Caged Heat (New Concorde Home Video) -- Wes Marshall

The epitome of chicks-in-chains flicks, Caged Heat (1974) surpasses all pretenders by injecting a story line with formidable women instead of whimpering victims, and then giving it to a supremely gifted director. Jonathan Demme (director of Stop Making Sense, The Silence of the Lambs, and Philadelphia) got his start working for Roger Corman’s New World Pictures. Corman’s ideal was a well-made film that came in cheap and had a title to draw the drive-in crowd. He also hired a gifted bunch of directors (Brian de Palma, Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, Peter Bogdanovich, and Francis Ford Coppola, to name a few) and let them try whatever they wanted. Caged Heat featured the genre’s usual prurient babes, but director Demme added psychedelic visuals and a truly bizarre score by The Velvet Underground’s chief weirdo, John Cale. A genuine piece of film history.

The Devil’s Backbone (Columbia TriStar Home Video) -- Anthony Di Marco

This is one creepy film. Working in the Hitchcock tradition, director Guillermo Del Toro weaves a very complicated tale that isn't about a ghost, as much as the horrors of war and the human condition. The real horror is linked to the fate of a private school that sits in the path of the Spanish Civil War. I would have never given this 2001 film a chance had I not been impressed by director Del Toro's work on Mimic and Blade II. Neither of these Hollywood films can hold a candle to the storytelling of this Spanish ghost story.

The Edge of the World (Milestone/Image Entertainment) -- Rad Bennett

Michael Powell made his second movie in 1937, before the teaming up with Emeric Pressburger to co-direct such classics as The Red Shoes and Black Narcissus. Filmed on Fuola, a remote island off the coast of Scotland, the movie has dozens of memorable images that will haunt a viewer long after the DVD returns to its box. The story concerns feuding families, a nearly thwarted romance, and a struggle to eke out an existence on the barren location, a battle that is finally lost. The print is torn and tattered in places but the transfer of the black-and-white movie is right on the money, with excellent contrast. There are also quite a few cool special features, including Powell’s return to Fuola in 1978.

I Know Where I'm Going! (Criterion Collection) -- Wes Phillips

There is absolutely nothing gimmicky about Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's I Know Where I'm Going! (1945). All it has going for it is superb writing, drop-dead-gorgeous cinematography, and some of the finest acting you're ever likely to see. The story is simple: Joan Webster (Wendy Hiller) has always known exactly what she wanted -- and what she wants is to go to an island just off the coast in order to get married. It isn't far; in fact she can sometimes see it clearly. But getting there isn't as easy as it seems, as she soon discovers. A naval officer (Roger Livesey) is ever so friendly -- or is he another complication? IKWIG! is charming, funny, and, ultimately, touching in strange and unexpected ways, no matter how much you suspect you know where it's going.

Six-String Samurai (Palm Pictures) -- Josh Barber

Mix The Wizard of Oz and Mad Max with a dash of El Mariachi and what do you get? Kill Bill without the cinematic onanism, a live-action animé, and a nodding wink to spaghetti westerns. In this 1998 release, the Russians dropped the bomb in 1957 and took over what was left of America. For 40 years, Elvis reigned as King from the city of Lost Vegas, but now he has died without naming an heir, and every guitar-slinging rocker is looking to wear the crown. With a killer soundtrack, some surprisingly good martial-arts action, and an eminently quotable script, Six-String Samurai is an overlooked indie classic.