Yes, yes, it is true, I am currently DVD-obsessed. I would apologise for my behaviour… but I don’t really want to. 

I’m having a blast right now, picking up cheap discs from bricks and mortar stores. In fact, if you’ve read any of my previous posts on DVD Bargains (The Falling, The Karate Kid, Poirot, etc), you’ll know I’ve recently found a real treasure trove of DVDs, via the local charity shops. 

OK, so not every trip to a charity shop pans out, but I do appear to be having some killer luck right now. And of course, it is luck, as it is simply a case of being in the right place at the right time, and nothing more.

But isn’t it great to find some good, interesting, or not-so-easy-to-come-by DVDs at retail? It’s getting increasingly more difficult to find shops that sell physical media these days, so it’s a real treat to come across a few charity shops filling in the shortfall.

Anyway, want to see some recent pick-ups? Then scroll down!

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Hereditary (2018) – DVD 

Acclaimed (and rather unsettling) psychological horror from Ari Aster. Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, and Ann Dowd star.

The blurb reads: “When Ellen, the matriarch of the Graham family, passes away, her daughter Annie (Toni Collette), her husband (Gabriel Byrne) and their two children begin to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about their ancestry. The more they discover, the more they find themselves trying to outrun the sinister fate they seem to have inherited. 

“Making his feature debut, writer-director Ari Aster unleashes a nightmare vision of a domestic breakdown that exhibits the craft and precision of a nascent auteur, transforming a familial tragedy into something more ominous and deeply disquieting, and pushing the horror movie into chilling new terrain with its shattering portrait of heritage gone to hell.”

Bonus features: Featurette: Cursed: The True Nature of Hereditary; 8 Deleted Scenes.

Condition: Good condition.

Cost: 20p (five for £1). A great bargain and a really great film, which would set me back £7.99 if bought brand new. Hereditary is one of those films which seems to maintain its price at retail, never slipping into the budget range, so to pick this up for 20p is marvellous.

Likelihood of finding this in a UK charity shop: Slim! Most DVDs sold in charity shops tend to be from around 2000 to the early 2010s, so finding anything from around 2018 is quite the task. And for the DVD to be Hereditary, one of the best horrors of recent times, is just a brilliant spot of luck!

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Blade Runner 2049 (2017) – DVD 

Belated sci-fi sequel to 1982’s Blade Runner. Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford star, while Denis Villeneuve directs.

The blurb reads: “Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K (Ryan Gosling), unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what’s left of society into chaos. K’s discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.”

Bonus features: Blade Runner 101 Prologues: 2036: Nexus Dawn; 2048: Nowhere to Run; 2022: Blackout.

Condition: Good condition.

Cost: 20p (five for £1). If I was to buy this brand new, it would cost around £6.99.

Likelihood of finding this in a UK charity shop: Slim. Similar to Hereditary above, there are less DVDs from this time period in charity shops. 

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Bone Tomahawk (2015) – DVD 

Western horror from S. Craig Zahler. Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson, Matthew Fox, and Richard Jenkins star.

The blurb reads: “When a group of cannibal savages kidnaps settlers from the small town of Bright Hope, an unlikely team of gunslingers, led by Sheriff Franklin Hunt (Kurt Russell), sets out to bring them home. But their enemy is more ruthless than anyone could have imagined, putting their mission – and survival itself – in serious jeopardy.

“Kurt Russell (The Hateful Eight) leads an all-star cast including Patrick Wilson (Insidious), Matthew Fox (Lost), and Richard Jenkins (The Visitor) in this gritty action-packed Western chronicling a terrifying rescue mission.”

Bonus features: Fantastic Fest Q&A with Director, Cast & Producers; Making of Featurette; BFI London Film Festival Q&A.

Condition: Good condition.

Cost: 20p (five for £1).

Likelihood of finding this in a UK charity shop: Not that likely. I’ve not seen a copy of Bone Tomahawk in a charity shop before.

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Awake (2007) – DVD 

Mid-‘00s conspiracy thriller from filmmaker Joby Harold. The cast includes Hayden Christensen, Jessica Alba, and Terrence Howard.

The blurb reads: “Young banking heir Clay Beresford (Hayden Christensen – Jumper) has everything – prestige, a beautiful new wife (Jessica Alba – Fantastic Four) and a lucrative career, but what he needs most of all is a life-saving heart transplant. Luckily the perfect donor is found, but joy soon turns to sheer, unmitigated terror, when he finds himself in a situation few dare to imagine. He suffers anaesthetic awareness and is inadvertently left completely alert during the complicated and painful surgery. Physically paralysed but mentally awake, he hears of a conspiracy to have him murdered and realises he is powerless to stop it.”

Bonus features: Audio Commentary by Writer/Director Joby Harold; The Making of Awake Featurette; Storyboard to Film Comparison; Deleted Scenes; Blooper Reel; Icon Trailer Reel.

Condition: Great condition disc, but I replaced the case with a spare, as it was a bit rough around the edges.

Cost: 20p (five for £1). Bargain! Awake is not currently available on disc in the UK, so it’s great to have a copy for just 20p.

Likelihood of finding this in a UK charity shop: Very unlikely. Awake isn’t a well-known title, so it’s simply not a film that would appear in many charity shops.

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Look Who’s Talking (1989) – DVD

Late ‘80s comedy written and directed by Amy Heckerling. John Travolta and Kirstie Alley star, with voice work from Bruce Willis.

The blurb reads: “Starring Kirstie Alley, John Travolta, and the wise-cracking voice of Bruce Willis, Look Who’s Talking is the box-office smash which takes an hilarious, off-beat look at motherhood and romance from baby Mikey’s point of view.

“Led on and let down by boyfriend Albert (George Segal), 32 year old Mollie (Kirstie Alley) is looking for a proper father for her son…

“Little Mikey favours cab driver-turned-baby sitter, James (John Travolta). It’s a case of baby knows best, but by the time he learns to talk, it could be too late!”

Bonus features: Filmographies; Theatrical Trailer.

Condition: Good condition.

Cost: 20p (five for £1). Another bargain, if you happen to like ‘80s comedies – which I do. 

If I wanted to buy this brand new in the UK, at present, Look Who’s Talking is only available as a triple pack with its sequels. This would cost me around £7.99, so paying just 20p for the original (and best of the bunch) is a no-brainer.

Likelihood of finding this in a UK charity shop: It happens. Although in my experience, these copies tend to be poor or very used.

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Total cost for all five DVDs was £1. Another absolute steal, especially considering how unlikely it is to come across some of these titles.

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