• Bypassing originally announced theatrical release, the modern Edgar Allan Poe variation TELL TALE is currently available as a Blockbuster exclusive and has now set a date for retail disc release.

The movie will hit DVD and Blu-ray May 25 from Vivendi Entertainment; it’ll be presented in anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio, which special features (if any) yet to be announced. Directed by Michael Cuesta from a script by Dave Callaham, TELL TALE stars Josh Lucas (pictured above) as a man who receives a heart transplant that leads him to suffer frightening visions of its donor’s murder. Lena Headey, Brian Cox, Beatrice Miller, Dallas Roberts and Ulrich Thomsen co-star; each disc retails for $19.93. A week earlier on May 18, Vivendi issues HARD RIDE TO HELL, director Penelope Buitenhuis’ chiller about Texas campers being pursued by demon-worshipping bikers, starring Miguel Ferrer, Laura Mennell and Katharine Isabelle; this one will also be in anamorphic widescreen with 5.1 sound, retailing for $19.93.

• Another rather high-profile genre film that never made it to wide release (playing only a handful of theaters earlier this year), the Kevin Costner-starrer THE NEW DAUGHTER will make its DVD/Blu-ray debut May 18 from Anchor Bay Entertainment. Costner plays a single father who moves with his children to a South Carolina farm, where his daughter (PAN’S LABYRINTH’s Ivana Baquero) begins behaving in frightening ways; [REC] co-scripter Luis Berdejo directed from John Travis screenplay, based on a short story by John Connolly. Details and art should be coming shortly for the DVD, which retails for $29.98, and the Blu-ray, retailing for $34.98.

• May 18 is actually shaping up as a big day for genre fare, as IFC Films and MPI Media Group are also issuing a pair of fright titles that day. The well-reviewed THE DISAPPEARED, directed by Johnny Kevorkian from a script he wrote with Neil Murphy, is about a young man (Harry Treadaway) literally haunted by the disappearance of his younger brother, while SOUTHERN GOTHIC, from writer/director Mark Young, centers on a strip club bouncer (Yul Vazquez) who tries to protect a dancer and her daughter from a vampiric reverend (William Forsythe). Both DVDs retail for $24.98; we’ll bring you specs and covers as soon as we can get ’em!

• Blue Underground will give William Lustig’s patriotic zombie flick UNCLE SAM its Blu-ray debut June 29, just in time for the July 4th weekend. The saga of a soldier killed during the Gulf War who rises from the dead to slaughter un-American types in his hometown will be presented in 1080p HD resolution at 2.35:1 with 7.1 DTS-HD and 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround soundtracks, plus the extras from the previous DVD:

• Audio commentary by director Lustig, screenwriter Larry Cohen and producer George G. Braunstein

• Audio commentary by Lustig and star Isaac Hayes

• Stunts featurette with commentary by coordinator Spiro Razatos

• Deleted scene

• Gag reel

• Poster and still galleries

• Theatrical trailer

Retail price is $29.95.

• Paramount Home Entertainment has revealed full details of its DVD of the Morgan J. Freeman-directed HOMECOMING, due out April 20 (its street date is March 23 in Canada). Mischa Barton plays a small-town girl who’s dangerously obsessed with her ex-boyfriend (Matt Long), to the point of kidnapping and imprisoning his new girlfriend (Jessica Stroup) when the couple return to his hometown. The widescreen transfer with 5.1 Surround audio will be accompanied by four deleted scenes: “Arriving at the Fort Pitt Motel,” “Tending Wounds,” “Mike’s Girl Trouble” and “Coach’s Wisdom.” Retail price is $19.99.

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