflix to watch this week
Bring Her Back
The most exciting upcoming horror movies coming in 2025 and beyond
Anna Kendrick in Another Simple Favor
6 new movies and shows to watch this weekend on Netflix, Prime, Disney Plus, and more (May 2 - 4)
Matthew McConaughey as Cooper, next to a floating space ship in Christopher Nolan's Interstellar.
The 10 best movies on Paramount Plus to watch right now
Daisy Ridley in Cleaner
6 new movies and shows to watch this weekend on Netflix, Prime, Disney Plus, and more (June 13 - 15)
Latest in Movies
Pokemon image of Pikachu
Gotta watch 'em all: The best Pokémon movies from your childhood are available for free on YouTube for a "limited time"
The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Nintendo wants to "expand the number of people" who have access to its franchises, and that means it's working on "various" post-Legend of Zelda movie projects
David Corenswet as Superman
We're not getting a Guardians of the Galaxy-style soundtrack in Superman, but James Gunn has made the next best thing: a Spotify playlist for Clark Kent: "I haven't had more fun this year"
Denji in Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc trailer
New Chainsaw Man trailer sees Denji caught in an explosive love triangle as one of the year's most anticipated anime movies gets a full first look
Superman
One Superman actor reveals a Krypto scene was cut because it did "really bad" in test screenings, but they were "pissed" it was left out
Ironheart
Fans are sharing their highs and lows from Marvel Phase 5, but some are wondering why the MCU is still bothering with phases post-Avengers: Endgame
Latest in Features
Superman
Krypto the Superdog - The comic history of Superman's best friend
All-New Spider-Gwen: The Ghost Spider #1
Spider-Gwen's new comic introduces her own personal symbiote villain, Tantrum: "Tantrum is the embodiment of everything Gwen was trying to leave behind"
A screenshot from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 showing Maelle fighting an enemy.
I accidentally became a god in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and it broke combat so badly that I had to nerf myself to keep things fun even on Expert mode
Multiple Jans discuss their situation in The Alters
My current GOTY contender sold itself to me with an out-of-nowhere musical number, and I can't praise that choice enough
Death Stranding
6 years too late, I bring lukewarm takes: Death Stranding rules, and we should all play more games outside of our comfort zone
María Gabriela de Faría as The Engineer
James Gunn's Superman may be setting up The Authority movie with its enigmatic villain The Engineer
  1. Sam fires at the ghost mech squid boss in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
    1
    Death Stranding 2: On the Beach review: "This tarpunk delivery epic is more Metal Gear Solid than ever, for better and worse"
  2. 2
    Rematch review: "As with Rocket League, the just-one-more-game pull is magnetic"
  3. 3
    Tron: Catalyst review: "Disc slinging is a thrill in this gorgeous rendition of the series, but I'm let down by a time-loop story that falls flat"
  4. 4
    FBC: Firebreak review: "A disappointingly bland multiplayer FPS that's missing far too much of what made Control special"
  5. 5
    Dune: Awakening review: "Both extremely compelling and extraordinarily boring, sometimes at the same time – yet still a true Dune love letter"
  1. A T-rex in Jurassic World Rebirth
    1
    Jurassic World Rebirth Review: "An unscary sequel that needed a little more time in amber"
  2. 2
    M3GAN 2.0 review: "A bold sequel with a slightly underwhelming conclusion"
  3. 3
    28 Years Later Review: "Enough terror, splatter and suspense to satisfy”
  4. 4
    Predator: Killer of Killers review: "Great characters, thrilling action, and gorgeous Arcane-esque animation"
  5. 5
    From the World of John Wick: Ballerina review: "Brilliant action, even if the plot gives you a sense of déjà vu"
  1. Lee Jung-jae as Gi-hun in Squid Game season 3
    1
    Squid Game season 3 review: "A staggeringly excellent final season wraps up one of the greatest Netflix shows ever"
  2. 2
    Ironheart review: "A relic of Marvel's content-at-all-costs era"
  3. 3
    Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 review: "The show's most assured run of episodes to date"
  4. 4
    Doctor Who season 2, episode 8 spoiler review: 'The Reality War' is "a mix of the good, the bad, and the truly baffling"
  5. 5
    Doctor Who season 2, episode 7 spoiler review: 'Wish World' is "an exciting and ambitious" start to the season finale, with hints of WandaVision

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...