It’s a long way down… Drag Me to Hell. Photograph: Melissa Moseley

Drag Me to Hell
Lionsgate

Not to begrudge Sam Raimi’s commercial success, but when he started making blockbusters, horror fans lost a fine director – and gained Spider-Man 3. great. Thankfully, Drag Me to Hell sees Raimi breaking free of the blank-cheque budgets and regaining some of his cash-strapped ingenuity. More importantly, it sees him going back to his roots in a genre that was pretty much destroyed by the cynical Scream cycle of the 90s. Raimi’s movie harks back to the happier, scarier times of the 80s, and it works because it takes time to unfold, as a meek but ambitious bank clerk (Alison Lohman) tries to lose the demonic curse put upon her after she inadvertently shames a creepy old woman by refusing her a loan extension. But as it’s Halloween, horror fans will be spoilt for choice by this weekend’s DVD and Blu-Ray releases – many from the era that Drag Me to Hell harks back to.

The Texas Chain saw Massacre, Night Of The Living Dead, An American Werewolf in London, Friday The 13th and Gremlins are all out on Blu-Ray, which is payback for those who can recall squinting at them on pirate video. George A Romero’s classic Dawn Of The Dead is also getting the Blu-Ray treatment, but as a treat for those yet to go HD, the package also includes regular DVDs of different cuts (one by the director, another by Dario Argento), as well as a rare doc about horror FX master Tom Savini. Mark Gatiss’s homage to the portmanteau British horror movies of the 1970s, Crooked House, is also released, as is Trick R Treat, a gory 80s-style holiday horror starring Anna Paquin – whose great vampire TV show, True Blood, is out now. There are some good boxsets too: Tartan are reissuing their Asian horror classics The Eye, Audition and Dark Water, together with a fine Ozploitation horror collection containing The Survivor, Harlequin and the great modern-day – well, for 1979 – Aussie vampire movie Thirst.

Mark Gatiss: ‘It’s very rare to be able to adapt a genius like HG Wells for the small screen.’ Photograph: David Levene

The League of Gentlemen’s Mark Gatiss is to star in his own adaptation of HG Wells’s science fiction comedy thriller the first Men in the Moon for BBC4.

Gatiss will appear alongside Waking the Dead and Silent Witness actor Rory Kinnear as one of two men who journey to the moon in 1909.

Kinnear plays Julius Bedford, a young man who meets scientist Professor Cavor, played by Gatiss. the pair use Cavor’s invention, Cavorite, to help them defy gravity and fly to the centre of the moon.

The first Men in the Moon is the first drama commission for Gatiss and director Damon Thomas’s independent production company, Can Do.

Thomas and Gatiss previously worked together on Antarctic drama the worst Journey in the World and ghost story serial crooked House for BBC4 last Christmas.

Gatiss, who has also written two episodes of Doctor who, said: “I’m completely delighted to have the chance to bring this wonderful, funny, charming and scary story to BBC4. It’s very rare to be able to adapt a genius like HG Wells for the small screen and we hope to do full justice to his extraordinary vision.”

BBC4 controller Richard Klein added: “The first Men in the Moon is a thoroughly modern classic, a witty and satirical piece of writing by one of Britain’s foremost and original science fiction writers.

“It shines a light on man’s natural desire to always get it wrong. I am delighted that Mark Gatiss has decided to bring this forgotten and yet wholly timely work to our screens.”

The first Men in the Moon was commissioned by Klein and BBC drama commissioning controller Ben Stephenson. the BBC’s executive producer is Jamie Laurenson.

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