Dune [Blu-ray]

• Condition: New
• Format: Blu-ray
• AC-3; Color; Dolby; Dubbed; Subtitled; Widescreen

The all-time science fiction masterpiece...now in a special hardcover edition.

"Unique...I know nothing comparable to it except Lord of the Rings."--Arthur C. Clarke

Here is the novel that will be forever considered a triumph of the imagination. Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, who would become the mysterious man known as Maud'dib. He would avenge the traitorous plot against his noble family--and would bring to fruition humankind's most ancient and unattainable dream.

A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo Award, and formed the basis of what is undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction. Frank Herbert's death in 1986 was a tragi! c loss, yet the astounding legacy of his visionary fiction will live forever.This Hugo and Nebula Award winner tells the sweeping tale of a desert planet called Arrakis, the focus of an intricate power struggle in a byzantine interstellar empire. Arrakis is the sole source of Melange, the "spice of spices." Melange is necessary for interstellar travel and grants psychic powers and longevity, so whoever controls it wields great influence.

The troubles begin when stewardship of Arrakis is transferred by the Emperor from the Harkonnen Noble House to House Atreides. The Harkonnens don't want to give up their privilege, though, and through sabotage and treachery they cast young Duke Paul Atreides out into the planet's harsh environment to die. There he falls in with the Fremen, a tribe of desert dwellers who become the basis of the army with which he will reclaim what's rightfully his. Paul Atreides, though, is far more than just a usurped duke. He might be th! e end product of a very long-term genetic experiment designed! to bree d a super human; he might be a messiah. His struggle is at the center of a nexus of powerful people and events, and the repercussions will be felt throughout the Imperium.

Dune is one of the most famous science fiction novels ever written, and deservedly so. The setting is elaborate and ornate, the plot labyrinthine, the adventures exciting. Five sequels follow. --Brooks Peck

It is eighty-three years after the last of the thinking machines were destroyed in the Battle of Corrin, after Faykan Butler took the name of Corrino and established himself as the first Emperor of a new Imperium. Great changes are brewing that will shape and twist all of humankind.

The war hero Vorian Atreides has turned his back on politics and Salusa Secundus. The descendants of Abulurd Harkonnen Griffen and Valya have sworn vengeance against Vor, blaming him for the downfall of their fortunes. Raquella Berto-Anirul has formed the Bene Gesserit School on the! jungle planet Rossak as the first Reverend Mother. The descendants of Aurelius Venport and Norma Cenva have built Venport Holdings, using mutated, spice-saturated Navigators who fly precursors of Heighliners. Gilbertus Albans, the ward of the hated Erasmus, is teaching humans to become Mentats…and hiding an unbelievable secret.

The Butlerian movement, rabidly opposed to all forms of “dangerous technology,” is led by Manford Torondo and his devoted Swordmaster, Anari Idaho. And it is this group, so many decades after the defeat of the thinking machines, which begins to sweep across the known universe in mobs, millions strong, destroying everything in its path.

Every one of these characters, and all of these groups, will become enmeshed in the contest between Reason and Faith. All of them will be forced to choose sides in the inevitable crusade that could destroy humankind forever….

Dazzling special effects, unforgettable images and powerfu! l performances highlight David Lynch’s stunning film version! of Fran k Herbert’s classic science-fiction epic about an intergalactic warrior’s messianic rise. Starring Kyle MacLachlan, José Ferrer, Max von Sydow, Oscar® winner Linda Hunt and Sting, Dune is the ultimate adventure experience that goes beyond the imagination.Even more than most of David Lynch's deliberately bizarre and idiosyncratic movies, Dune is a "love-it-or-hate-it" affair. An ambitious, epic, utterly mind-boggling--and, let's admit it, all-out weird--adaptation of Frank Herbert's classic science fiction novel, Dune remains one of the most controversial films in the director's exceedingly provocative career. The story (if Dune can be said to have just one story) is complex and convoluted in the epic tradition; it has something to do with political intrigue and a planet that is home to a precious spice and gigantic sand worms. Think Shakespeare's Henry IV with a dash of Tremors, and set in another galaxy. But despite plenty of strange! ly whispered voice-overs that explain the characters' thoughts (and endlessly detailed exposition), storytelling is not really among the film's strong points. There are, however, a lot of memorably fantastic/grotesque images, an extraordinary cast, and a soundtrack featuring Toto. I told you it was weird. Among the stars are Kyle MacLachlan, José Ferrer, Dean Stockwell, Brad Dourif, Sting, Kenneth McMillan, Patrick Stewart, Sean Young, and Linda Hunt. --Jim Emerson

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The Gravedancers - After Dark Horrorfest

• Commentary with Director Mike Mendez and Composer Joseph Bishara
• "A Grave Undertaking" Featurette with Optional Commentary
• "Making the Ghosts" Featurette
• Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary
• Storyboard Galleries * Original Trailer with Optional Commentary

AFTER DARK HORRORFEST - DVD MovieMonsters are on the minds of the eight directors whose films comprise the 2007 After Dark HorrorFest, which arrives on DVD in an eight-disc set as well as single-disc editions. And it's interesting to note that while there are plenty of traditional monsters on display, from the vengeful spirits of Crazy Eights and Nightmare Man to the rampaging alien in Unearthed, the majority of the creatures causing havoc in the 2007 HorrorFest are all too human, which underscores one of the key functions of the horror genre: to give a face to society's darkest and mos! t pressing fears. The best showcase for these human beasts is Jim Mickle's urban creepshow Mulberry Street, which details the outbreak of a rat-borne virus that turns New York City residents into rodent-like mutants. The monsters themselves are actually the least effective part of the film; rather, it's Mickle's ability to create both a slow-boiling panic and believable characters on a shoestring budget that gives his picture the advantage over the others in the fest. Less agreeable is Borderland, a well-photographed but mildly xenophobic splatterfest about American college students who run afoul of bloodthirsty Mexican Satanists, while Lake Dead and Tooth and Nail recycle overly familiar horror tropes (mutant hillbillies vs. city folk in , and cannibals vs. apocalypse survivors in Tooth). Of the two, Tooth is the more appealing thanks to its name cast (Michael Madsen, Robert Carradine, Vinnie Jones), while Lake offers little more than unrelieved sadism and sexual violen! ce.

< i>The Deaths of Ian Stone offers the fest's most intriguing premise--after a terrible accident, a young man (Mike Vogel of Cloverfield) discovers that he is being reborn as different people, only to suffer an even worse fate with each reincarnation--though the reasons for his condition and the introduction of monsters to the story are ill-conceived and ill-advised. As for the remaining titles, Unearthed is simply Alien in the desert (ground already covered with panache by Feast), while Nightmare Man is a HD-lensed supernatural slasher from the usually reliable Rolfe Kanefsky (The Hazing) that's enlivened only by the presence of B-movie stalwart Tiffany Shepis. With so much varying quality in the entries, what the 2007 HorrorFest needed was a rock-solid entry by an established talent, like Nacho Cerda's The Abandoned and Takashi Shimuzi's Reincarnation, which gave some spark to the 2006 festival. Judging by the tepid! box office response to this series, stronger names or more careful selection of titles will be necessary for the HorrorFest to remain an annual event. Unlike the 2006 HorrorFest DVD releases, only a handful of the 2007 festival's discs offer extras. It seems odd that two of the weakest entries--Borderland and Nightmare Man--are the only discs to feature substantial supplemental features, including director and cast commentary, deleted scenes, and making-of featurettes, as well as a short documentary on Borderland about the true-life crimes that inspired the film. However, Nightmare Man's extras have a distinct edge thanks to the participation of Shepis, who brings a salty sense of humor to the commentary and also directs an amusing making-of featurette that elicits funny (and honest) responses from the cast and crew. Included on every disc are The Miss HorrorFest Webisodes, a wan collection of reality show-style vignettes that follow a contest t! o find the festival's new, scantily clad spokesmodel. -- P! aul Gait aA group of friends' lives are invaded by a trio of hostile ghosts after they engage in a drunken bout of gravedancing during a wake for an old chum.

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