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Region 1 DVD Releases for April 10, 2007

This is what we call a slow week.

Bobby

This movie has about as many bad reviews as stars, which is to say, many. But for sheer actor connections alone, this film has a place of honor in the movie game. Not too many extras, but the “Eyewitness Accounts From the Ambassador Hotel” featurette sounds interesting.

Sleeping Dogs Lie

It’s about beastiality. Get it? Director Bob Goldthwaite (that’s Bobcat to you Police Academy fans) got mixed reviews for his tale of a woman who comes clean to her fiance about her experimental past. Extras include Bobcat commentary.

Payback: Straight Up - The Director’s Cut

Also known as the “non-sucky” version by those who’ve seen it. Turns out Brian Helgeland (you know, the guy who adapted L.A. Confidential) directed the original version and then Warner Bros. and Paramount pissed all over it in an attempt to make it more palatable to audiences. It wasn’t and now Helgeland has gone back and retouched whatever he could. Word is it’s a completely different movie with a more ambiguous ending. I actually kind of liked the original, so I’m sure to be impressed. Extras include Helgeland’s commentary and a conversation with author Donald E. Westlake, whose novel The Hunter was the basis for both this flick and 1968’s Point Blank.

Phantasm

Apparently this five-hundredth edition of the horror flick includes extras “never before seen in America.” Where they have been seen and which ones they are is anyone’s guess.

Shanghai Surprise: Special Edition

I know what you’re thinking. It’s about freakin’ time! Check out all these extras!

- Remastered 16:9 widescreen. Weren’t you tired of this film sucking in lousy old 4:3?

- Newly remastered audio so you can savor that rapier dialogue.

- “Fans Unite!: Commentary” featurette: I’m not sure what that means or who exactly is uniting, but awesome.

- “Lights, Camera, Shanghai!”: Not sure what that is either, but I’m liking their commitment to exclamation points in the featurette titles.

- “Madonna: 1986″: Sure to be an education.

- “I LOVE Shanghai Surprise!”: Again, no idea, but I like that they’re adding all caps now along with the exclamation points. How can I not love Shanghai Surprise when you shout at me that I do?

More here.