Horror flicks, others out on DVD

The Dark Sky label continues to release interesting titles for vintage-horror buffs, the latest being a trio of British 1970s flicks starring Peter Cushing, which lead off this week's movies that are new to DVD.

• "Asylum" (Dark Sky, 1972, PG, $19.98). This is one of those great old anthology films, with three scary short stories (four if you count the framing device), all written by Robert Bloch ("Psycho"). Cushing co-stars with Barry Morse in the centerpiece, about a mysterious garment designed to resurrect the dead; others feature Charlotte Rampling, Herbert Lom, Richard Todd, Barbara Parkins and, as a physician hearing the tales, Robert Powell.

Extras: Widescreen, audio commentary, featurette, trailers, text biographies, photo gallery, chapters; booklet.

• "The Beast Must Die" (a k a "Black Werewolf") (Dark Sky, 1974, PG, $19.98). This is an entertaining rethinking of werewolf films, mixed with elements of two other classic tales, "The Most Dangerous Game" and "Ten Little Indians." A host (Calvin Lockhart) gathers a group of people (including Cushing and Michael Gambon) to unmask one as a werewolf. The film pauses toward the end for a "guess whodunit" gimmick.

Extras: Widescreen, audio commentary, featurettes, trailers, photo gallery, text biographies, chapters; booklet.

• "And Now the Screaming Starts" (Dark Sky, 1972; R for violence, nudity, sex; b/w, $14.98). Cushing shows up an hour into this film but then dominates the proceedings as a psychiatrist trying to solve a supernatural murder mystery involving a newlywed (Stephanie Beacham) in 1795 England who is haunted by a disembodied hand. Herbert Lom shows up in a flashback as the villain whose actions are the cause.

Extras: Widescreen, audio commentaries, trailers, text biographies, photo gallery, chapters.

• "Ask the Dust" (Paramount, 2006; R for nudity, sex, language, drugs; $29.99). Colin Ferrell and Salma Hayek are teamed for this disappointingly lurid, melodramatic story of an insecure writer's tempestuous romance with a Mexican waitress in Depression-era Los Angeles. Donald Sutherland is quite good as an alcoholic neighbor of Ferrell's but to little effect. Nicely photographed by Caleb Deschanel; written and directed by Robert Towne, who is still revered for 1970s scripts, especially "Chinatown."

Extras: Widescreen, audio commentary (director Towne, Deschanel), featurette, trailer, optional English subtitles, chapters.