A Week for Supernatural : THIS WEEK’S MOVIES

Julia Roberts is not only the hottest box-office attraction right now, she was also nominated for a best actress Academy Award on Wednesday. The timing couldn’t be better for the rental fate of “Flatliners,” one of the new releases at your local video store.

The RCA/Columbia tape (no list price, rated R) stars not only Roberts but also Kiefer Sutherland and Kevin Bacon in a supernatural thriller about medical students who explore life after death. The script doesn’t quite do the premise justice, but there are enough scares, special effects (and even some humor) to make sure this 1990 box-office hit has a 1991 video afterlife.

This weekend’s other top two new videocassettes also involve the supernatural and the scary.

After a rather slow start, “The Witches” (Warner, $92.95, PG) takes off delightfully. Yet another of the new Oscar nominees for best actress, Anjelica Huston (nominated for “The Grifters”), is marvelously malevolent as the Grand High Witch, who merely plans to turn the children of England into mice. Nicolas Roeg directed, Roald Dahl wrote the original story and Jim Henson provided such effects as Huston’s hilariously outrageous “mask-off” look.

“Darkman” (MCA/Universal, no list price, R) is a comic-book-based revenge tale, yet another variation on “The Phantom of the Opera.” Some striking visual effects and another grandiose score by today’s top movie composer, Danny Elfman, don’t outweigh the film’s silliness.

Also from 1990 theatrical runs: “The Take” (MCA/Universal, $79.95, R), a grubby-looking film with an even grubbier cops-and-drugs plot, and “Backstreet Dreams” (Vidmark, $89.95, R), a messy mixture of romance, sentiment and violence (and Brooke Shields).

Two older films, 1963’s “Gay Purr-ee” and 1983’s “Twice Upon a Time” (each $59.95 from Warner) are feature-length cartoons that share some characteristics: stylistic animation, perhaps too much sophistication for younger kids, and not quite enough humor for anyone. But each has its points, including the voice of Judy Garland (in the former) and a far-out plot involving a Cosmic Clock and much else (in the latter).

NEW VIDEO DISCS

From Image: A special edition of one of Jerry Lewis’ best comedies, “The Bellboy,” including trailer, stills and other added material (letterboxed, $39.95). “Cadillac Man” (not letterboxed, $39.95). And a double-feature, double-disc release of two semi-classic horror films, the 1960 British film “Circus of Horrors” and the 1972 Italian movie “Baron Blood” ($59.95).

From Pioneer: “Flatliners” (letterboxed, $34.95) and the classics “All the King’s Men,” “Cover Girl,” “One Night of Love” and “The More the Merrier” ($34.95 each).