THE TWELVE (or more) DVD's of Christmas

By Greg Walton

Holidays are a time for giving.  For sharing.  For taking a few days off

work and doing nothing more strenuous than lifting a forkful of mashed

potatoes...and maybe some pie, if you still have the energy.  It all adds

up to the perfect environment for DVD gift giving, which combines couch

sitting and periodic napping, only occasionally interrupted by surround

sound earth tremors.

 DVD's are a movie fanatic's dream gift.  Along with the finest quality

picture and sound now available, many releases are chock full of extras -

Making Of documentaries, director's commentary, deleted scenes, alternate

endings - so much stuff it could take weeks to get through just one disc.

Kinda makes you want to burn your VCR, doesn't it?  As a holiday gift guide

for DVD newbies, here's some of the more EXTRAvagant releases that should

show up under your tree.

For the action fan: JAMES BOND BOX SETS - Three different sets, 5 to 7

films in each, with anything and everything you wanted to know about 007.

>From early Connery classics like GOLDFINGER ("No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to

die!") to the Roger Moore camp of OCTOPUSSY, put in a disc and watch women

flee the room to wash dishes.

Or for more recent hits, check out Ridley Scott's GLADIATOR, crammed with

25 minutes of deleted scenes and a Learning Channel documentary, so you can

see just how much of the film is history and how much is Hollywood.

Concerning comedy: SPINAL TAP, one of the funniest movies ever made, now

has over 1 hour of extra footage, plus videos from the band (cross your

fingers for Big Bottoms), and commentary from the band in character.  This

DVD goes to 11!

There's the WOODY ALLEN COLLECTION, 8 films worth of whining,  incest, and

intermittent genius.  Or the special edition of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE

SHOW, with the added bonus of sing-along prompts  for all the joy of a

theatrical experience at home.  But no theater employees to clean up the

toilet paper and rice...bummer.

Horror fans rejoice!  DVD embraces even your twisted tastes.  There's the

classics like the UNIVERSAL MONSTER SET, featuring remastered monstrosities

like Dracula, Frankenstein and the Mummy with well-read historians adding

commentary on alternate tracks.  THE OMEN COLLECTION features all three

films and a fourth, THE AWAKENING, available only in this set (but it's so

bad, even the Devil disowned it).

And for X-FILES viewers still hoping to recapture some of the post-Mulder

magic, Season 2 in its entirety is available with special effect reels,

promos, behind-the-scenes antics, and much more.

 For the kids: THE FANTASIA ANTHOLOGY combines both films with a third

disc of unused animation and rare scenes.  Or Pixar's TOY STORY

double-feature, just brimming with how they do that  facts for aspiring CG

artists.

For the foreign film crowd: Anchor Bay's WERNER HERZOG COLLECTION

captures the best of the German director's rare gems like AGUIRRE: THE

WRATH OF GOD and NOSFERATU in stunning clarity.  And once lip smackingly

rare stuff like Dario Arento's DEEP RED and Lucio Fulci's THE BEYOND not

only see the light of day, but look better than the day they were released!    

But no one quite does DVD like directors James Cameron and David Fincher.

ALIENS, THE ABYSS, and TERMINATOR 2 are full of so much information, facts,

figures, and extended versions, it could require extending your holidays.

Fincher's  FIGHT CLUB is every bit as crude, rude and brilliant on DVD as

it was in the theaters, with outtakes, storyboards, publicity materials and

commentary from more people than a gift return line the day after Christmas.

And what's more, all of these bells and whistles cost only slightly more

than the old VHS copies you've got gathering dust on a shelf. For those who

are still testing the DVD waters, the pool is already full.  Jump in and

get

somebody something they don't have to rewind for once.