Turn-Ons and Turn-Offs in Current Home Entertainment Releases : ****Excellent ***Good **Fair *Poor : AUDIOCASSETTES

“The Body Politic” by Clive Barker. Simon & Schuster. Among horror-book aficionados Barker is generally considered the best nightmare-giver since Stephen King came along, and here’s a single-cassette audio version of one of the stories from his collection “The Inhuman Condition.” The tape’s sound (hyped on the package as “3-D”) is excellent, adding well-balanced sound effects and music to the fine reading by Kevin Conway. What doesn’t work, unfortunately, is the story itself; it’s utterly ludicrous. A pair of hands decide to remove themselves forcibly from the body they’re connected to, that of hapless protagonist Charlie George, and spawn a revolution that involves freeing other hands from “slavery” to “the body politic.” Of course, it’s never explained how these hands can become autonomous and stay that way. There’s some unintentional humor here, but there are better stories elsewhere. Information: (212) 698-7000. **