— by Carl Davis and Alex Biese "Return of the Living Dead 4: Necropolis" (2005) The resurrection of the zombie film, sparked by 2002's "28 Days Later," seemingly peaked last year with George Romero's "Land of the Dead." But a recent batch of straight-to-DVD titles, including "House of the Dead 2," "Day of the Dead 2: Contagion" and "Return of the Living Dead 4" suggests that the genre has life in it yet. While the original "RotLD" employed the mythology created by Romero in his seminal "Dead" series and added even more subversive humor and gore, the fourth installment relies less on tongue-in-cheek splatter and more on its young, good-looking cast. After Zeke (Elvin Dandel) is pronounced dead following a dirt-bike accident, his friend Julian (John Keefe) discovers that Zeke is, in fact, part of a plan — hatched by the evil Hydratech, Inc. — to reanimate corpses. "Hostel" Unrated Edition (2005) The first 45 minutes of director Eli Roth's "Hostel" is the tale of two drunken frat boys and their crazy sex odyssey through Europe, with some vague social commentary thrown in. Then Roth introduces the viewer to some of the most gruesome scenes of torture and violence an American director has ever committed to screen. Trading in the gore-and-gags sensibility that dominated his debut, 2002's "Cabin Fever," Roth embraces an unflinching violence more often found in Asian horror. (The director acknowledges this debt with a cameo from "Audition" director Takashi Miike.) Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has included the following extras: Commentary by Roth; editor George Folsey, Jr.; executive producers Quentin Tarantino, Boaz Yakin and Scott Spiegel; documentarian Gabriel Roth; and actors Eythor Gudjonsson and Barbara Nedeljakova "Hostel Dissected" featurette "Kill the Car!" multi-angle interactive feature "Breakfast On Pluto" (2005) In 2005, actor Cillian Murphy graduated from the "that guy" status he earned in 2002's "28 Days Later" to full-fledged leading man with three star turns in the same year. As The Scarecrow in "Batman Begins," he was somehow mightily creepy with just a burlap sack on his head. In "Red Eye" he made what might have been otherwise typical genre fare deeply unnerving. And in "Breakfast on Pluto," from director Neil Jordan ("The Crying Game," "Interview with a Vampire"), Murphy plays Patrick "Kitten" Braden, a transvestite cabaret performer who gets caught up in the operations of the IRA. Murphy's compatriots Liam Neeson and Stephen Rea co-star, as well as former Roxy Music frontman Bryan Ferry. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has included the following extras: Commentary by director Neil Jordan and Cillian Murphy "Behind the Scenes of 'Breakfast on Pluto' " featurette "The Complete Mr. Arkadin" Criterion Collection (1955) With his feature-film debut, 1941's "Citizen Kane," 25-year-old Orson Welles proved himself a masterful actor, writer and director. But for the rest of his career, Welles found nothing but difficulty and obstructions — studio interference, financing woes and his own erratic work ethic — bringing other projects to life the way he'd envisioned them. One of his most legendary "lost films" was 1955's "Mr. Arkadin," a tale of intrigue in which the filmmaker plays a reclusive billionaire who hires a small-time smuggler to investigate his past. Welles was kicked out of the editing room by the film's producers, so no definitive cut of the movie exists. That is about to change with the release of "The Complete Mr. Arkadin," a three-disc box set that includes three edits of the film, including the new "Comprehensive Version," which attempts to recreate Welles' original vision. The Criterion Collection has included the following extras in this three-disc box set: "Mr. Arkadin: The Corinth Version" "Confidential Report" "Mr. Arkadin: The Comprehensive Version" Audio commentary by scholars Jonathan Rosenbaum and James Naremore Interviews with Welles biographer Simon Callow, star Robert Arden, radio producer Harry Alan Towers, director Peter Bogdanovich, and film archivists Stephan Droessler and Claude Bertemes Three half-hour episodes of the radio program "The Lives of Harry Lime," upon which the film is based "On the Comprehensive Version," a new documentary featuring Droessler, Bertemes, and Bogdanovich Outtakes, rushes, and alternate scenes from the film Extensive stills gallery A 36-page booklet with essays on the film and its different versions "Mr. Arkadin," the novel published under Welles' name, with a new preface by Robert Polito "Thundercats" Season 2, Vol. 1 (1985) With shows like "Transformers," "He-Man" and "G.I. Joe" the 1980s were a golden age for manly, action-packed cartoons, and "Thundercats" was no exception. All of these shows, however, eventually became little more than vehicles to sell merchandise and gradually succumbed to their own greed. Still, "Thundercats" holds up better than one might expect, delivering a welcome one-two punch of nostalgia and escapism. The series follows the adventures of the heroic Lion-O and his colleagues as they begin a new life on Third Earth and battle against evil Mumm-Ra and his mutants. This first volume of the second season introduces three new Thundercats (Pumyra, Bengali and Lynxo) in the five-part "Thundercats, Ho!" story arc, which is followed by "Mumm-Ra Lives!," featuring the return of Mumm-Ra, as well as the appearance of new villains, the Lunataks. In addition to the first 34 episodes of "Thundercats: Season Two," Warner Home Video has included the following extras in this six-disc set: The Rembrandts' "Thundercats Theme Song" music video "The Music of Thundera" featurette "Bernie Hoffer: Live!" — The "Thundercats Theme Song" performed by its composer. "Kickboxer: A Collection" (1989-1994) ("Kickboxer," "Kickboxer 2: The Road Back," "Kickboxer 3: The Art of War," "Kickboxer 4: The Aggressor," "The Redemption: Kickboxer 5") After the success of Jean-Claude Van Damme's "Bloodsport" (1988), which gave American audiences their first taste of exotic, extreme fighting styles, it was only a matter of time before the "Muscles from Brussels" returned for another round of ass-kicking. "Kickboxer" allowed Van Damme to show off his gradually strengthening acting chops, as well as his extensive background in Muay Thai, and fared even better at the box office than its predecessor. In fact, the spectacle of Thai kickboxing did well enough to inspire four sequels — none of which featured Van Damme, but all of which are included in this fun, fierce, five-disc collection. Click here to see last week's "DVD Picks." If you're interested in any of these DVDs — or literally thousands of others — head to The MTV Movie Shop. Visit Movies on MTV.com for Hollywood news, interviews, trailers and more.
	Photos: Lionsgate Home Entertainment