On the Shelves: DVD Releases for July 24, 2012

Some of the DVD/Blu-Ray releases this week.

Star Trek: The Next Generation – Finally hitting Blu-Ray TODAY. I will forever be an Original Series guy, but there are so many really good episodes in all 7 seasons of The Next Gen. The first episode two parter Encounter at Farpoint is almost worth this set alone. Other really good episodes include Naked Now, Where No One Has Gone Before, Haven and Datalore. I also want to mention Hide and Q, however while the idea behind that episode is sound, the episode itself is disappointing.

Dracula vs Frankenstein – From 1971. This is Lon Chaney, Jr’s final horror film role. First and foremost, this movie is terrible. However, it’s also wildly entertaining in an spectacularly bad way.  Dracula and Frankenstein weren’t even originally in this movie, but the movie was coming along so poorly they added the two characters in at the last minute to try to help save the story.  It didn’t.

Mystery Men – I really enjoy this movie. Is it perfect? No. But there is so much to love and enjoy in this flawed movie. The cast is excellent, especially Greg Kinear as Capt Amazing and I just love seeing Hank Azaria, William Macy and Ben Stiller playing off each other.

Treasure Island – A brand new take on Treasure Island starring Elijah Wood, Eddie Izzard and Donald Sutherland.  Never heard of this.  It at least sounds interesting.

I Spit on Your Grave double feature – Contains the shocking original 1978 horror film plus the 2010 remake which I haven’t seen yet. You can get both for about $20 on Blu-Ray. Not a bad deal at all.