Camelot with sex and blood

It doesn't take much imagination to figure out that the director of the classic 1972 shockfest Deliverance wouldn't go all Disney when it came to giving his audience the story of King Arthur.

And John Boorman did not disappoint with 1981's Excalibur, an enthralling, blood- and sex-soaked adaptation of Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur, featuring Nigel Terry as Arthur, Cherie Lunghi as a coquettish Guenevere, a mordant Nicol Williamson as Merlin - and, most memorable, the divine Helen Mirren in a supremely sexy and devilish turn as that hateful witch Morgana.

Boorman's masterpiece, finally out on Blu-ray, is a true magical-mystical epic. Yet, it's not all spectacle: The script is literate, the visuals awe-inspiring. Excalibur is due March 8 from Warner Home Video. (www.wbshop.com/; $19.98; rated R)

The Stranger Orson Welles never looked as fresh as in the two-disc Blu-ray/DVD edition of his 1946 postwar espionage classic The Stranger from Virgil Films. Edward G. Robinson stars as a cop in hot pursuit of a Nazi war criminal (Welles). Virgil also has released the 1952 noir pic Kansas City Confidential. (www.virgilfilmsent.com/; $15.99 each; not rated)

All the President's Men ($34.99; rated PG) and Network ($19.98; rated R), two of the most powerful and incisive political dramas of the 1970s, are now available in high-definition from Warner. (www.wbshop.com/)

Santa Sangre Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky made a splash in the 1970s with a series of trippy, psychedelic cult films, including El Topo (1970) and The Holy Mountain (1973), which took a look, sometimes savagely, at hippy culture and its dying ideals.

With the surreal, violent Santa Sangre (1989), he turns his warped sensibility to the slasher film. It's about a boy who witnesses a savage madman cut off both his mother's arms. Years later, he develops a circus sideshow act with mom - and a fascination with sex, blood, and murder. Severin Films' release features a great array of new extras, commentary tracks, and making-of documentaries. (www.severin-films.com/; $29.98 DVD; $34.98 Blu-ray; not rated)

The Stieg Larsson Trilogy (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest). Swedish novelist Stieg Larsson created one of the greatest modern female characters in Lisbeth Salander, the brilliant, moody, dark, and sometimes tragic hero of the famed Millennium Trilogy. Noomi Rapace inhabits the role with elegance - and ferocity - in this exciting three-film adaptation, available in a four-disc box set from Music Box Films. The fourth disk contains a wealth of extra features. (www.musicboxfilms.com/; $59.95 DVD; $79.95 Blu-ray; rated R)

Eclipse Series 25: Basil Dearden's London Underground (Sapphire, The League of Gentlemen, Victim, All Night Long). A great, if overlooked, British filmmaker, Basil Dearden made a mark in the 1940s through the 1960s, with powerful, socially relevant dramas - not to mention a range of mind-twisting thrillers.

Criterion Collection's four-disc set includes 1959's Sapphire, an indictment of racism in Britain featuring Nigel Patrick as a police detective who pursues the killer of a black college student.

The sinister melodrama Victim (1961) stars Dirk Bogarde as a respected, married London barrister whose world is shattered when a blackmailer threatens to expose him as a gay man.

Also included: The rapid-fire heist thriller The League of Gentlemen, and All Night Long, which transposes Othello onto London's jazz scene. (www.criterion.com/; $59.95; not rated)

Huge: The Complete Series From Shout! Factory comes ABC Family's short-lived, 10-episode series, an insightful, touching, and funny family drama about a bright, sarcastic teen whose parents force her to go to fat camp. (www.shoutfactory.com/; $29.93; not rated)

The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Chtulhu Fans of horror writer H.P. Lovecraft will giggle away their terror with this terrific horror-comedy entry from Dark Sky Films. (www.darkskyfilms.com; $24.98; not rated)

Let Me In Cloverfield helmer Matt Reeves delivers a scary - yet oddly moving - vampire tale in this adaptation of the Swedish film Let the Right One In from Anchor Bay. (www.anchorbayentertainment.com/; $29.98 DVD; $39.99 Blu-ray; rated R)

Vampire Knight: Complete Series Have more vampire fun with this animated series from Viz Media. (www.viz.com/; $49.98; not rated)