NEW DVDS The monsters are coming! Studios release DVDs

From B-movies to classic flicks, fans of the horror genre will find a variety.
By RANDY A. SALAS
MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL STAR TRIBUNE
It's monster-movie madness in this year's pre-Halloween onslaught of horror DVDs.
One forgotten treat is the 1958 sci-fi movie "I Married a Monster From Outer Space" (Paramount, $14.99). Despite the campy title and sensational tagline -- "The bride wore terror!" -- it's a sharp aliens-are-among-us thriller in the same vein as "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," which was released two years earlier.
The radiant Gloria Talbott carries the film as a newlywed wife whose husband (Tom Tryon) doesn't seem to be himself anymore. It could be those pesky aliens who have landed on the other side of town and are taking over the bodies of all the men. They have an aversion to liquor but not to Earth women.
The DVD sports a good-looking widescreen presentation of the black-and-white film but nothing else. Still, it's worth checking out when you're in the mood for a '50s B-movie that's better than most.
Going for the classics
For truly classic monster movies, few studios fared better than Universal. Although that's not evident in the new DVD release of its 2004 monster-hunter movie, the mundane "Van Helsing," Universal reminds us of its glory years with three more multidisc sets in its essential Legacy Collection ($29.98 each).
The most notable is the 1940 dread-inducing original "The Mummy," starring Boris Karloff. The set also contains the 1940-44 sequels "The Mummy's Hand," "The Mummy's Tomb," "The Mummy's Ghost" and "The Mummy's Curse." Inviting supplements include trailers, commentary and the dandy documentary "Mummy Dearest: A Horror Tradition Unearthed," by monster-movie expert David J. Skal.
Claude Rains is out of sight in 1933's "The Invisible Man."
Besides the 1940-44 sequels -- "The Invisible Man Returns," "The Invisible Woman," "Invisible Agent" and "The Invisible Man's Revenge" -- the set features an informative documentary and fine commentary by film historian Rudy Behlmer.
'Creature' features
Few monsters were as frighteningly memorable as the slit-eyed, gilled beast of "The Creature From the Black Lagoon." The 1954 film spawned only two sequels, 1955's "Revenge of the Creature" and 1956's "The Creature Walks Among Us," which are included here. But the set makes up for that with another great Skal-produced documentary and commentary for all of the movies by engaging film historian Tom Weaver and cast members.
Several years ago, I cited John Carpenter's 1982 take on "The Thing" as the best horror DVD in a top-10 Halloween roundup. That unsettling movie, about an Antarctic outpost being terrorized by a shape-shifting alien, looks even better in a re-released DVD (Universal, $19.98), which gives it a fantastic presentation that has been enhanced for widescreen TV sets.
The extras are largely the same, including the documentary "Terror Takes Shape" and freewheeling commentary by Carpenter and star Kurt Russell, which remain two of the finest features of their kind. Unfortunately, Ennio Morricone's unnerving musical score is no longer included as a hidden audio option heard apart from the movie, another sign that isolated scores on DVDs have become a thing of the past.
Carpenter contributes more inviting commentary, along with star Keith Gordon, in a new special edition of "Christine" (Columbia TriStar, $19.94), his 1983 adaptation of Stephen King's story about a revved-up mechanical monster, a 1958 Plymouth Fury. Other extras include deleted scenes and -making-of featurettes.
Horrors in nature
For frights of the nature-run-amok kind, there are a host of options. The 1977 film of H.G. Wells' "Empire of the Ants" is available on a double-bill with the -limp octopus scare-fest "Tentacles," one of many new drive-in double-feature DVDs available exclusively at Best Buy (MGM, $9.99 each).
Other mutations of Mother Nature include the invading insects of 1975's "Bug" (Paramount, $14.99), the crazy killer whale of 1977's "Orca" (Paramount, $14.99) and the raging reptiles of 1973's "Sssssss" (Universal, $14.98) and 1959's "The Alligator People" (Fox, $14.98). None has extras, save for the occasional trailer, but all have enhanced widescreen transfers.
Finally, there's the killer mutant baby of the 1973 cult classic "It's Alive" along with its 1978 and 1986 sequels, "It Lives Again" and "Island of the Alive," on a separate disc (Warner, $19.97 each).
Director Larry Cohen contributes pithy commentary, even dishing on esteemed composer Bernard Herrmann, who scored the first film.