New on DVD: Mapplethorpe, Sykes, Minnelli and Retro Horror

Current and old-school giants of queer culture dominate the week in DVD, while an '80s-themed horror movie takes its Reagan-era sensibilities all the way to their logical conclusion on video.

There's something of a Robert Mapplethorpe resurgence going on, from Patti Smith's new memoir Just Kids to the documentary Black White + Gray, which details how the photographer — whose homoerotic images remains the stuff of controversy — became professionally and personally linked with curator Sam Wagstaff, even though the two men came to each other from very different worlds. (Brooks Brothers, meet dungeon chic.) The doc features interviews with Smith, photographer Ralph Gibson, historian John Richardson, and the late novelist Dominick Dunne, among others.

The fact that the brassy comedian came out during last year's protests against Prop 8 no doubt gives added resonance to the title of Wanda Sykes: I'ma Be Me, her hilarious HBO special (her second for the network, but the first in which she explicitly — and riotously — talks about life as a lesbian). Sykes' blistering wit is very much in full effect here.

Liza's at the Palace, and you probably either care or you don't. Haven't seen this DVD — featuring the performance that won Ms. Minnelli a Tony — yet, but I gotta say: I had my first Liza-live experience last summer at the Hollywood Bowl, and she can still electrify an audience, even after everything she's been through. Don't write her off just yet.

Critics extolled 2009's horror hit The House of the Devil for its uncanny evocation of 1980s fright-flick tropes — the hairdos, the score, the set details were all just right. So kudos to whoever decided to make the DVD available in a bundle pack with a VHS copy of the movie. VHS! It lives!