Jensen Ackles

Lionsgate presents this retelling of one of the most underrated slasher films of the early '80s with this tale of a small town that's terrorized on Valentine's Day by a murderous maniac. Jensen Ackles and Sin City's Jaime King star in the Patrick Lussier-directed production, set to be released in the 3-D format. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

Season three of the Superman-derived adventure series Smallville had ended with young Clark Kent (Tom Welling) disappearing into a mysterious portal opened by his Kryptonian birth father, Jor-El (Terence Stamp), while Clark's Earthling adoptive father, Jonathan (John Schneider), lay comatose. Meanwhile, Clark's high-school sweetheart Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk) had gone off to study in Paris; his mercurial friend Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum), having downed a poisoned cocktail, writhed in agony; Lex's crooked industrialist father, Lionel (John Glover), was sitting in the slammer; and while preparing to make public damning evidence against Lionel's criminal activities, budding journalist Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack) was apparently killed in an explosion. As season four begins, Clark is hurtled buck-naked back into "our" dimension -- now armed with the knowledge that he is Kal-El of Krypton, fully aware of his destiny on Earth and that he will continue evincing superpowers, and determined to fulfill the mission set down by his father to retrieve several powerful kryptonite crystals lest they fall into human hands. No sooner has Clark returned than he has his first meeting with big-city reporter Lois Lane (Erica Durance), who has arrived in Smallville to investigate the reported death of her cousin, Chloe -- and to say that Clark and Lois do not exactly hit it off at first sight is an understatement! As it turns out, Chloe is still alive, forcing the jailed Lionel to step up his efforts to silence her for keeps. Likewise, Lex has recovered from his poisoning, but the traumatic experiences of the past few months seems to have aroused his "darker" side -- an aspect of his personality that will reveal itself disturbingly in the form of his evil doppelganger, Alexander, a manifestation brought about by the effects of that renegade kryptonite (which, it is revealed this year, comes in a variety of colors, each with its own special powers).

One of the season's most significant story arcs concerns one Jason Teague (Jensen Ackles), a handsome but strangely off-putting young man whom Lana met in Paris, and who has followed her back to Smallville. Jason's presence precipitates the arrival of his wicked mother, Genevieve Teague (Jane Seymour), who evidently has vital information about the missing kryptonite crystals, and who also has connections with the estimable Luthor family. It also comes to pass that she had carefully stage-managed the meeting between Jason and Lana, the better to solve the mystery of the strange tattoo on Lana's back -- a mystery that stretches all the way back to Lana's previous existence in medieval times. In the season finale, Clark is poised to graduate from high school, but first he must solve a perplexing puzzle left for him by his father -- and this done, Clark is suddenly teleported to the North Pole, just as Lana, with a murder charge hanging over her head, needs him most. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The sixth and final season of Dawson's Creek begins just as summer of Dawson Leery's 19th year is drawing to a close. Having spent the summer in Hollywood as an assistant film director, Dawson returns to his native Massachusetts, there to work on a location shoot of the horror epic "Wicked Dead" under the tutelage of bombastic moviemaker Todd Carr (Hal Ozsan). This will be quite an experience for Dawson, especially when he hooks up with the film's tempestuous star Natasha Kelly (Bianca Kajlich); and when Todd storms off the set in disgust, Dawson is afforded his first opportunity to be a full-fledged director. Likewise back from L.A. are Dawson's pal Pacey (Joshua Jackson) -- who will soon take a job at brokerage firm run by slickster Rich Rinaldi (Dana Ashbrook) -- and Pacey's latest tootsie Audrey Lidell (Busy Philipps), who happens to be the extremely unstable college roommate of Dawson's off-and-on girlfriend Joey (Katie Holmes). As for Jen (Michelle Williams), the girl to whom Dawson finally "gave it up" during the previous season, she has returned to Boston Bay College, doing her best to deal with the fact that her fun-loving grandmother Evelyn (Mary Beth Piel) has decided to enroll as well. Additionally, the beleaguered Jack McPhee (Kerr Smith), having come to terms with his own homosexuality, has a new boyfriend named David (Greg Rikaart). As the season rolls on, Jen is attracted to college peer counselor CJ (Jensen Ackles), Joey begins going out with a bartender named Eddie Dooling (Oliver Hudson), and Audrey lands a job as a rock singer, breaking up with Pacey and developing a dangerous dependency on booze in the process. Several more plot twists and turns later, the series arrives at its final two-hour episode, set five years in the future. Dawson is now a major TV producer, turning out a semi-autobiographical series called "The Creek" (which, like Dawson's Creek, is seen on Wednesday nights!); Pacey owns a restaurant, and Jack is a teacher, dating Pacey's brother Doug; Audrey has straightened out her personal problems and is touring with a big-name band; Joey has a thriving career as a book editor in Manhattan; and Jen is now a single mom and the manager of an art gallery. A happy ending? Not quite...not with the tragic pall hanging over the familiar characters, due to Jen's very fragile health. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jessica Alba gained notoriety playing the lead on the James Cameron-produced television series Dark Angel, which has all 21 episodes from its second season collected on this box set. Each is presented in the original broadcast aspect ratio of 1.33:1. English, French, and Spanish soundtracks are rendered in Dolby Digital Surround. English and Spanish subtitles are accessible. Supplemental materials include commentary on some of the episodes by a variety of people involved in the show's production, a blooper reel, and three making-of featurettes. This set will easily please fans of the show. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide