On DVD

"Wolfhound" - Considering that back in 2007, TwitchFilm suggested a way for non-Russian speakers to see this epic fantasy, there are plenty of fans of Timur Bekmambetov’s “Nightwatch” still eager to see fellow Ruskie helmer Nikolai Lebedev’s film about a warrior tasked with protecting a princess en route to her future husband’s homeland.

"Alien Uprising" - A sci-fi thriller whose logline seems suspiciously similar to “Aliens,” the film revolves around a group of Marines who invade a foreign planet and get far more than they were expecting from the locals.

"The Chaos Experiment" - Directed by former film financier Phillippe Martinez, this film stars Val Kilmer as a scientist who makes his point about global warming by holding up a group of six people hostage in a steam room, with Armand Assante playing the detective tasked with negotiating the group’s release.

"Cravings" - Ray Winstone’s daughter Jaime stars as a bloodthirsty teen that bears a strong resemblance to her psychiatrist’s dead wife in D.J. Evans’ horror film (called “Daddy’s Girl” in its native England).

"Demon Warriors" - In this 2007 Thai action film, a detective kills himself to enter into the afterlife to track down a group of spirits called the Opapatikas, who have the ability to steal one of his five senses each time they do battle with him.

"Fragments" - Though it’s title has changed from “Winged Creatures,” we’re guessing this ensemble drama led by Dakota Fanning, Kate Beckinsale and Forest Whitaker hasn’t since sneak previewing at the L.A. Film Festival a year ago. (Here’s what we had to say about it then.)

"Hot Blood Sundae" - Blending two favorite video store genres of sex comedies and horror, this “remix” of the 1997 slasher film “Ice Scream” centers on a struggling ice cream shop owner who changes his store into an “adult ice cream store” and finds success until someone discovers an eyeball in their butterscotch chip.

"Labor Pains" - Ordinarily we wouldn’t include something that premiered on basic cable (especially on ABC Family) in this preview, but we’ll make an exception for Lindsay Lohan’s labor of love, which is actually the directorial debut of longtime indie stalwart Lara Shapiro (1998’s “Second Skin”), about a publishing house employee who fakes a pregnancy to survive potential unemployment. Cheryl Hines and Janeane Garafalo co-star.

"McCartney’s Genes" - A rock musician (Hamilton von Watts) goes after his big break, but learns he’s a bust in the bedroom when it comes to conceiving a child in this 2008 Austin-set comedy from writer/director Jason S. Dennis. (Ron Livingston fans can catch a glimpse of the “Office Space” star in the trailer.)

"Nature’s Grave" - “Urban Legend” director Jamie Blanks takes to the wild with Jim Caviezel in tow in this thriller about a married couple on the trail for an outdoor adventure only to find mother nature conspiring against them.

"Shadowheart" - Justin Ament stars in this western as a gunslinger who returns to Legend, New Mexico to hunt down the man who killed his father (Angus Macfadyen).

"Rock 'n' Roll Frankenstein" - Judging from user comments on IMDb, Brian O’Hara’s 1999 schlocky horror comedy that traveled the European fantasy fest circuit isn’t exactly a masterpiece, but if one wanted to see a film about what would happen if a music agent constructed a rock star from the dead bits of Liberace and others, this is it.

"Slices" - Horror helmers Lenny Lenox, Neil McCurry, Lance Polland, Steven Richards, Vito Trabucco put together this indie anthology fright film.

"Strip Club King: The Story of Joe Redner" - Director Shelby McIntyre profiles Tampa-based “father of the lap dance” Redner, whose exploits have earned him over 140 arrests on his record and a longstanding battle with the Tampa City Council over his strip club, the Mons Venus.

Other indies that played theaters, but you might've missed: “Harvard Beats Yale 29-29,” "Mutant Chronicles," the road trip comedy “Last Stop for Paul,” "Mysteries of Pittsburgh," Carlos Sorin’s “The Window”

Oldies but goodies resurfacing or appearing for the first time on DVD: Icons of Screwball Comedy: Vol. 1 (including 1935’s “If You Could Only Cook,” 1940’s “Too Many Husbands,” 1942’s “My Sister Eileen,” 1945’s “She Wouldn't Say Yes”) and Vol. 2 (including 1936’s “Theodora Goes Wild,” 1944’s “Together Again,” 1940’s “The Doctor Takes a Wife,” and 1943’s “A Night to Remember”)

New to Blu-ray: "Big Trouble in Little China," “Half-Baked,” “My Cousin Vinny,” “Obsessed,” "Sling Blade," "The Soloist," "The Waterboy"

"The Tiger’s Tail" - In spite of mixed response on the festival circuit, John Boorman’s 2006 drama will surely grab attention on DVD with a cast including Brendan Gleeson, Kim Cattrall and Ciarán Hinds, with Gleeson playing a successful real estate developer in Ireland who finds himself in over his head and then begins to see a clone of himself, though others begin to question his sanity.

"Almost Heaven" - Donal Logue stars in this 2006 romantic comedy as an alcoholic Canadian television director who's hired to fix a fishing show in Scotland, only to be reunited with his ex-wife, who’s the show’s host, as he begins to fall for one of the fishing guides (Kirsty Mitchell).

"Après Lui" - Co-written by “Love Songs” director Christophe Honoré, this 2007 Catherine Deneuve drama from director Gaël Morel centers around a woman whose son dies in a car accident, leading her to fixate on his best friend who was driving the car.

"Born in ‘68" - “Cote d'Azur” director Olivier Ducastel co-directs this epic drama following four decades in the lives of three students who become embroiled in a love triangle amidst the upheaval of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s in France. Supermodel Laetitia Casta plays the object of desire to classmates Yannick Renier and Yann Trégouët.

"The Bounty" - “Last Action Hero” child star Austin O’Brien resurfaces in this Western from first-time writer/director Jared Isham that revolves around a debtor who teams with a female outlaw to escape a town where everyone wants them dead.

"Cowboy Killer" - Speaking of dead cowboys, Jason Baustin’s modern horror comedy follows a drifter whose tenuous grip on sanity loosens as he travels the countryside and ends up terrorizing the citizens of a small town.

"Dark Rising" - Only time will tell if the distributor’s boasts that this sci-fi comedy is “tailor-made for cult status” will come true, but this six-time Canadian Comedy Award nominee tells the story of a camping trip gone horribly awry with demons and time portals ruining the marshmallow roast.

"Dead by Dawn 2: The Return" - Consider yourself forgiven if you never saw the first of Nigel Hartwell’s “Dead by Dawn” films, but if you envision “Cabin Fever” in Canada, and multiply the gore times two, you’ve got a good idea of the sequel.

"Ezra: Fear of a Faceless God" - The lovely tale of man reconnecting to his father’s past by retracing his steps right down into his dad’s secret lair, “Ezra” is rated R for “extreme violence, torture and gore.”

"Fissure" - Recently screened at AFI Dallas, Russ Pond’s detective story has a sleuth (James McDonald) who arrives at a house with a fractured family and a general eerieness that leads him to question his own sanity.

"The GoodTimesKid" - Benten Films picks up the release of “Momma’s Man” director Azazel Jacobs’ sophomore film, a festival fave comedy about an aimless twentysomething named Rodolfo enlisting in the military, leaving his girlfriend in the care of another man named Rodolfo.

"I Do…I Did" - Co-written and co-starring “Punky Brewster” and “Family Matters” actress Cherie Johnson, this comedy concerns a man who marries one woman while he’s still married to another and his not-quite-ex wants him back.

"Invisible" - A 2005 drama that played the Cannes Film Festival, this Thierry Jousse-directed film stars Laurent Lucas as a musician who engages in a one-night stand with a woman and subsequently disappears, leaving him to search for her.

"Lackeen Pavee: Traveller Girl" - An Irish drama that made the festival rounds in 2005, Perry Ogden’s directorial debut stars Winnie Maughan as a young girl forced to keep up her family’s spirits when her father leaves her mother and her nine siblings to fend for themselves in a community of travellers.

"The Limb Salesman" - Although a great title for a horror film, this moniker instead belongs to Anais Granofsky’s 2004 sci-fi drama about a doctor recruited by a wealthy family in northern Canada to repair their handicapped daughter, though things get complicated when he begins to fall for her.

"Lonely Street" - Jay Mohr and his real-life bride Nikki Cox in star this comic mystery about a gumshoe (Mohr) who is hired to keep a reporter from harassing a mysterious client, only to have the reporter wind up dead and the detective looking like the main culprit.

"No Matter What" - Zhou Li stars as a country girl who moves to the big city and dreams of becoming a pop singer, but as she attains greater success, she starts to let it go to her head.

"River Ways" - A frequent presence at environmental film festivals, Colin Stryker’s doc looks at the Snake River dams in the Pacific Northwest, which have become a flashpoint for local protests because of their impact on the indigenous salmon that many in the area want to protect.

"The Samurai That I Loved" - Mitsuo Kurotsuchi’s 2005 drama, based on a novel by the author of Yoji Yamada’s award-winning “The Twilight Samurai” and “The Hidden Blade,” centers on a samurai who has given up the sword until he hears that the woman he once loved is targeted in a murder plot at the hands of her husband, a clan lord.

"Smile Pretty" - Capitalizing on the impending release of Rob Zombie’s “Halloween II,” Maverick is releasing this teen drama with the remake’s Laurie Strode -- Scout Taylor-Compton -- as she heads to high school and attempts to overcome the horrors of a traumatic childhood.

"Suitable for Murder" - Fred P. Watkins directs this thriller about a cop (Jackson Bostwick) who teams up with the police force’s computer expert (Ali Faulkner) to track a duo of serial killers stalking Internet chat rooms.

"Veritas: Prince of Truth" - A fantasy film that premiered at AFI Dallas in 2007, “Where the Heart Is” author Billie Letts co-wrote the script about a 14-year-old (Bret Loehr) whose favorite superhero Veritas (Sean Patrick Flannery) comes to life when his comic book seems doomed to be discontinued and needs help to save his home planet.

"Who Nose?" - We don’t know how many will be lured by the tagline “Another film by the author and associate producer of the hit movie ‘Doc Hollywood,’” but Neil Shulman’s latest comedy about a middle-aged filmmaker who finds love with a young theater student did earn his co-director Zoe Haugo a nomination for Most Promising First Time Director at the Rome International Film Festival (the Georgia one).

"Wild Man of the Navidad" - Our own Alison Willmore was a fan of this low-budget “oddball Texas-gothic” horror film when it premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2008. “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” writer/producer Kim Henkel produced this flick about an unknown creature terrorizing the locals of a small town.

Other indies that played theaters, but you might've missed: "Alien Trespass," Laurent Cantet’s Palme D’or-winning “The Class,” Craig McMahon’s horror film “The Crypt,” the Paul Dano-Zooey Deschanel rom-com "Gigantic," Andrezj Wadja’s “Katyń,” the acclaimed Brit drama “London to Brighton,” Joe Swanberg and Greta Gerwig’s “Nights and Weekends,” “Paris 36,” “Sabor Tropical,” Amos Gitai’s “One Day You’ll Understand” (which our own Michael Atkinson recently reviewed here).

Oldies but goodies resurfacing or appearing for the first time on DVD: “The Rudolph Valentino Collection” (a three-disc set including 1918’s “The Married Virgin,” 1921’s “The Sheik,” 1922’s “Blood and Sand,” 1925’s “Cobra,” 1925’s “The Eagle,” 1978’s Shaw Brothers’ kung fu flick “King Eagle,” Seijun Suzuki’s 1977 stalker story “A Tale of Sorrow.” And there’s plenty of sexploitation titles: Secret Key is releasing “Grindhouse Girls of the ‘70s” (with four rarely seen flicks with titles too suggestive to name here) and Joe Sarno’s uncut 1968 erotic cult classic “All the Sins of Sodom,” and Shriek Show is putting out “Wicked Women” (A triple feature of “Nightmares Come At Night,” “Werewolf Woman” and “Flesh of the Beast”)

New to Blu-ray: "About Last Night…," "Blue Thunder," "Cutthroat Island," "Gozu," "I Love You, Man," Roman Polanski’s “The Ninth Gate,” “St. Elmo’s Fire,” “Starman”

"The Wedding Bros." - Retitled from “The Marconi Bros.,” Dan Fogler and Brendan Sexton III play the titular siblings who get out of their family’s carpet store business to become wedding videographers, a story based on co-writers/co-directors Michael Canzoniero and Marco Ricci’s previous experience in the same field.

"The Bridge to Nowhere" - Somehow we wouldn’t have pegged Blair Underwood to make his feature directorial debut on the dramatic version of the upcoming Matthew Lillard comedy “Pool Boys,” but here it is, a Pittsburgh-set story about a crew of blue collar guys including Ving Rhames, Danny Masterson and Thomas Ian Nicholas who team up with a lady of the night for their own prostitution business.

"The City is Mine" - Patrick Pierre’s directorial debut centers on a recently released con who hopes to restore order to the streets as his former foes wage a gang war without him.

"Death Note: L, Change the World" - “Ringu” director Hideo Nakata helms this spinoff to the successful J-horror series, which focuses on detective L (Kenichi Matsuyama) as he investigates his final case of a group of scientists with the ability to hasten the spread of a deadly virus.

"If I Die Tonight" - A documentary initiated by the wrongful police shooting of Amadou Diallo, the film looks at both sides of police brutality, with interviews from both the victims of it and the spouses of slain officers.

"Kissing Cousins" - A selection of the Boston and Mumbai Film Festivals, Amyn Kaderali’s comedy centers on a man (Gerry Bedknob) with a unique profession -- relationship termination specialist -- who finds that his job is getting in the way of his personal life, so he and his cousin pretend to be lovey-dovey to change people’s perception of him. Zack Ward and Jaleel White co-star.

"The Last Resort" - A bachelorette party in Mexico goes horribly awry when one of the bridesmaids disappears with a fellow American tourist in Brandon Nutt’s horror film.

"Sex Pot" - Writer/director Eric Forsberg mixes two popular direct-to-video genres with a comedy about two stoners who discover a strand of marijuana that’s something of an aphrodisiac -- leading one to believe that the filmmakers may have come up with the title first and worked backwards.

"Siren" - Yukihiko Tsutsumi’s 2006 horror film about a family that moves to mysterious island with its own set of rules finally comes stateside, courtesy of ADV Films.

"Stuntmen" - Eric Amadio’s sophomore feature stars plenty of familiar faces (Marc Blucas, Dominique Swain, Carly Pope, Brandon Routh, Zachary Levi) in a comedy about the rivalry between two movie stuntmen who take their bitterness to the press.

Other indies that played theaters, but you might've missed: “Absurdistan,” the docudrama “Albert Schweitzer: Called to Africa,” the doc “Angry Monk,” the Persian film “Fish Fall in Love,” "The Garden," "The Golden Boys," the Tilda Swinton drama “Julia,” the 2006 Andy Dick comedy “Love Hollywood Style,” Lori Petty’s directorial debut “The Poker House,” Jennifer Lynch’s “Surveillance,” James Toback’s doc “Tyson”

Oldies but goodies resurfacing or appearing for the first time on DVD: John Cassavetes’ “Husbands,” Jean-Jacques Beineix’s “IP5: The Island of Pachyderms,” Disney’s live-action/animated musical “Pete’s Dragon,” the cult classic sex comedy “Spring Break” from “Friday the 13th” mastermind Sean Cunningham

New to Blu-ray: "Go," "The Last House on the Left" remake, "The Last Starfighter: 25th Anniversary Edition," "Kagemusha" (Criterion), "Playtime" (Criterion)

"American Son" - Perhaps a victim of the unlucky streak of Iraq war-related dramas at the box office, this Sundance 2008 alum stars Nick Cannon as a Marine who finds his home is as much of a battlefield as where he just came from. Melonie Diaz, Matt O’Leary and Jay Hernandez co-star.

"Asian Queer Shorts" - Frameline curates this collection of shorts that includes Lucky Kuswandi’s “Still” (2005), Mark Reyes’ “Last Full Show” (2005), Kevin Choi’s “Dissolution of Bodies” (2007), Hyun-Jin Park’s “A Crimson Mark” (2004), and Raymond Yeung’s “Yellow Fever” (1998).

"Babes in the Woods" - Fans of campy 1960s cinema will appreciate Achem A. Krovek’s faux-educational film from 1962 that showcases three buxom women as they prance around gas stations and water fountains.

"Behind the Wall" - In this horror film, Lindy Booth stars as a young woman whose father was convicted for the murder of her mother when she was a child and now must return to the lighthouse where it occurred to confront a deep dark secret.

"Black Diva" - Chelsa Brown plays a woman scorned in this thriller about a married couple living the high life in New York until the husband strays and Brown’s Angelique plots out the perfect way to exact revenge.

"Boot Camp" - Just as Mila Kunis’ career is hitting second gear with films like “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Extract,” MGM is dusting off this 2007 thriller from “Extreme Ops” director Christian Duguay about a Fiji retreat where teens undergo therapy for their problems but are actually getting brainwashed. “Everwood”’s Gregory Smith and Peter Stormare co-star.

"The Brass Ring" - Similar to “American Movie,” William Schotten documents the filming of his ultra low-budget Super 8 zombie film that he shot with friends during the summer of 2002 in rural Ohio.

"Burning the Future: Coal in America" - Documentarian David Novack takes to the hills of West Virginia to explore the coal industry’s effect on the locals who have seen their water polluted and their mountains irreparably damaged by mining.

"Fast Lane" - Now that the “Fast & Furious” boys have had their fun, writer/director David Betances’ thriller stars Melina Lizette as an undercover cop who infiltrates an all-girl car theft crew and loses herself in the love of fast cars.

"Frayed" - Norbert Caoili and Rob Portmann direct this horror flick about a sheriff whose son brutally killed his mother and has escaped from the psychiatric ward where he was being held, forcing the sheriff to face off with his own blood.

"Google Me" - Jim Killeen’s doc stars six other Jim Killeens, as the filmmaker crisscrosses the world to meet his fellow namesakes after Googling himself.

"Gradiva" - The late “Last Year at Marienbad” writer Alain Robbe-Grillet directs an adaptation of Wilhelm Jensen’s novel for his final film, a drama about a historian (James Willby) who becomes entranced with a woman he sees in the sketch books of the painter Delacroix that leads him into a world of S & M and an affair with a housekeeper (Dany Verissimo).

"Green Street Hooligans 2: Stand Your Ground" - Following in the footsteps of the first “Hooligans” director, martial artist Lexi Alexander, stuntman Jesse V. Johnson takes the directorial reins of the sequel, which doesn’t feature either Elijah Wood or Charlie Hunnam, but returns to England to find the West Ham football firm trying to survive in prison.

"Invisible Girlfriend" - Filed under the “creative nonfiction” genre, “Kamp Katrina” co-directors David Redmon and Ashley Sabin track the adventures of Charles, a man who travels through Louisiana in search of Joan of Arc.

"Love and Debate" - “Jeepers Creepers”’ Gina Philips stars as an able high school debater who is rising up the ranks until an ex shows up to ruin her plans in this 2006 coming-of-age dramedy from writer/director Jessica Kavana. Sean Astin, Adam Rodriguez, Bryan Greenberg and Rachel Miner co-star.

"Making Something Up" - Paul Kinney wrote, directed and stars in this 2001 comedy about an “anal retentive children’s book writer” who falls for a single mother (Rachel Songer) while he’s engaged to his editor (Elisabeth Nunziato).

"My Sweet Killer" - Justin Dossetti’s 1999 psychological horror film about a recently released prison inmate who takes up residence in an apartment vacated by a dead woman that haunts his thoughts. Clifton Collins Jr. co-stars.

"The Sandwich Kid" - Following up her film “Normal People Scare Me: A Film About Autism,” Keri Bowers’ latest documentary concentrates on those siblings of disabled people.

"The Silence" - In this 2006 thriller, Richard Roxburgh stars as a cop who takes an assignment to curate an exhibition of photographs from crime scenes and winds up discovering an elusive connection in a series of murders.

"Sick Girl" - Eben McGarr wrote and directed this twisted comic horror film from 2007 that stars Leslie Andrews as a young girl whose parents are deceased and shows her tender side by caring for her younger brother while her older brother is away in Iraq and blows off steam by torturing people in her barn.

"Something is Killing Tate" - Leon Lozano’s drama focuses on a troubled 25-year-old man who survives an attempted suicide and the days that follow where each of his friends and family visit him and flashbacks reveal how they were implicit in his decision to take his own life.

"The Third" - Jan Hryniak’s 2004 thriller centers on Pawel and Ewa, a young couple who go on a vacation to save their marriage, but when work ultimately forces Pawel to return to shore, they encounter a stranger who offers to help them.

Other indies that played theaters, but you might've missed: Greg Mottola’s nostalgic ‘80s-set comedy "Adventureland," the Judah Friedlander comedy "Full Grown Men," Ramin Bahrani’s “Goodbye Solo,” “The Informers,” Christian Petzold’s “Jerichow,” a director’s cut of “Life is Hot in Cracktown,” “Rudo y Cursi,” the teen surfing drama “Newcastle,” the video game doc “Second Skin,” the horror film “Sick Girl,” “Sunshine Cleaning,” the award-winning Hurricane Katrina doc “Trouble the Water,” and the space doc “The Wonder of It All”

Oldies but goodies resurfacing or appearing for the first time on DVD: Criterion will release Whit Stillman’s long out-of-print “The Last Days of Disco” and Chantal Akerman’s “Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles,” as well as the Eclipse series “Nikkatsu Noir” (a series of ‘50s and ‘60s Japanese gangster flicks featuring Koreyoshi Kurahara’s “I Am Waiting,” Toshio Masuda’s “Rusty Knife,” Seijun Suzuki’s “Take Aim at the Police Van,” Takumi Furukawa’s “Cruel Gun Story,” and Takashi Nomura’s “A Colt is My Passport”); elsewhere, the 1952 Joel McCrea oater “San Francisco Story” and 1955’s Zachary Scott western “Treasure of Ruby Hills,” WellGo USA’s “Shaw Brothers Collection II” (kung fu classics including “Brothers Five,” Brave Archer and His Mate,” “Holy Flame of the Martial World,” and “Journey of the Doomed”), the ’83 sex comedy “Screwballs,” Lamberto Bava’s 1988 cult shocker “Dinner With a Vampire,” the 1980 Joe Dallesandro giallo “Vacation Massacre”; also, Facets is unveiling Ning Ying’s 1993 senior citizen comedy “For Fun,” Costa Ferris’ 1983 Greek historical drama “Rembetiko,” Jerome Prieur’s 2002 doc “The Forgotten Men of the Valley of Kings” and the WWII double feature “Battlelines: WWII in Europe,” with René Clément’s “La Battaille du Rail” and Geza Radvanyi’s “Somewhere in Europe.”

New to Blu-ray: "Billy Jack," "Children of the Corn," "Duplicity," "Fighting," Ralph Bakshi’s "Fire and Ice," “Sex, Lies and Videotape”

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