Based on the cult novel by Gilbert Adair, Love and Death on Long Island is a wry, contemporary Death in Venice scenario about an obsession that has life changing consequences. Giles De'Ath (Hurt) is a reclusive literary figure with a contempt for anything modern. One rainy day, after accidentally locking himself out of his house, De'Ath enters the local cineplex seeking shelter and mistakenly goes into the wrong theatre. Seated, he looks up to find that he is watching Hotpants College II (I think you get the picture!). As he is about to leave a handsome young actor, Ron Bostock (Priestley), who he instantly falls in love with, catches his attention. Following this event De'Ath starts embracing the 20th Century rather than hiding from it. He buys a TV and VCR and collects magazines and reviews all for the purpose of gathering information on Bostock to add to his scrapbook, 'Bostockiana'. Eventually he makes his way to Long Island in the hope of meeting the object of his affection.

As weird as this all sounds, this movie isn't too bad. Hurt gives a fantastic performance as the obsessed De'Ath, while Priestly, who is basically Brandon from 90210 on the big screen, is (perhaps too) convincing in his role as the teen idol who can barely mutter more than 'Wow' and 'Cool'. This is not a movie that you would bother writing home about ... but if you were writing home anyway it would probably be worth a mention.