VIDEODVD

Latest video and DVD releases reviewed

SECRET WINDOW **

Directed by David Koepp. Starring Johnny Depp, John Turturro, Maria Bello, Timothy Hutton, Charles S. Dutton, Len Cariou 15 cert

The 4,922nd film to be based on a Stephen King story follows Depp's blocked author (what can the doorstop-a-week King possibly know about such things?) as he deals with accusations of plagiarism from a man in a big hat (Turturro). The first two-thirds is gripping enough, but the twist we always get in such stories manifests itself and the whole thing shakes itself to bits. - Donald Clarke

VAN HELSING **

Directed by Stephen Sommers. Starring Hugh Jackman, Kate Beckinsale, Richard Roxburgh, David Wenham, Shuler Hensley 15 cert

Jackman, nobody's idea of Peter Cushing, travels to Transylvania in search of monsters. Beckinsale, a sort of pre-Raphaelite Buffy, awaits his arrival clutching stakes. The DVD of this wretchedly frantic horror pastiche comes in both a regular edition and a spectacular two-disk (sigh) "collector's version". The cheaper of the two is the one to go for: being that bit lighter, it will travel further when you disgustedly fling it out the window. - Donald Clarke