Category: Mystery

The Public Eye

The Public Eye movie VHS box cover scan. Movie starring Joe Pesci and Barbara Hershey. With Richard Riehle, Stanley Tucci, Jerry Adler, Jared Harris. Directed by Howard Franklin. 1992.

The Public Eye on VHS video. Movie starring Joe Pesci and Barbara Hershey. With Richard Riehle, Stanley Tucci, Jerry Adler, Jared Harris. Directed by Howard Franklin. 1992.

Murder. Scandal. Crime. No matter what he was hooting, “The Great Bernzini” never took sides, he only took pictures… Except one.

Academy Award winner Joe Pesci is a brash, 1940’s tabloid photographer whose camera leads him into a shadowy underworld of mob violence, unlikely romance and dangerous corruption in this atmospheric mystery-thriller.

New York, 1942. Prowling the crime-ridden, midnight streets of the city, freelance shutterbug Leon “Bernzy” Bernstein (Pesci) captures life’s seamy side in his lens — and dreams of the day his pictures will be recognized as works of art. Then, ravishing nightclub owner Kay Levitz (Barbara Hershey) lures Bernzy into investigating the thugs trying to muscle in on her business. Before he knows it, he falls for the unattainable Kay — and plunges camera first into a treacherous realm of black market scams and mafia gang war. Now, Bernzy’s either going to take the fall or take the one-in-a-million shot that could change his life forever.



The Trial

The Trial on VHS. Movie starring Anthony Perkins, Orson Welles. With Arnoldo Foa, Jess Hahn, Jeanne Moreau, Romy Schneider, Elsa Martinelli. Based on the novel by Franz Kafka. Directed by Orson Welles. 1962.

The Trial on VHS. Movie starring Anthony Perkins, Orson Welles. With Arnoldo Foa, Jess Hahn, Jeanne Moreau, Romy Schneider, Elsa Martinelli. Based on the novel by Franz Kafka. Directed by Orson Welles. 1962.

From the VHS box cover:

Gripping adaptation of Kafka’s novel makes for a frightening story of a nameless man accused of a crime without being informed of what it was.

Orson Welles’ inspiring scenes, unique staging and direction makes for fascinating, disturbing entertainment.

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Penn & Teller Get Killed

Penn & Teller Get Killed on VHS video. Movie starring Penn Jillette, Teller, Caitlin Clarke, David Patrick Kelly. Directed by Arthur Penn. 1989.

Penn & Teller Get Killed on VHS video. Movie starring Penn Jillette, Teller, Caitlin Clarke, David Patrick Kelly. Directed by Arthur Penn. 1989.

From the VHS box cover:

What more do you want?

The “bad boys of magic” go over the edge in this mind-blowing comedy/mystery about two insanely competitive practical jokers who accidentally set in motion a diabolical time-bomb of a plot.

Penn & Teller, the award-winning stars of Broadway and television, employ the same shock tactics they use on Late Night with David Letterman, The Arsenio Hall Show and Saturday Night Live to create a crazed, role-switching murder mystery set in the dizzying world of Atlantic City casinos.

In a TV interview, thrill-loving Penn mentions his idea of a fun practical joke: “I wish somebody were trying to kill me. Wouldn’t that be great? It would give focus to my life, excitement! I’d be like James Bond.” Twenty-million people hear him. One decides to deliver a punchline he’ll never forget.

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Manhunter

Manhunter on VHS video. Starring William Petersen, Kim Greist, Joan Allen, Brian Cox, Dennis Farina, Tom Noonan, Stephen Lang. Based on the book Red Dragon by Thomas Harris. Directed by Michael Mann. 1986.

Manhunter on VHS video. Starring William Petersen, Kim Greist, Joan Allen, Brian Cox, Dennis Farina, Tom Noonan, Stephen Lang. Based on the book Red Dragon by Thomas Harris. Directed by Michael Mann. 1986.

From the VHS box cover:

Enter the mind of a killer… you might never return.

“It’s just you and me now, sport.”

He knows how to kill you. And how to get away with it. How to silence the family pet, how to break into your house, where and when you sleep. He’s cool. Cunning. Determined. He is also your only hope. Because he’s the detective tracking down an elusive serial killer who strikes when the moon is full.

William L. Petersen stars as Manhunter Will Graham. Graham has an uncanny knack for getting inside the head of his deranged quarry. That’s great for crimefighting. But is it good for Graham? The line between thinking like the killer and being the killer can be a narrow one.

“It’s the best detective story I ever came across,” says screenwriter/director Michael Mann about Thomas Harris’ Red Dragon, the novel from which Manhunter was adapted. Mann should know a can’t-miss police thriller when he sees one; he’s the executive producer of Miami Vice and Crime Story. And the Miami Vice style he originated — electrifying visuals, a pulsing soundtrack, music video-inspired editing — is the perfect match for this sleek, frightening film.

Read Hannibal Lecter Book 1: Red Dragon

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It

Stephen King's It on VHS video. Starring Richard Thomas, Tim Reid, Annette O'Toole, Tim Curry, Richard Masur, John Ritter, Harry Anderson, Dennis Christopher. Directed by Tommy Lee Wallace. 1990.

Stephen King’s It on VHS video. Starring Richard Thomas, Tim Reid, Annette O’Toole, Tim Curry, Richard Masur, John Ritter, Harry Anderson, Dennis Christopher. Directed by Tommy Lee Wallace. 1990.

From the VHS box:

Your every fear — all in one deadly enemy.

It can be anything. A fanged monster that won’t stay on the movie screen. Something ominous lurking in the basement. No matter what your biggest fear is, no one knows It better than Stephen King.

Based on the King Of Horror’s 1986 bestseller, It is a jittery, jolting excursion into personal fear. A malevolent force in a small New England town takes the shape of a clown, but It is not clowning around. Instead, It terrifies youngsters with their innermost fears, bringing some to their untimely doom — until a group of wily neighborhood kids fight back. Thirty years later the evil resurfaces: meaner, angrier, deadlier. And the friends who vividly remember the terrors of their youth reunite to make a desperate stand against It.

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The Mystery of Rampo

The Mystery of Rampo on VHS. Special Academy Edition. Starring Naoto Takenaka, Michiko Hada, Masahiro Motoki, Mikijirô Hira. Directed by Kazuyoshi Okuyama. 1994.

The Mystery of Rampo on VHS. Special Academy Edition. Starring Naoto Takenaka, Michiko Hada, Masahiro Motoki, Mikijirô Hira. Directed by Kazuyoshi Okuyama. 1994.

From the box:

For Your Consideration

Best Cinematography
Yasushi Sasakibara

Best Music
Akira Senju

Special Academy Edition

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Reservoir Dogs

Reservoir Dogs on VHS. Movie starring Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney. Directed by Quentin Tarantino. 1992.

Reservoir Dogs on VHS. Starring Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney. Directed by Quentin Tarantino. 1992.

From the box:

Four Perfect Killers. One Perfect Crime. Now All They To Fear Is Each Other.

Full-Length Screener

They were perfect strangers, assembled to pull off the perfect crime. Then their simple robbery explodes into a bloody ambush, and the ruthless killers realize one of them is a police informer. But which one? Critically acclaimed for its raw power and breathtaking ferocity, it’s a brilliant new American gangster movie classic from writer-director Quentin Tarantino.

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Graduation Day

Graduation Day on VHS video. Horror movie starring Christopher George, Patch Mackenzie, E. Danny Murphy, E.J. Peaker, Michael Pataki. With Linnea Quigley, Vanna White. Directed by Herb Freed. 1981.

Graduation Day on VHS video. Horror movie starring Christopher George, Patch Mackenzie, E. Danny Murphy, E.J. Peaker, Michael Pataki. With Linnea Quigley, Vanna White. Directed by Herb Freed. 1981.

From the box:

The seniors of Midvale High are being fitted for caps and gowns — and coffins.

Taut suspense, heart-stopping shocks and mystery are all awaiting in Graduation Day. It’s just weeks before high school graduation and members of the track team are being mysteriously and gruesomely murdered, one at a time. When the team’s star runner, Laura Ramstead, falls dead at the end of a championship meet, her sister Anne (Patch MacKenzie) comes to town and a series of grisly murders begins. Is Anne responsible? Or is it coach Michaels (Christopher George) who has been fired because of Laura’s death? Perhaps it’s the campus policeman who is disliked because of his over-zealous drug investigations. Or is it Laura’s boyfriend, Kevin (E. Danny Murphy), who can’t reconcile himself to Laura’s death? You won’t want to see this one alone!

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The Wicker Man

The Wicker Man VHS cover. Horror mystery cult classic movie starring Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento, Britt Ekland, Ingrid Pitt. Directed by Robin Hardy. 1973.

The Wicker Man on VHS. Starring Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento, Britt Ekland, Ingrid Pitt. Directed by Robin Hardy. 1973.

From the VHS box:

The 20th Century never touched Summerisle, where pagan fertility rites — and blood sacrifice — live on!

This eerie, evocative tale ensnares you in a world where pagan gods still rule. The search for a missing child sends a British police sergeant (Edward Woodward) to the isolated island of Summerisle. Here he is drawn into an ancient fertility cult led by the obsessed Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee) and a sensual Aphrodite (Britt Ekland). Modern police techniques are no match for pagan magic when the sergeant finally learns the unspeakable secret of the Wicker Man. “Pure, brilliant, spine-tingling fun,” said The Boston Globe about this award-winning cult classic.

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Serial Experiments Lain: Knights

Serial Experiments Lain: Knights on VHS. Anime starring Bridget Hoffman. Character Design by Yoshitoshi Abe. 1998.

Serial Experiments Lain: Knights on VHS. Starring Bridget Hoffman. Character Design by Yoshitoshi Abe. 1998.

From the box:

Close the world, Open the nExt.

Fulfill the Prophecy…

“KNIGHTS” — a super hacker group that has large effects in the wired. No one knows who the members are, but they control information and sometimes develop and distribute illegal information equipment. The KNIGHTS are trying to make Lain do something… When Lain metaphorizes her physical self into the wired to search for an answer of incidents that kids commit suicide. She finds that the KNIGHTS are behind this incident. One day, a group of men in black suits make a contact Lain. They ask “Are those people who you live with really your parents?” “Are you Lain of the wired?” and “Who are you really?”

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