The recent release of "The Black Dahlia," Brian De Palma's convoluted and occasionally cracked adaptation of the James Ellroy novel, kicked off an old-fashioned critics' throwdown of the type rarely seen since the '70s.

While most reviewers (including this one) dismissed the period piece as further evidence of De Palma's decline and disconnection from movie audiences, a few prominent writers rose to De Palma's defense and praised the film's style and visual energy and audaciousness. One even proclaimed that anyone who didn't like De Palma didn't know anything about movies.

Maybe someday, this writer will recognize his bone-headedness. For now, I'll just stick my neck out for a De Palma film that divided reviewers and audiences more than two decades ago, "Body Double," in a newly remastered "Special Edition" (Columbia-TriStar).

Though nearly all of De Palma's early films borrowed heavily from Hitchcock, "Body Double" is an unabashed mash-up of "Rear Window" and "Vertigo." Craig Wasson is cast in the Jimmy Stewart role, playing an unemployed B-movie actor who falls into what looks like a great deal of luck.

Another actor (Gregg Henry) offers him the use of his incredible bachelor pad while he's shooting on location, and it comes with a telescope pointed at the window of a gorgeous neighbor (Deborah Shelton) who strips in front of it nightly.

One night, Wasson sees something that indicates to him the woman is in jeopardy, and he can't report it for fear of being unmasked as a Peeping Tom. Things get a lot more complicated and, with the introduction of a saucy porno star played by Melanie Griffith, increasingly unbelievable and violent.

This was De Palma's most graphic movie until his "Scarface" remake. Yet there is a wild, wanton deliriousness to "Body Double" that trumps the runaway and lurid narrative, even if the misogyny can't be explained away.

De Palma addressed the latter charge in the last of the four featurettes that make this edition "special." They are titled "The Seduction" (addressing how the film came to be); "The Set Up" (the film's dramatic and stylistic influences); "The Mystery" (the making-of business); and "The Controversy" (the reactions and response to the film).

Griffith, Henry and Dennis Franz are interviewed, too. Franz was a key figure in this and three other De Palma films: "The Fury" in 1978, "Dressed to Kill" in 1980 and "Blow Out" in 1982. It's a list that makes one ask: Where's the box set?

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Despite having been adapted by David Mamet from his own stage play, the edgy, unsettling "Edmond" (First Independent) barely had a theatrical release. It stars William Macy as a white-collar drone who snaps and indulges in some very bad and inexplicable behavior. It could and should find a cult audience on DVD, especially considering that the cast includes Mamet regulars Joe Mantegna and Rebecca Pidgeon as well as Julia Stiles, Denise Richards and Mena Suvari.

Also bypassing many cities was the melancholy "Changing Times" (Koch Lorber), another victim of the art house antipathy toward new French films. It features excellent performances from Gerard Depardieu and Catherine Deneuve as long-ago lovers who are reunited, and is directed by Andre Techine ("Wild Reeds").

"The Woods" (Sony) is a thriller about spooky goings-on at private girls school in 1965. It failed to get a theatrical release at all, even though it's better than most horror films this year, and has Bruce Campbell in the cast.

The week's big title "X-Men: The Last Stand" (Fox), the supposedly final and least of the superhero series, is available in "Stan Lee Collector's Edition" with a limited-edition comic, and as part of "Trilogy," a package that contains all three films.

The satirical comedy "Thank You for Smoking" (Fox) with Aaron Eckhart as a big tobacco lobbyist is certain to fare better on disc than it did in theaters.