So what movies do we get on the lamest week of the weakest month of the horror DVD calendar? Not much, obviously. No offense to the little flicks that debut this week, but us horror freaks expect a whole lot more than three obscure offerings. The good news is that next week gets (slightly) better -- and July looks a whole hell of a lot better overall. Moving on...

By Scott Weinberg

Older gorehounds will undoubtedly remember Brett Leonard's The Dead Pit, although we probably remember it better for the blinky-eye VHS case than for the movie itself. The flick is about a haunted hospital with a nasty old pit in the basement. I'm definitely going to give this one a second spin, as I haven't seen it since 1990. Fans of bad cinema will take note that Mr. Leonard went on to direct The Lawmower Man, Hideaway, Virtuosity, Man-Thing, and Feed. At least he's consistent.

This week from Lionsgate we get something called Alive or Dead. I've no idea what it's about, I don't know any of the actors, but I'm sure the thing is a rental at the very least -- the DVD cover has a big hulking brute in overalls who is carrying some nastily medieval-looking weaponry. (If these movies were only as creepy as the DVD covers...still, we'll give this one a shot)

Also today arrives an Australian thriller called The Sitter, although you may have caught it on television as While the Children Sleep. Apparently it's about a young nanny who harbors some creepy secrets. Meh. Like we've never seen that one before. Still, it 's from Russell Mulcahy, a cool genre director of stuff like Razorback, Highlander (part 1!), Ricochet, The Shadow, Resident Evil 3, and yes, a whole bunch of junk.

...and that's it! Aside from one of those cheapie 5-packs that nobody ever buys, that represents the whole of this week's horror DVD droppings. Sad, isn't it? Why not go have a triple feature of The Fly, The Blob, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers? (And I mean the remakes.)

Next week: A wild horror concoction from Pakistan (!), an old-school cannibal-fest, some weirdness from the '70s, and (ugh) the return of The Gingerdead Man.