William Malone's remake of William Castle's classic spook story House on Haunted Hill scored high marks for special effects and humor but is basically inferior to the original. Malone's version does, however, get the benefit of this superb DVD repackaging, which does much to compensate for the movie's frailties. An excellent anamorphic widescreen transfer of the film gives it a crisp, balanced look, with no visible flaws or defects. The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track has clearly been mixed to prioritize the sound effects rather than the dialogue, ensuring that all the eerie creaks and clanks are rendered with maximum impact. The disc comes with an excellent array of additional features, including the original theatrical trailers for both Malone's and Castle's films. The 20-minute "Tale of Two Houses" featurette analyzes the two versions in some depth and is thoroughly absorbing, even if it leaves the viewer surer than ever that Castle's original is the better of the two. Six behind-the-scenes mini-documentaries explain many of the undeniably impressive special effects used in the film, and among the DVD-ROM features is a silly but mildly entertaining game called "Escape from the House." Director Malone introduces the deleted footage from the movie, including a strangely low-key but amusing epilogue, and explains the reasons for the deletions. He also provides a commentary track, and his observations are generally very interesting and incisive. House on Haunted Hill may be only a moderately successful horror film, but judged on its own terms this is an outstanding disc.

Fred Walton's cult favorite horror film When a Stranger Calls comes to DVD with a pair of images. The widescreen anamorphic transfer preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1, and is preferable to the standard full-frame transfer. English and French soundtracks are rendered in Dolby Digital Mono. English, Spanish, and French subtitles are accessible. Supplemental materials include bonus trailers. While fans will be thrilled to finally have the film on DVD, this is a less than spectacular release from Columbia/TriStar.

Death and mayhem follow the kids of Elm Street like an overcast cloud in A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, the fifth entry in this popular horror series. New Line has done a good job on this 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. Also included on this disc is a pan-and-scan version of the film. This is a very nice-looking transfer with colors and black levels all looking well saturated and even. The only flaw that shows up in a few scenes is a small amount of grain or dirt. The audio is presented in a newly remixed 5.1 soundtrack (as well as the original 2.0 soundtrack). This new mix works great in the confines of the film, utilizing surround sounds on many scary occasions. All aspects of the dialogue, effects, and music are free of any excessive distortion or hiss. Also included on this disc are English captions. The only extra features available on this edition of A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child are some cast and crew bios, the original theatrical trailer, and some DVD-ROM content. While the video and audio portions of the disc are good, the box set of all seven films is recommended for true fans.

Joe Dante's charming but uneven kiddie sci-fi flick Explorers comes to DVD for the first time thanks to Paramount Home Video. Upon its initial theatrical release, the film included a few scenes that the director hadn't been able to trim before it hit the big screen, though he was later able to cut them out of the home-video versions in the States. This DVD reclaims those scenes and adds them into the package as additional material, but don't look for any Dante commentary here as well, nor any other extra features. Presentation is key with this disc, and it's admittedly a good one. Backed by a quality anamorphic 1.85:1 transfer and a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track, Explorers dishes out some fine home-theater love to those who can appreciate it. The lack of any other extras might disappoint some, but at least the film has been upgraded to the digital age and given a bit of respect in the process.