DVD NOTES.(The Val Lewton Horror Collection)(Video Recording Review)

SCARE TACTICS -- "Shadows in the Dark," the documentary accompanying the terrific new DVD boxed set "The Val Lewton Horror Collection" (Warner Home Video), sets up Lewton and Orson Welles as opposites, with Welles the extravagant director of groundbreaking masterpieces and Lewton the frugal producer of low-budget horror movies. But in many ways the two were similar: they prized ingenuity and invention over plodding, expensive craftsmanship; they turned the camera into a performer; they made their soundtracks as poetic and powerful as their imagery; and they rarely enjoyed easy relations with R.K.O.'s front office. But Lewton was the one who helped save R.K.O. after the studio savagely truncated (and took a box-office beating on) Welles's "The Magnificent Ambersons." Frustrated in his former job as David O. Selznick's West Coast story editor, Lewton created a crack unit for R.K.O. that fashioned classy short features for B-picture prices under racy titles like "Cat People" (1942)--an ironic terror tale about an innocent Serbian girl (Simone Simon) who fears that if she makes love to her all-American husband she will turn into a man-eating big cat. It was their kickoff feature, and a giant hit.

According to the late Robert Wise, who began as an editor for Welles and ...