Some vintage horror flicks coming out on DVD

Six older horror movies debut on DVD this week, but few are worth getting excited over. Although, how often do you see Tom Hanks in a slasher flick?

• "The Fearless Vampire Killers, or Pardon Me But You're Teeth Are in My Neck" (Warner, 1966, not rated, $19.97). This is by far the best of this bunch, although it's actually a comedy and a bit slow in places. But fans of the genre will get a kick out of it, and in places it's very funny.

Youthful Roman Polanski stars as the bumbling assistant to a vampire killer who is searching for prey in a small village. When the innkeeper's daughter (Sharon Tate) is kidnapped by a vampire, the chase is on. (This is where Polanski met and married Tate, who would be a tragic victim of the 1969 Charles Manson killings in Los Angeles.)

Extras: Widescreen, vintage making-of featurette, trailer, language options (English, French), subtitle options (English, French, Spanish), chapters.

• "The Hunger" (Warner, 1983; R for violence, sex, nudity, language; $19.97). Flashy to a fault, this first feature by style-over-substance director Tony Scott (who would later hit it big with "Top Gun") boasts a great cast and some interesting ideas (leading to many more modern-day vampire yarns). But it's way over the top and less than satisfying.

Catherine Deneuve is an ageless vampire, thousands of years old; David Bowie is her longtime, more youthful lover (he's only 300); Susan Sarandon is the doctor researching the aging process who comes between them — but it's Deneuve who is attracted to her.

Extras: Widescreen, audio commentary (by Sarandon and director Scott), photo gallery, trailer, language options (English, French), subtitle options (English, French, Spanish), chapters.

• "It's Alive!" (Warner, 1973, PG, $19.97).

• "It Lives Again"/"It's Alive III: Island of the Alive" (1978/1986; R for violence, language; $19.97). The first film in this trilogy is about a killer mutant baby with a thirst for blood, a cult favorite that is campy and wacked-out but obviously not for all tastes, despite the PG rating. (Good musical score by Bernard Herrmann, though.)

The R-rated first sequel is an obvious follow-up — with three killer mutant babies on the loose this time. The second R-rated sequel is actually a dark spoof of the first two, taking on social issues with a pitch-black sense of humor as a colony of the mutant babies is confined to a remote island.