From the moment I saw the cover, I knew I had to see Scare Tactics. Featuring Tracy Morgan screaming in mock fear, with ghoulish faces peering on from the background, the DVD case—and indeed, the whole premise of the show—seemed like something that had warped in from the universe of 30 Rock. But no, Scare Tactics is terrifyingly real. A Punk’d-style prank show that puts unsuspecting dupes into horror movie situations (that look like they’re budgeted at about $5 each), Scare Tactics is hosted by Morgan, who probably spent an hour filming a season’s worth of the segments that run in between each prank. Still, whatever they paid him was probably worth it for lines like “I’m here for one reason—this shit is crazy!” Honestly, I can’t really recommend this show, which began to wear on my patience halfway through the first episode I watched, but if you’re interested, “Season Three, Part One” (really?) is now available on DVD, and it might provide some comic relief for your Halloween movie party.

Speaking of which, Trick ‘r Treat, from Michael Dougherty, might do the trick if you’re looking for a good-natured horror movie to watch this All Hallow’s Eve. The film showed at Fantasia this year but never got a proper theatrical release (it was apparently repeatedly delayed) and is now out on DVD and Blu-Ray. An anthology of sorts, it interweaves four urban-legendy stories over the course of a Halloween night in one small town. With Anna Paquin, Brian Cox, Dylan Baker and Leslie Bibb, it’s got a solid cast and a pretty good sense of humour, harking back to the Creepshow-style comic horror flicks of the ’80s.

Another Fantasia pick that got short shrift in the theatres (I think it opened for a week or two) was Tommy Wirkola’s Dead Snow. (Actually, its original title, Død snø, looks much cooler, so let’s just call it that.) The premise is beautifully simple: bloodthirsty Nazi zombies, and it gets major points for the tagline “Ein! Zwei! Die!”—but it doesn’t quite deliver. A slavish homage to films like Brain Dead and Evil Dead, Død snø has some genuinely funny and freaky moments, but it isn’t playing in the same league as its inspirations. Still, you can judge for yourself as it’s out on DVD this week (and it comes in a nifty tin case).

Some lesser-known works from two true legends of horror arrives this week in the form of the Karloff & Lugosi Horror Classics collection. (Bela Lugosi would probably be appalled at being bundled with Karloff, but what can you do?) On the Karloff side, there’s Michael Curtiz’s The Walking Dead and the sci-fi thriller Frankenstein 1970 (actually made in the ’50s, but it’s sci-fi, right?). Lugosi teams up with Karloff (and Peter Lorre) in You’ll Find Out and stars in the brilliantly titled Zombies on Broadway.

Finally, a very different and pretty interesting new horror movie from Belgium, Pieter van Hees’s Left Bank is out on DVD this week. Eline Kuppens plays a runner who moves into a freaky apartment building where something evil is brewing in the basement. A slow-burner with shades of Rosemary’s Baby and The Wicker Man, this is an effectively creepy thriller.