The Last House On Dead End Street

UK distributor Tartan's Region 2 release of Last House On Dead End Street represents a straight PAL format port of the 2002 NTSC release by US company Barrel Entertainment, the film having recently been passed uncut by the BBFC in what one assumes is an example of their post-James Ferman/Texas Chainsaw Massacre philosophy - like Tobe Hooper's film, there's really nothing that you can put your finger on as contravening some law, but rather an all pervasive sense of disquiet.

While the image is grainy, scratchy and alternates between being too dark and too light and the audio flat and hollow, it has been sourced from one - maybe even the only - 35mm print of the film in existence under Roger Watkins' supervision and, as such, probably represents the best that we can ever hope for. Besides, it's the kind of film where worse is really better.

The second disc contains outtakes (18 minutes) and four of Watkins' early short films, Masque Of The Red Death (19 minutes), Requiem (18 minutes), Ron Rico (19 minutes) and Black Snow (3 minutes). While the outtakes play silently, the shorts are accompanied by commentaries from the director, explaining some of the choices of imagery and music, which proved impossible to license, explaining the absence of the original audio option here, and the general memories and feelings they evoke.

Although there is nothing on the Tartan DVD for the extreme cinema fan who already has the Barrel release, it makes an attractive proposition for the R2 viewer, unable or unwilling to shell out the premium for an import disc.