DVD Review.

Byline: WITH MIKE CHAPPLE

Dig! (15FOLLOWING on the heels of End of the Century chronicling the euphoric/tragic story of the Ramones, Tartan release another stirling rockumentary, one which won the Grand Jury prize at last year's Sundance Film Festival. Shot over a seven year period it follows the diverse fortunes of two home town bands in Portland, Oregon - the Dandy Warhols who push all the right buttons and fly on to glory and the Brian Jonestown Massacre who snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. This is largely due to the actions of the talented but bonkers frontman Anton Newcombe whose egotistical and unpredictable behaviour continually kybosh his band's chances of landing a major record deal. Funny I always thought being deranged was a career plus in the world of rock. An absorbing and sometimes poignant look into the machinations of the music industry and the complications of "no sell out" or compromise, this is absolutely required viewing for any teenage rampager thinking of climbing the stairway to heaven.

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War of the Worlds (12) A GAME of two halves if ever there was one. Spielberg builds the sense of dread expertly as the aliens arrive and the mayhem that follows is terrifyingly real in these post 9/11 years. Indeed, the action is truly mind boggling - the scene where a running, screaming, woman is vapourised in agony will have FX geeks giggling with delight - and Tom Cruise turns in another laudable performance, this time as the dysfunctional Dad trying to protect his kids. Then it all dissolves into clichA. Why, for instance, in Hollywood's science fiction disaster blockbusters does the average Yank have an obsession of finding his or her way back home in the wake of devastation, as happens once again here? The relentless pace tails off towards an ending every bit as unconvincing and ultimately sentimental as the original '50s film version of the HG Wells novel.

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Whispering Corridors (18ANOTHER blood-soaked vengeful ghost venture from South East Asia. This one is set in an all girls school where one of the pupils had died in tragic mysterious circumstances some years before. Her best pal returns as a teacher to the same school after the apparent suicide of one of the older tutors and senses that something wicked this way comes. Passable chiller stuff that pales into insignificance next to peers such as The Grudge, it begs the question why all Oriental spirits want to emulate Michael Myers. "Just haunt, will yer!" as that bloke from the Adelphi would say.

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