Lycanthropes rejoice! Joe Dante's groundbreaking werewolf effort has finally received the special-edition treatment with this extensive MGM/UA release. Presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, MGM/UA has done a commendable job in presenting the film. The transfer offers well-balanced colors, accurate skin tones, and, in frequent nighttime scenes, solid blacks with little to no digital artifacting. Likewise, a newly mastered, closed-captioned English Dolby Digital audio track brings the film to life as never before heard on home theater systems. Offering dynamic sound that will have nervous viewers peering over their shoulders in terror, the ominous howling of the colony's mysterious residents sounds as if it may be coming from somewhere a little to close for comfort outside viewer's windows. With as much work as MGM/UA has put into presenting a pristine image, it's the extras (located on the flip side of the disc) that will truly have longtime fans venturing into the light of the full moon to seek out this particular release. A commentary track featuring director Dante and stars Dee Wallace Stone, Christopher Stone, and Robert Picardo is lively and affectionately reminiscent, and in addition to humorous anecdotes, offers insight into the creative process and the manner in which the film was streamlined during the editing process. "Unleashing the Beast: The Making of The Howling" is broken up into numerous segments, and offers everything from revealing interviews with screenwriter John Sayles (discussing the film's departure from the novel and the psychology of werewolves) to the story of how director Dante came to be involved to study the origins of the werewolf mythos. The title of its companion piece, "Making a Monster Movie: Inside The Howling" may seem a bit misleading given that not very much making-of info is present, though interviews with Dante and star Patrick Macnee do offer some interesting meditations on the components of a truly effective horror film. An interview with make-up effects artist Rob Bottin is surprisingly brief considering the film's groundbreaking visual effects. Deleted scenes are mostly incidental with the exceptions of some group therapy scenes that would have lent the film a decidedly more psychological angle, and outtakes offer the usual cut-ups and flubbed lines in addition to some hilarious bladder-bursting makeup mishaps. A pair of nightmarish theatrical trailers are well-presented in widescreen format, and galleries of production and publicity photos offer an enticing glimpse behind the scenes and a close-up look at Bottin's impressive creations. A fun, fact-filled insert rounds out the disc nicely with some interesting trivia concerning the film.

Shot almost entirely on a two-and-a-half-story recreation of a full-size operating airport terminal, this romantic comedy from director Steven Spielberg revolves around an Eastern European man by the name of Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks), whose plans of immigrating to New York were hastened by a violent coup in his home country. Unfortunately, Viktor finds himself on the wrong end of a nasty technicality while en route to America: His passport was issued from a country, which, during its upheaval, ceased to exist in an official capacity. Unauthorized to leave Kennedy Airport upon his arrival and unable to return home, Viktor finds himself exiled inside the terminal's international transit lounge. Though airport official Frank Dixon (Stanley Tucci) views Viktor as an annoying bureaucratic glitch, other airport employees -- including a beautiful flight attendant by the name of Amelia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) -- come to see him as a welcome, if unofficial, addition to their numbers. As the days stretch on into months, the terminal transforms from an intimidating atmosphere of forced assimilation into a country within itself, complete with culture, ambition, status, complex diversity, and the need for love. The supporting cast includes Diego Luna, Chi McBride, Kumar Pallana, Zoe Saldana, Eddie Jones, and Jude Ciccolella.

Paul Verhoeven's controversial thriller Basic Instinct, the film that made an international star of female lead Sharon Stone, has been given many different DVD releases -- but this one is one of the best. The film itself is presented in a widescreen anamorphic transfer that preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Closed-captioned English soundtracks are rendered in both Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital Stereo. English, Spanish, and French subtitles are accessible. Supplemental materials include a commentary track recorded by noted feminist Camille Paglia, a featurette that compares the theatrical version of the film with the edited-for-television version, a making-of documentary, storyboards, trailers, and production notes.