The newest film from horror wunderkinds James Wan and Leigh Whannell takes the subgenres of the killer doll and the creepy ventriloquist film and puts them together in a blender. Every aspect of Dead Silence, about a ventriloquist who haunts the living via her dummies, is so beautifully overdone, with a ludicrously awesome twist ending, that the film's a fully realized exercise in horror clich. M. Night better watch his ass even he couldn't top this wonderfully hackneyed attempt at filling the plot-holes. Speaking of holes, while the DVD is unrated, with a bit more gore, the disc is pretty bare- bones in the special features department. But then again, if you're renting this on a Friday night, special features are the least of your worries. Louis Fowler
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This is Tom Jones (NR)
Time-Life Records
Everyone needs a little Tom Jones. Sure, you may know him for hits like "What's New Pussycat?" or "It's Not Unusual," but his sweaty charisma and chest hair-laden sex appeal were enough to earn him his own weekly musical variety TV show from 1969 to 1971. This three- disc collection has numerous Jones solo performances, but the real treats are his other musical guests, with whom he often dueted. Stars like Burt Bacharach, the Moody Blues, Janis Joplin and The Who all take the stage, and classic performances by the likes of Richard Pryor and Peter Sellers only add to this set's must-have status. Tom Jones himself, as he is now, introduces the episodes with the same swingin' swagger that made him popular. Louis Fowler
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Frankenstein Conquers the World (NR)
Tokyo Shock
Prepare for classic, completely whacked-out Japanese cinema featuring a wholly ridiculous take on a well- known character: Frankenstein's heart is stolen from Europe and kept in a Japanese lab. Once there, radiation from the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima causes the heart to grow and soon the heart spouts legs, arms and a head, eventually mutating into a giant Frankenstein. Somehow, this all leads to the monster fighting some other giant, reptilian monster. If all this weren't enough, as a bonus, a second disc is included, featuring the sequel, Frankenstein vs. Baragon, in which the mutated man-beast faces Godzilla. These takes probably have Mary Shelley spinning in her grave, but they'll leave your mind reeling with their sheer lunacy. Louis Fowler
