Quiet arrivals give a bounty of viewing

Still looking for the perfect Christmas gift for the film or television fan in your life? If they haven’t completely switched to watching everything via streaming, then a couple of recent releases on DVD and Blu-ray might be just the ticket.

First is the first Blu-ray release of classic 1985 New Zealand science-fiction movie The Quiet Earth (M). Made even more poignant by the recent death of its director, Geoff Murphy, more than 30 years after it stunned moviegoers, it still weaves a tight storyline and is a brilliant showcase for the talents of Bruno Lawrence.

He plays Zac Hobson, a scientist who wakes up to discover that he might just be the only human left on Earth. The first third of the movie is virtually wordless as he attempts to navigate his new, depopulated surroundings and solve the mystery of what’s happened.

The Blu-ray includes a commentary by producer Sam Pillsbury who reveals some of the film’s secrets and is surprisingly open about what worked and what didn’t.

Made about the same time, The Bounty (PG) is the partly New Zealand-shot movie that many people forget. However, it is the historical drama that brought Mel Gibson, Anthony Hopkins, Liam Neeson, and Daniel Day-Lewis to our shores.

A ship was built in Whangarei and filming took place in and around Gisborne under the watchful eye of Roger Donaldson (Sleeping Dogs, Smash Palace). A new ‘‘special edition’’ DVD and Blu-Ray is packed with extras, including audio commentaries by Donaldson and a historical consultant, the original ‘‘making-of’’ documentary narrated by Edward Fox and a gallery of stills and trailers detailing the previous movie adaptations of the Mutiny on The Bounty story.

And for those who prefer something lighter, it’s hard to go past the box set of the best

New Zealand TV comedy in years. Wellington Paranormal (M) is a Kiwi show to rival Australia’s The Games or Frontline, a spot-on police-procedural satire, New Zealand’s answer to The X-Files, and the Police Ten 7 parody the world has been craving.

Spun-off from Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement’s big-screen 2014 mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows, the six-part series follows the misadventures of Capital coppers Minogue (Mike Minogue) and O’Leary (Karen O’Leary) as they battle the city’s forces of darkness.