DVD Releases

You imagine Donnie Darko launching into another of his "I think you're the antichrist" rants at the idea that some of the people involved with Richard Kelly and Jake Gyllenhaal's teen alienation mindbender actually saw fit to make a sequel. Kelly himself stumbled in spinning off his cracked sensibility - see "Southland Tales" - so how are others supposed to do it? Predictably, the straight-to-DVD "S. Darko" (2009) never does manage to justify itself, even if it doesn't feel like a completely cynical enterprise at the creative level. The late Donnie's little sister, Sam (of Sparkle Motion fame), is the featured character here, played again by Daveigh Chase, now seven years older. We catch up with Sam as she's running from her fractured family and haunted thoughts by sullenly road-tripping cross-country with pierced, punky girlfriend Corey (Briana Evigan). They break down in a Lynch-lite small town that holds jarring developments for them both, as well as for a troubled vet known as Iraq Jack. Once again, deadly objects drop from the sky, characters spout watery tendrils snaking through the space-time continuum, and someone busts out a freaky rabbit mask - but there's never that affectingly mournful picture of heroic destiny as the ultimate bummer. Extras: Director Chris Fisher and friends protest too much in commentary and featurette.Still, their sincerity shows when they talk about the film's inversion of manipulated dead and living receiver archetypes. (Fans will get it.) (Fox, $22.98; Blu-ray, $29.99)

DRAMA

WISE BLOOD (1979)

John Huston adapts Flannery O'Connor's part contemplative, part absurdist, deeply Southern novel about faith and evangelicalism. Brad Dourif ("Deadwood") has an early career lead as Hazel Motes (inset), a tightly wound contrarian bent on denying the Lord by setting up the first Church Without Christ - and then just as determined to repent. Like the book, the film boasts a wide assortment of odd characters, from non-pros in various bit parts to Harry Dean Stanton, Ned Beatty, and Huston himself as hustling preacher men. Atmospheric almost to a fault. Extras: Dourif interview; lecture circuit recording of O'Connor; Huston interview with Bill Moyers. (Criterion, $39.95)

ACTION

TAKEN (2009)

Liam Neeson (inset) has enough reserve about him that he plays a casually brutal government Mr. Fixit with surprising credibility, but it's too often wasted amid the lunkheaded storytelling of writer-producer Luc Besson and director Pierre Morel ("District B13"). Neeson begins employing his "particular set of skills" when his teenage daughter (Maggie Grace) is abducted during a trip to Paris and disappears into the sex-trafficking underworld. The prurience of this will make you roll your eyes as much as the script's lazy emoting and one prominent "24" tonal swipe. Extras: Unrated footage; filmmaker commentaries. (Fox, $34.98; single-disc edition, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.99)

DRAMA

LOOK (2007)

There are 8 million stories in the naked city, and apparently more of them than we realize are captured by hidden cameras - at intersections, at convenience-store counters, in dressing rooms. Writer-director Adam Rifkin's clever concept is to rely entirely on mock surveillance footage to track the movements of his characters, notably a weak-willed high school teacher (Hayes MacArthur) ruined by the school Lolita (Spencer Redford, inset). It's an idea that's ultimately much more successful visually than as narrative; performances that are meant to play as unguarded instead feel amateurishly phony. Extras: Commentary by Rifkin, MacArthur, and producers; production featurette. (Anchor Bay, $26.97; available now)

THE BEST OF STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES (1966-67)

If you think it's criminal that William Shatner (seated above) isn't on board for this weekend's big screen "Trek" reboot, you can beam him up yourself in a collection of four classic episodes, including the Spock-versus-Kirk "Amok Time" and "The Trouble With Tribbles." "The Next Generation" gets companion sampler treatment; the worthwhile spoof "Galaxy Quest" does some piggybacking of its own. (Paramount, $14.99 each)

JUST ANOTHER LOVE STORY (2009)

Danish filmmaker Ole Bornedal ("Nightwatch") goes noir with his thriller about a restless family man (Anders W. Berthelsen) who's mistaken for the boyfriend of an amnesiac (Rebecka Hemse), decides to play along, and then finds the situation turning violently complicated. (Koch Lorber, $26.98)

THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE (1934)

Disney's Oscar-winning animated short (and visual template for Warner's Bugs Bunny) gets a reissue, as do companion shorts "Wind in the Willows," "The Reluctant Dragon," and others. (Disney, $19.99 each)

UNDERWORLD: RISE OF THE LYCANS (2009)

This unnecessary prequel to the vampires-and-werewolves franchise is partly legitimized by the return of Michael Sheen ("Frost/Nixon") and Bill Nighy ("Pirates of the Caribbean"). Extras: production featurettes. (Sony, $28.96; Blu-ray, $39.95)

3 MO' DIVAS (2009)

"Three Mo' Tenors" director-choreographer Marion J. Caffey delivers another concert celebration of classically trained African-American voices, this time spotlighting sopranos segueing from opera to show tunes to gospel. Extras: bonus performances. (Acorn Media, $24.99; Blu-ray, $29.99)

Titles are in stores Tuesday unless otherwise specified.