ON THE SHELF | New videos

Selected home-video movies hitting store shelves this week:
"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"
Box-office and Academy Awards champ for 2003, the conclusion to Peter Jackson's fantasy trilogy follows the DVD pattern of its predecessors with a nicely stocked two-disc set. Nearly two hours of background documentaries and featurettes offer wistful interviews with Jackson, his crew and virtually all principal cast members as they reminisce on the eight-year odyssey to adapt J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth saga. Stars Elijah Wood and Viggo Mortensen and others extol Jackson for his boundless energy and focus. "This job could be a burden just like the ring, but he chose for it not to be," says one of Jackson's co-writers, Philippa Boyens. "And he chose for it to be something that he carried lightly, with a lot of humor." Jackson recalls reading Tolkien's epic at age 18 and thinking, "This will make a great film. I can't wait till it comes out. I can't wait till somebody else makes it. I never dreamt it would be me doing it. Not in a million years." Stay tuned for the extended version, due out in a boxed set late this year. DVD set, $29.95. (New Line)
"Saving Private Ryan"
Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks' World War II masterpiece leads a wave of military-themed DVD releases for Memorial Day. Packaged in a simulated metal ammo case, the two-disc set is a big step up from the movie's earlier single-disc release. The set has eight featurettes loaded with on-set interviews by Spielberg, Hanks and other cast and crew, examining the actors' boot-camp training, the re-creation of Omaha Beach, Spielberg's long fascination with World War II and the dynamics of Hanks' man-of-mystery leader, Capt. Miller, and his platoon. "I always thought this movie should have been called 'Saving Capt. Miller,"' Spielberg says. "Because this really is about a man who's in search of his lost decency." The film and extras also are available in a four-disc package that adds two World War II documentaries with Spielberg as executive producer, "Price for Peace" and "Shooting War," the latter narrated by Hanks. Two-disc set, $26.99; four-disc set, $49.99. (DreamWorks)
"Underworld: Extended Cut"
Kate Beckinsale's vampires-vs.-werewolves smack-down comes back to life in an unrated variation offering added or re-edited footage, for a fright flick that runs 13 minutes longer than the theatrical version. Beckinsale, co-star Scott Speedman and director Len Wiseman collaborate on commentary, and the two-disc set has a 45-minute AMC cable-TV documentary on vampires and werewolves. There are also a few making-of featurettes and a 48-page "Underworld" comic book. DVD set, $34.95. (Columbia TriStar)
"Bubba Ho-Tep"
One for the instant cult-classic hall of fame. Bruce Campbell plays the geriatric Elvis Presley, alive and kicking in a shabby Texas retirement home, where he and a pal who thinks he's John F. Kennedy (Ossie Davis) take on an Egyptian mummy that's sucking the life out of the patients. The delightfully campy horror comedy has commentary by Campbell and director Don Coscarelli for the full movie and deleted scenes. The DVD also has a reading by Joe R. Lansdale, whose short story was the basis for the movie. DVD, $27.98. (MGM)