First up is a commentary track from director Earnest Dickerson and writer/producer Mick Garris. The two participants play off of one another well and this turns out to be a pretty interesting talk. Dickerson talks about how he had his cinematographer sit down and watch Bava's The Whip And The Body so that he'd know what kind of look he was after, while Garris talks about how he wanted to put the sex aside and write something that he felt would be pure horror. The talk about some of the revisions that the script went through and how initially it had far less dialogue and the also talk about some of the paternal themes that the story touches upon. Dickerson also mentions other influences, from Audition to the original The Phantom Of The Opera, Nosferatu and Dracula (which plays on a TV in the show), indicating that even if he doesn't have that many horror film credits to his name, he does indeed know his stuff.

Feeding Frenzy: The Making Of The V Word (13:59) is a featurette that takes us behind the scenes of the production and treats us to some interviews with the cast and crew of the movie. There's a lot of on set footage showing the cast in make up and the crew hard at work, as well as some sound bites from those involved in the production to put it all into context. The cast talk fondly about director Earnest Dickerson, who let them try things their way, and we learn about a few of the changes that happened to the script on the fly while the movie was being shot. Michael Ironside does an interview, in full make up, and we see some interesting test footage for his character. All in all, the featurette is a little too self congratulatory but at least it is fairly in depth and it does contain some solid BTS material and gives us a better understanding of the film.

Bite Me: Mastering The Neck Wound (6:00) starts off with some pertinent clips from the feature showcasing the gore effects before allowing some of the effects technicians to tell us how they did what they did. It's interesting to see how they decided that the vampires in the film wouldn't bite so much as they would tear into things in a much more animalistic fashion. We learn how latex molds were made and how computers were used to fill in the effects shots to make them look more complete.

Rounding out the extra features is a still gallery of behind the scenes photographs, trailers for other episodes of Masters Of Horror, the movie's script in PDF format for those who happen to be DVD-Rom equipped, animated menus and chapter stops. As usual, there's an insert inside the case which features the cover art on one side and the chapter listing on the other, and the keepcase fits inside a slick cardboard slipcase that features identical cover art.

The V Word falls in the middle as far as quality goes in comparison to other episodes of The Masters Of Horror series. It isn't terrible, but it isn't a classic. The film does put a fairly unique spin on the tired vampire mythos and the gore effects are plentiful and really well done, but the story is a bit too predictable and the performances aren't inspired enough to save it. Put this one in the 'nice try' category and give it a rental.

Ian lives in NYC with his wife where he writes for DVD Talk, runs Rock! Shock! Pop!. He likes NYC a lot, even if it is expensive and loud.