DVD & Blu-ray review: Blow Out (18)

Brian De Palma Blu-ray (108mins)

Brian De Palma is often derided for being derivative – and Blow Out is partly inspired by Blow Up – but at his best (and this is his best) the director delivers a huge emotional punch.

John Travolta excels as a sound technician who accidentally records evidence of a sinister conspiracy (it draws heavily on the Chappaquiddick incident) involving John Lithgow's serial killer. A scatterbrained Nancy Allen also stars in this stylish and cynical but also rather heartbreaking paranoia thriller from 1981.