More Beast Than Sexy to Cast, Crew

Not only did Ben Kingsley scare audiences with his raw-nerve performance as gangster Don Logan in “Sexy Beast,” he also frightened the cast and crew. So reports producer Jeremy Thomas on the film noir’s DVD (Fox, $30).

“Sexy Beast” stars Ray Winstone as a London gangster who has retired with his wife and another couple to a villa in Spain. Their quiet and happiness are disrupted suddenly and menacingly with the arrival of the human pit bull Logan, who bullies Winstone into doing one last job.

The DVD of the art-house hit includes a nice wide-screen transfer, a serviceable featurette about the making of the film and domestic and international trailers. The highlight is the audio commentary featuring Thomas and Kingsley, who is nominated for a supporting actor Oscar for his role, which one critic described as the “anti-Gandhi.”

The cast and crew were shooting “Sexy Beast” for two weeks in Spain before Kingsley arrived. Everyone had bonded during those two weeks, so when he arrived, he was--just as Logan in the film--the outsider. Plus, playing such a volatile and crass character kept everyone on edge, Thomas says.

If at first you don’t get the ending right, then try, try again. That’s exactly what director John Dahl did with his taut little suspense thriller, “Joy Ride,” which arrives this week on DVD (Fox, $30). The nifty digital edition features four alternate endings, including a 28-minute never-before-seen third act to the thriller about two brothers (Steve Zahn and Paul Walker) and their friend (Leelee Sobieski) who find themselves being pursued by a psychotic trucker.

Dahl did end up using a lot of the footage from the 28-minute sequence, but none of the discarded endings has the emotional and psychologically unnerving impact of the one in the final film.

The DVD also features the voice auditions for the film’s villain, including Eric Roberts and Ted Levine, who ended up getting the job. There’s also more deleted footage, a passable “making of” featurette and three audio commentaries, including one with Dahl, one with screenwriters Clay Traver and J.J. Abrams and another with Sobieski and Zahn.

“Say Anything,” the charming 1989 romantic comedy-drama about first love that marked Cameron Crowe’s directorial debut, arrives this week on DVD (Fox, $20). John Cusack gives one of his best performances as an optimistic high school oddball who falls in love with his class’ most beautiful and brainy student (Ione Skye). John Mahoney also stars as Skye’s overly protective father.

The DVD is packed with five alternate scenes, 10 deleted scenes, 13 extended scenes, an OK featurette and TV and theatrical trailers.

Crowe, Cusack and Skye, who had not been together in 12 years when they met last August to participate in the DVD, supply the terrific audio commentary. What makes it unusual is that the trio talk about the inception of the film for 20 minutes before it actually starts. Fox just runs stills over their perceptive discussion.

The Oscar-winning cat and mouse duo, Tom & Jerry, star in a new made-for-video adventure, “Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring” (Warners, $15 for VHS; $20 for DVD). Though it’s always fun to watch the pair in action, this adventure is filled with a lot of rough-and-tumble slapstick cartoon violence that some parents may not like. There also are two vintage Tom and Jerry cartoons, a “making of” featurette and two games.

Criterion has just released the beautifully restored edition of Federico Fellini’s first color film, 1965’s “Juliet of the Spirits” ($30). Featuring the evocative photography of cinematographer Gianni di Venanzo, “Juliet of the Spirits” stars Fellini’s wife, Giuletta Masina, as an unhappy woman who learns that her husband is cheating on her. When she can’t cope with the reality, she enters into a surreal voyage of the imagination and ends up finding herself.

Though the movie it isn’t as good as such Fellini films as “La Strada” and “8 1/2,” Masina--one of international cinema’s greatest, most subtle film stars--is always a joy to watch. The DVD includes the trailer and a recently restored documentary short featuring Fellini discussing the making of “Juliet.”

Also new on Criterion is the two-set DVD of Wong Kar-Wai’s 2000 romantic drama “In the Mood for Love”($40). Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung star in this sophisticated, atmospheric romance set in 1962 Hong Kong, playing married neighbors who discover their respective spouses are having an affair.

Beautifully shot, “In the Mood for Love” has won numerous awards, including best actor for Leung at the Cannes Film Festival two years ago.

The DVD includes a nice wide-screen transfer and a documentary on the making of the film, directed by Kar-Wai.

Anchor Bay is offering a special “Book of the Dead Limited Edition” of Sam Raimi’s 1983 gore-athon cult classic, “The Evil Dead” ($50). The collection comes in a book wrapped in fake human skin, which--at least in the case of the copy sent for review--smells like rotting flesh.

Made for peanuts in 1979, “Evil Dead” finds a group of friends going to an isolated cabin for a vacation. While there, they find a tape recorder filled with incantations relating to a book of the dead.

The incantations awaken evil forces and, one by one, the friends are possessed. Bruce Campbell, a school friend of Raimi’s, stars in this film that is filled with humor, thrills and surprisingly sophisticated visuals.

This special digital edition includes commentary by Raimi and producer Robert G. Tapert (who is married to Lucy Lawless), commentary from Campbell, trailers, a new documentary on the history of the film and a still gallery.

The highlight is “Fanalysis,” Campbell’s 26-minute documentary in which he has fun with--but doesn’t make fun of--the die-hard fans of the film, as well as “Star Wars” and “Star Trek.”