New on DVD and Blu-ray disc

“Dexter: Complete First Season” Blu-ray
What’s a serial killer to do when he also happens to be a forensics expert for the Miami Police Department? For Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), the answer is to take a bite out of crime--literally. That’s the show’s hook; Dexter routinely slaughters those criminals he can’t bring to justice. And here’s the thing--he’s so likable, the irony is that you cheer him on. Beyond that weirdness, this first season of the show, now on high-definition Blu-ray disc, explores Dexter’s personality via his interactions with his girlfriend Rita (Julie Benz) as well as his quest to bring down the Ice Truck Killer. It’s all smart and engaging, a savage little show that’s at once human and darkly comic, with the fine writing and excellent cast making the unthinkable work. Grade: A-

“Event Horizon” Blu-ray
Paul Anderson’s stylish, good-looking “Event Horizon” offers an involving build-up, but it suffers from an ending that’s so convoluted, it undermines all the good that came before it. Set in the year 2047, the film follows a rescue party on a mission to learn what happened to the Event Horizon, a spaceship that vanished somewhere near Neptune seven years earlier. Led by Captain Miller (Laurence Fishburne), a scowling man unhappily under the technical advisement of the Event Horizon’s mad designer, Weir (Sam Neil), the crew find the lost ship, board it, and eventually learn that when the ship vanished, it vanished into hell. Now back and possessed by the devil, the ship begins turning against those who board it--with grisly results. If you think this sounds like “Sphere” or like Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1972 film “Solaris,” that’s because “Event Horizon” is of the same family. It doesn’t present any original ideas, yet it works the way an old tire works--its tread, pockmarked with age, isn’t completely useless, but it’s also not as fresh as it was when it first rolled off the showroom floor. Rated R. Grade: C

“The Truman Show” Blu-ray
This 1998 social satire from Peter Weir stars Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank, a naive, 30-year-old man whose entire life has been nothing more than a television series broadcast 24 hours a day to hundreds of millions around the globe. By far, Truman is the most famous person on the planet, though he doesn’t know it. Everyone in his life is nothing more than a paid actor hilariously sneaking in product endorsements throughout the day. But when Truman begins to suspect that things aren’t what they seem, that the God of this world is in fact a sinister man named Christof (Ed Harris), he pushes to escape from the 5,000 cameras hidden around the fictional town of Seahaven, Fla., and move into a world beyond the great dome that has imprisoned him since childhood. Carey is good here--toned down, wings clipped, at times moving--but in skipping the tracks from comedy to drama, he often lands in a puddle of self-consciousness. The good news is that the movie and its themes have held up. For better or worse, we're a nation consumed by television, a country roped in by spectacle, imprisoned by counterfeit reality. Weir sees straight through that, and he lays it bare. Rated PG. Grade: B+