Vampires

Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Collector's Set (40 discs)

From its charming and angst-ridden first season to the darker, apocalyptic final one, Buffy the Vampire Slayer succeeds on many levels, and in a fresher and more authentic way than the shows that came before or after it. How lucky, then, that with the release of its boxed set of seasons 1-7, you can have the estimable pleasure of watching a near-decade of Buffy in any order you choose. (And we have some ideas about how that should be done.)

First: rest assured that there's no shame in coming to Buffy late, even if you initially turned your nose up at the winsome Sarah Michelle Gellar kicking the hell out of vampires (in Buffy-lingo, vamps), demons, and other evil-doers. Perhaps you did so because, well, it looked sort of science-fiction-like with all that monster latex. Start with season 3 and see that Buffy offers something for everyone, and the sooner you succumb to it, the quicker you'll appreciate how textured and riveting a drama it is.

Why season 3? Because it offers you a winning cast of characters who have fallen from innocence: their hearts have been broken, their egos trampled in typically vicious high-school style, and as a result, they've begun to realize how fallible they are. As much as they try, there are always more monsters, or a bigger evil. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the core crew remains something of a unit--there's the smart girl, Willow (Alyson Hannigan) who dreams of saving the day by downloading the plans to City Hall's sewer tunnels and mapping a route to safety. There are the ne'r do wells--the vampire Spike (James Marsters), who both clashes with and aspires to love Buffy; the tortured and torturing Angel (David Boreanz); the pretty, popular girl with an empty heart (Charisma Carpenter); and the teenage everyman, Xander (Nicholas Brendon).

Then there's Buffy herself, who in the course of seven seasons morphs from a sarcastic teenager in a minidress to a heroine whose tragic flaw is an abiding desire to be a "normal" girl. On a lesser note, with the boxed set you can watch the fashion transformation of Buffy from mall rat to Prada-wearing, kickboxing diva with enviable highlights. (There was the unfortunate bob of season 2, but it's a forgivable lapse.) At least the storyline merits the transformations: every time Buffy has to end a relationship she cuts her hair, shedding both the pain and her vulnerability.

In addition to the well-wrought teenage emotional landscape, Buffy deftly takes on more universal themes--power, politics, death, morality--as the series matures in seasons 4-6. And apart from a few missteps that haven't aged particularly well ("I Robot" in season 1 comes to mind), most episodes feel as harrowing and as richly drawn as they did at first viewing. That's about as much as you can ask for any form of entertainment: that it offer an escape from the viewer's workaday world and entry into one in which the heroine (ideally one with leather pants) overcomes demons far more troubling than one's own. --Megan Halverson

*Seasons 1-7 on each disc

Bonus Disc: **Introduction by Joss Whedon **Back to the Hellmouth: A Conversation with Creators and Cast **Breaking Barriers: It's Not a Chick Fight Thing **Love Bites: Relationships in the Buffyverse **Evil Fiends **Buffy: An Unlikely Role Model **Buffy Cast and Crew: Favorite Episodes

Interview with the Vampire

When it was announced that Tom Cruise would play the vampire Lestat in this adaptation of Anne Rice's bestselling novel, even Rice chimed in with a highly publicized objection. The author wisely and justifiably recanted her negative opinion when she saw Cruise's excellent performance, which perceptively addresses the pain and chronic melancholy that plagues anyone cursed with immortal bloodlust. Brad Pitt and Kirsten Dunst are equally good at maintaining the dark and brooding tone of Rice's novel. And in this rare mainstream project for a major studio, director Neil Jordan compensates for a lumbering plot by honoring the literate, Romantic qualities of Rice's screenplay. Considered a disappointment while being embraced by Rice's loyal followers, the movie is too slow to be a satisfying thriller, but it is definitely one of the most lavish, intelligent horror films ever made. --Jeff Shannon

The Lost Boys

This 1987 thriller was a predictable hit with the teen audience it worked overtime to attract. Like most of director Joel Schumacher's films, it's conspicuously designed to push the right marketing and demographic buttons, and granted, there's some pretty cool stuff going on here and there. Take Kiefer Sutherland, for instance. In Stand by Me he played a memorable bully, but here he goes one step further as a memorable bully vampire who leads a tribe of teenage vampires on their nocturnal spree of bloodsucking havoc. Jason Patric plays the new guy in town, who quickly attracts a lovely girlfriend (Jami Gertz), only to find that she might be recruiting him into the vampire fold. The movie gets sillier as it goes along, and resorts to a routine action-movie showdown, but it's a visual knockout (featuring great cinematography by Michael Chapman) and boasts a cast that's eminently able (pardon the pun) to sink their teeth into the best parts of an uneven screenplay. --Jeff Shannon

Strange events threaten an entire family when two brothers move with their divorced mother to a California town where the local teenage gang turns out to be a pack of vampires.

DVD Features:
Production Notes
Theatrical Trailer

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Complete Sixth Season (Slim Set)

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Dark Shadows: The Beginnings Collection 4

With its alluring tales of Gothic mystery and supernatural intrigue DARK SHADOWS (1966-71 ABC-TV) became one of the most popular daytime series of all time. The character of Barnabas Collins a guilt-ridden 175-year-old vampire brought the show tremendous success. Now for the first time on DVD MPI presents the spooky series rare early episodes before Barnabas.When Victoria Winters searches the Old House for David Collins she is abducted and held captive by Matthew Morgan the Collinses fugitive caretaker who is hiding following the death of family friend Bill Malloy. A massive search is held to find Victoria. An angry and jealous Joe Haskell fights with Burke Devlin after he catches Carolyn Stoddard his girlfriend with Burke in his room at the Collinsport Inn. A mysterious woman visits the diner and asks waitress Maggie Evans about the Collins family.The ghost of Josette Collins appears to Matthew and attempts to protect Victoria. Sam Evans reveals to a stunned Roger Collins that Roger s estranged wife Laura has returned. Sam begins to paint a bizarre portrait of a woman surrounded by flames which he cannot explain. Burke hopes to get Laura to clear him of the manslaugter charge that sent him to prison. Laura tells her son David the story of the immortal creature known as a Phoenix and he has a terrifying nightmare about his mother.A Dan Curtis ProductionSTARRING:Joan Bennett Louis EdmondsNancy Barrett Mitchell RyanKathryn Leigh Scott David HenesyJoel Crothers David FordThayer David Frank SchofieldDana Elcar Conard FowkesClarice Blackburn Diana MillayHugh Franklin John Connelland Alexandra MoltkeINCLUDES:Episodes 106-143November 21 1966 - January 11 1967BONUSES:New interviews with actressDiana Millay (Laura Collins)writer Malcolm Marmorstein andproducer Robert Costello.System Requirements:DVD7804 B/W & Color Approx. 13 1/2 hours NR Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY/FANTASY UPC: 030306780498 Manufacturer No: DVD7804

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Complete Seventh Season (Slim Set)

As Buffy acompanies Dawn on her first date at the new Sunnydale High, Giles continues Willow's magic education in England. But while Buffy is surprised to be offered a guidance counselor job, Willow is shocked to experience a horrific future vision of the Hellmouth.

Willow returns to Sunnydale and Giles soon follows with word that the Watcher's Council has been destroyed. Determined to make one last stand, Buffy and her allies gather for the upcoming battle, yet nothing can prepare them for The First and his robed Bringers, who are killing all the Potential Slayers- and anyone else who gets in their way.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Complete Fifth Season (Slim Set)

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Complete Third Season (Slim Set)

The third season of Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer was marked by the arrival in Sunnydale of renegade slayer Faith (Eliza Dushku), a moody loner who seemed to like her demon-staking calling just a little too much. While Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) was always wary of Faith, the two developed a deep friendship and appreciative rapport--that is, until the evil mayor of Sunnydale (Harry Groener) tapped into Faith's dark side and lured her into his plot to take over the world, first as a double agent spying on Buffy, then as out-and-out nemesis. And as the mayor's ascension approached--which happened to fall on Sunnydale High's graduation day--Buffy and Faith's battles got nastier and nastier, as Buffy attempted to wrestle with her dark side (literally and figuratively), save the world and her friends, and keep her lover Angel (David Boreanaz) out of Faith's evil clutches.

Chock-full of exceptional episodes, this third season started out with a bang (the superb season opener "Anne," in which a runaway Buffy finally returns to her Slayer calling) and never let up. Among other highlights, the season introduced former vengeance demon and soon-to-be regular Anya (Emma Caulfield), fleshed out Angel's tortured character (and readied him for his own series), and featured a hilarious doppelganger Willow (Alyson Hannigan), a vampire from a parallel universe, who in Willow's own words was "evil and... skanky... and kinda gay!" (Total foreshadowing there, folks.) The season's pièce de résistance, though, was the two-parter "Graduation Day," wherein Faith tries to kill Angel, and the students of Sunnydale High prepare to do battle with a mutated mayor and his army of demons. Aside from the series' exceptional writing and acting, this compelling year of Buffy was anchored by the consistently excellent Gellar, as well as Dushku's complicated Faith, a girl you truly love to hate. By the time you finish these episodes, Faith will have cast a spell on you that you'll find very hard to shake. --Mark Englehart

All 22 classic episodes are available for the first time in this exclusive 6-disc collectorÂ's edition. From Â"Faith, Hope & Trick,Â" Â"Band CandyÂ" and Â"Bad GirlsÂ" to Â"Consequences,Â" Â"EnemiesÂ" and Â"Graduation Day, Part Two,Â" these Season Three episodes are a must for every true Buffy fan.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Complete Fourth Season (Slim Set)

Buffy begins college feeling completely overwhelmed. But once the monsters show up, its just like old times. Then she starts dating Riley, a handsome commando battling the same monsters. He's a part of a secret organization called The Initiative and Buffy is all too happy to join the team. But she soon suspects The Initiative maybe more dangerous than the monsters they are supposed to be battling...

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Complete Second Season (Slim Set)

At the heart of the first years of Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer was the romance between Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar), slayer of all things evil, and hunky Angel (David Boreanaz), the tortured vampire destined to walk the earth with a soul. The second season of Buffy took the Buffy-Angel pas de deux from ecstasy to agony in a now-classic plot arc that catapulted the show from WB teen drama to true TV greatness. You see, if the cursed Angel ever experiences true happiness for a moment, he'll revert to being an evil vampire again. And guess what happens after Buffy and Angel finally declare their love for one another and consummate their relationship...

Buffy found its true momentum during the second season, as geeky Xander (Nicholas Brendon) fell in love with popular girl Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter), Willow (Alyson Hannigan) gave up her crush on Xander in favor of werewolf boy Oz (Seth Green), and watcher Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) began a sweetly tentative relationship with computer teacher (and witch) Jenny Calendar (Robia LaMorte). Mayhem came to Sunnydale, though, in the form of evil vampires Drusilla (Juliet Landau) and Spike (drolly wicked James Marsters), who were more than ready to aid and abet Angel as he turned bad. It all sounds like horror-action mayhem (and there are great fight scenes), but Buffy took on its plotlines with amazing depth, intelligence, and humor. And oh, man, the love story! Buffy and Angel's tragic relationship is one of the most heartbreaking you'll ever find. Buffy's final dilemma finds her having to save the world at Angel's expense, and Gellar (who deserves a passel of Emmys for her work) is phenomenal at telegraphing Buffy's swirling conflicts between love and duty. This is some of the best TV ever made, period. --Mark Englehart

THE CHOSEN ONE HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN... Now you can own the entire second season of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. All 22 classic episodes are available for the first time in this exclusive 6-disc collector's edition. From "When She Was Bad," "Surprise" and "Innocence," to "Passion" and "Becoming, Part One" and "Becoming, Part Two," these Season Two episodes are a must for every true Buffy fan.