Doing us yet another welcome value for your money service, American Home Treasures brings us another action-packed “3 for 1” collection of movies on one DVD, “Fearful Terrorist Movies”. Perhaps the novelty has worn off somewhat since viewing “Gripping War Escape Movies”, a similar title from the company’s “3 Great Movies” library, but I won’t let that detract from the entertainment value of a notably inexpensive DVD.

“Fearful Terrorist Movies” contains a collection of three movies of mediocre quality featuring several notable actors and a shared theme. This time around, the terrorist-inspired movies are “Deadline”, “The Death Merchants”, and “Dirty Games”.

“Deadline”, starring Christopher Walken and Hywel Bennett, is a docudrama set in war torn Lebanon. Don Stevens (Walken) is an apathetic television news reporter stationed in Beirut. He obviously doesn’t want to be there, yet finds himself in the midst of a complex world of politics and PLO terrorists. I use the term “complex” intentionally, as it is true of “Deadline” on two fronts. Firstly, the events and politic struggles of the region have such a dramatic and involved history that are every bit as complex and real today as when the 1987 film was produced. Secondly, whether it was intentionally designed to mirror the complexity of the issues or not, the movie’s plot does get somewhat muddled at times, as even Walken’s character notes, “these people have got me so confused”. That makes two of us Walken! Overall, “Deadline” delivers a solid acting performance from Walken in a role perfectly suited to his “couldn’t give a damn” attitude. I don’t think “Deadline” will be a particularly memorable film, but it does make for an interesting viewing nonetheless. Having said that, the final scene in the movie does leave us with a lasting impression on the realities of differing ideals, as Walken captures video footage from the aftermath of a village raid in which everyone, including women and children, were brutally massacred.

“The Death Merchants”, starring Jason Robards and Hardy Kruger, is the story of a terrorist organization pursuing an enemy agent, which leads to a murderous tale of mistaken identity. The relentless pursuit is filled with high action sequences, romance, and intrigue. “The Death Merchants” is the oldest of the three movies, produced in 1973, and not surprisingly contains the lowest video quality. If you haven’t heard of “The Death Merchants” before, you would be forgiven given the abundance of aliases for this West German and Israeli co-production, ranging from such titles as “Tod eines Fremden” to “The Spy Who Never Was”. Regardless of what title the movie goes by, “The Death Merchants” is a complimentary addition to the late-80s action films rounding out the “Fearful Terrorist Movies” collection.

“Dirty Games” finds a group of dignitaries on hand at a demonstration of scientist Kepler West’s (Jan-Michael Vincent) revolutionary nuclear waste containment facility set in the unforgiving African desert. Unbeknownst to Kepler, a terrorist plot is underway to destroy the facility during the site tour with all inside. “Dirty Games” is actually as simple as its plot makes it out to be; a standard action offering from 1989. I half expected “Stringfellow ‘String’ Hawke” to make an appearance early in the movie when a helicopter surfaced above the desert horizon (Vincent was introduced instead via a pickup truck -- the helicopter obviously wasn’t nearly cool enough for the former “Airwolf” pilot). “Dirty Games” is filled with the requisite action for this type of film, although I do have to ask what is up with Uzis firing like pistols? Pull the trigger String!

The special features of “Fearful Terrorist Movies” are fairly minimal. There are a couple of biographies and filmographies for Christopher Walken and Jason Robards (where are the goods on Jan-Michael Vincent?!?!) and a text-based feature on a number of “Infamous Acts of Terrorism”.

“Fearful Terrorist Movies” is once again an action packed collection of movies from the 70s and 80s brought together on an inexpensive DVD. Entertainment value is still the key to this title, as the average quality movies featured on “Fearful Terrorist Movies” are of the type you can watch once and set aside for another couple of decades. But with a price tag rivaling the rental of all three movies, why not own the DVD instead?