Red Sonja (DVD Widescreen) [DVD]

Tim Burton's remake of Planet of the Apes gets the deluxe treatment from 20th Century Fox on this release. The disc offers a widescreen anamorphic transfer that preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1. Closed-captioned English soundtracks are rendered in both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1, while a Spanish soundtrack has been recorded in Dolby Digital Surround. English subtitles are accessible. Supplemental materials include a pair of audio commentaries (one by director Burton and a second by composer Danny Elfman), a half-dozen documentaries, extended scenes, multi-angle capabilities for some scenes, trailers, television commercials, a still art gallery, and a music video. Those with a DVD-ROM drive can access a script-to-screen comparison. This is a superb disc.

In 1955, artist, author, and anthropologist Tobias Schneebaum fulfilled a life-long dream by visiting the jungles of Peru. Seven months later, the New York native returned with remarkable tales of living with a tribe of cannibals, watching their murderous raids on other tribes, and even eating human flesh with them. In 1999, Schneebaum returned to Peru at the age of 78 with a camera crew in tow in hopes of finding the cannibals he lived with many years before. While Schneebaum prepares for his journey, he lectures on the rituals and lifestyles of indigenous peoples, shares his views on homosexuality and open marriage among the natives of West Papua (in one sequence, Schneebaum, who is gay, is reunited with a tribesman who became his lover), and shows footage from his expedition with the Asmat people, who are believed to have attacked and eaten Michael Rockefeller in 1961. Keep the River on Your Right: A Modern Cannibal Tale was shown at the 2000 L.A. Independent Film Festival.

Image Entertainment's DVD of Cannibal Apocalypse delivers a lovingly assembled and unexpectedly generous package for fans of this obscure cult favorite. The film's anamorphic letterboxed transfer is a stunner: the rich colors and vivid picture quality make this remastered print nothing short of dazzling. Simply put, Cannibal Apocalypse's image quality is light years ahead of previous official and bootleg editions of this title and it probably hasn't looked this good since its theatrical run. The audio is limited to Dolby mono, but delivers an amazingly sharp and punchy soundtrack despite this limitation. This DVD also offers a veritable bonanza of extras for the film's fans, including a poster and still gallery, two trailers, two text essays, and the film's alternate U.S. title sequence (for the alternate title Invasion of the Flesh Hunters). There are also two documentaries; "Apocalypse in the Streets" is a throwaway quickie tour of the film's Atlanta locations that is marred by a goofball "host," but "Cannibal Apocalypse Redux" is an impressive making-of documentary that offers an hour's worth of interviews with director Antonio Margheriti and stars John Saxon and Giovanni Lombardo Radice. All three participants in "Redux" are forthcoming with anecdotes about the film and offer up plenty of interesting insights into how Italy's exploitation film industry worked. All in all, Image's DVD of Cannibal Apocalypse is worthy of investigation for hardcore horror buffs and a must for the film's cult following.