After the drudgery of Sudden Impact, the third and worst sequel to Dirty Harry, no one could have expected the fourth to have any signs of life. But The Dead Pool is fairly inspired, even playful--check out a "chase" scene between Clint Eastwood's Harry Callahan character and a remote-controlled toy car wielding a bomb--and it ended the long-running series on an unexpectedly positive note. This time, Callahan investigates a series of murders that appears to be on a "death list," while becoming romantically involved with a television reporter (Patricia Clarkson). Jim Carrey has a small but memorable part as a doped-up rock star, and Liam Neeson is on board, too. IT is directed by Eastwood-surrogate Buddy Van Horn (Any Which Way You Can). --Tom Keogh

One of the very best Stephen King film adaptations, The Dead Zone is imbued with an ever-present atmosphere of dread. Shot in a permanently wintry Canada (standing in for New England), the icy backdrops are subtly employed by director David Cronenberg to accentuate the story’s fatalistic tone. Cronenberg’s welcome emphasis for the most part on psychological terror over physical shocks (something of a change of direction for him after The Brood and Scanners) is further enhanced by composer Michael Kamen’s marvellously chilly music score and Christopher Walken’s understated yet dominating central performance as high school teacher Johnny Smith, who wakes from a coma following a car crash to learn that he has been cursed with the gift of second sight. That his uncanny ability is indeed a curse and definitely not a blessing is made abundantly clear: even when Johnny is able to save people’s lives, there is always a price to pay. The cosmic law of Karma is grimly unforgiving. Herbert Lom, as Johnny’s sympathetic doctor, sums up the character’s plight, "Some things just weren’t meant to be." And even when Johnny learns the terrible secret of future Presidential candidate Greg Stillson (a villainous Martin Sheen), he knows he cannot act without accepting the fatal consequences. Brooke Adams, as the love of Johnny’s life, and Tom Skerrit, as the quietly desperate sheriff on the trail of a serial killer, are excellent in support.

On the DVD: this disc comes with a chunky accompanying booklet with background notes on the film, cast and director, as well as a script excerpt for the originally planned pre-credits sequence (in the finished film we assume Johnny’s second sight is a result of the car accident--this earlier screenplay follows the book more closely). The movie itself--which features the "scissor-suicide" scene uncut--is accompanied by a chatty and informative commentary from film critics Stephen Jones and Kim Newman (a regular Amazon.co.uk contributor). Both the 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen picture and the Dolby 5.1 sound are adequate if unexceptional. --Mark Walker

What is thought to be a meteorite, turns out to be a human gobbling alien monster. It seems unstoppable eating away innocent victims from a sleepy town.

Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno, stars of the late-70s, live-action television series The Incredible Hulk, cap a run of sporadic TV movies based on the old show with Death of the Incredible Hulk. The gloomy title says it all. Bixby's Dr David Banner, spiritually exhausted after years of rage-induced transformations into a snarling green monster, takes a last stab at finding a cure by posing as a retarded janitor in a government-funded research laboratory. His secret collaboration with a scientist (Philip Sterling) on "killing" the Hulk's genetic viability goes awry when a gorgeous foreign spy (Barbara Tarbuck) disrupts a crucial procedure and invites the wrath of brutal terrorists, the federal government and, yes, the big man (Ferrigno) himself. With death chains rattling in the background, various ironies in the story become poignant: after years of isolation, Banner finds friendship and love just in time to risk it all for a lasting peace. --Tom Keogh

Billy Connolly has made the transition from comedy to straight dramatic roles with a great deal more success than most. In The Debt Collector he plays Nicky Dryden, a violent debt collector who has served 18 grim years in prison, only to have found rehabilitation on the outside as a successful sculptor and respectability in marriage to Francesca Annis. However, Keltie (Ken Stott) the policeman who originally arrested him is disgusted at this ex-con's social elevation and undertakes an obsessive campaign of stalking and harassment, refusing to allow him to bury his past. It is Keltie, in a sense, who is the true debt collector of the title--he doesn't believe Dryden either has or ever can repay society. Furthermore, Dryden is idolised by a young thug (Iain Robertson) who bases his psychotic lifestyle on Dryden's past exploits. Stott and Connolly make excellent, craggy adversaries, with the frustrated, embittered ex-cop cutting a menacing, though at times pathetic character, while Connolly's Dryden knows that his past, violent side is capable of erupting at any time. This gloomily compelling drama has moments of sickeningly concussive impact as it winds its way down to its tragic conclusion. Annette Crosbie as Keltie's vulnerable yet curiously strong Mother, turns in a fine supporting performance. --David Stubbs

Ben has always wanted to be a cartoon artist, but his strict father wants him to be a doctor, accepting the medical school scholarship. Caught between his childhood dreams and his father, Ben has to make a tough decision.