Holiday Gift Guide: 15 DVD/Blu-ray We Want This Holiday Season

It’s OK, you can own up to it—you’ve been planning on buying all of your closest family members and friends a bunch of Netflix gift cards this Christmas. Hey, no judgments here. There’s nothing wrong with saving a few bucks, and shopping for loved ones creatively can be mentally exhausting. Not to mention, who doesn’t enjoy watching movies and TV shows? Whilst streaming on their laptops and couch-accessible, at that?

This time of the year, gift cards are like Budweiser for drinkers and Ramen noodles for the cooking-challenged: quick, easy, and they get the job done. What you aren’t taking into account, however, is what those loved ones will think when they see you walking into the holiday party holding a bunch of small envelopes, sans any gift-wrapped packages. Under their breath, they’ll say words like “cheapskate” and “come on, fam”—fortunately, we’re here to help you avoid that fate.

Although these options will hurt your bank account a little more than those Netflix gift cards, these 15 DVD/Blu-ray Releases We Want This Holiday Season will show your relatives and best pals that you’re, A) someone who puts thought into their generosity, B) hip to the game when it comes to the latest in must-have home video products, and, C) not bargain-bin cheap.

Coolest special feature: “Up Close with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson,” an on-camera conversation between the two A-list actors

Price: $59.99 (DVD); $79.98 (Blu-ray)

Buy it now at: Amazon

Until HBO releases a feel-good coffee table book titled Rust Cohle's Fucked-Up, Impenetrable, and Cynical Guide to Hating Life, owning the modern-TV-rulebook-changing first season of True Detective is the only way to memorize Matthew McConaughey's bleakest dialogue this side of Frailty.

Due to the show's anthology format, the metaphysical doors to Carcosa have closed for good, so True Detective's first season DVD and Blu-ray sets are the only way we'll get the spend some nice creepy time with the elusive Yellow King, Marty Hart's beautiful young mistresses, those Lone Star Beer can men, and Rust's wicked ponytail.

Coolest special feature: a miniature custom re-creation of the SAMCRO Reaper clubhouse table

Price: $169.98 (DVD); $299.99 (Blu-ray)

Buy it now at: Amazon

Sons of Anarchy has been wildly uneven since its 2008 premiere, and its realism is on par with Falling Skies, despite its lack of any supernatural or sci-fi elements. Yet, still, the TV landscape won't be the same without FX's aggressive biker drama once it wraps up its final season next week.

That SAMCRO loyalist in your crew, whether it's the dude who wishes he had "brothers" like these guys or the girl who wants to sleep on Charlie Hunnam's tatted-up back, will forever wear your "patch" once you bless them with this comprehensive, all-seven-seasons box set, which comes complete with a shrunken SAMCRO Reaper meeting table. That last component is just screaming for Sons lovers to reenact scenes using G.I. Joe action figures. (Snake Eyes, of course, is Bobby.)

Coolest special feature: “True Blood Lines,” an interactive guide that breaks down all of the various characters' in-the-bedroom relationships and connections

Price: $249.99 (DVD); $299.99 (Blu-ray)

Buy it now at: Amazon

OK, so most True Blood viewers will probably throw out the final two seasons of this Complete Series set and just pretend like they never happened. Because, let's face it, although True Blood's overcrowded and wobbly narrative didn't end as poorly as, say, Showtime's Dexter, it didn't exactly satisfy those who rode for HBO's sex-heavy, blood-drenched horror soap during its wildly badass earlier seasons, back when critics slept and highbrow snobs looked down on Bon Temps.

With this exhaustive home video collection, however, True Blood's most loyal fang-bangers can revisit those glory days while devouring loads of behind-the-scene interview retrospectives and interactive extras, including the "Vamp Camp Files," which breaks down how to "eradicate vampires" (in case, you know, a bloodsucker outbreak ever dominates your hood).

Coolest special feature: a map of “Broad City,” drawn by Abbi Jacobson

Price: $26.98 (DVD only)

Buy it now at: Amazon

Good news for Broad City's already-in-the-know fans: The show's second season begins on January 14. For everyone else, those out-of-the-loop fools who don't know the names Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, this home video collection of the lo-fi Comedy Central hit's triumphant first season is the perfect stocking stuffer. Thanks to your generosity, whomever receives this won't suffer from dreadful FOMO once this NYC-set stoner comedy returns next month and officially crosses over into Key & Peele-like ubiquity.

Coolest special feature: “All Out of Spoilers: A Look Back at How I Met Your Mother, a half-hour documentary including interviews with all of the cast

Price: $179.98 (DVD only)

Buy it now at: Amazon

Because it'll be virtually impossible to watch all of How I Met Your Mother's staggering 208 total episodes via the randomness of syndication, the brand-new The Whole Story box set is the logical way to catch up with one of one of this generation's most beloved sitcoms. Assuming you're able to not care about the fact that star Josh Radnor's old man narrator voice is inexplicably that of Bob Saget for over 100 hours, How I Met Your Mother is an often hilarious amalgamation of the iconic Friends and the criminally underrated Happy Endings. Trust, the comedy aficionado on your shopping list will be all about our dude Barney Stinson.

Coolest special feature: featurettes that explain the origins of the term “Penny Dreadful” and the gruesome history of the Grand Guignol

Price: $42.99 (DVD); $48.99 (Blu-ray)

Buy it now at: Amazon

One of 2014's best new TV shows is now the ideal stocking stuffer for those horror lovers on your holiday shopping list. Debuting over the summer on Showtime, Penny Dreadful plays like The Monster Squad for the Victorian-lit crowd, assembling a ragtag crew of supernatural investigators battle through a period-drama world populated by vampires, Dr. Frankenstein, a werewolf, and other refined ghouls.

Now that True Blood is deceased and American Horror Story has fallen off, Penny Dreadful is television's current king of small-screen cable horror that doesn't involve zombies. And its first season DVD/Blu-ray sets are the best way to spread its wealth of freakiness.

Coolest special feature: the two-part holiday-themed A Very Merry Christmas Special

Price: 149.99 (Blu-ray only)

Buy it now at: Amazon

The secret word of the day is… "remastered"!

That's the coolest thing about this beautifully rendered Blu-ray transfer of all 45 Pee-Wee's Playhouse episodes, those giddily bizarre slices of singular cult television that, until now, were only available in janky DVD transfers and grainy YouTube videos. Your nostalgia for Paul Reubens' fictional oddity goes either one of two ways—Pee-Wee either creeps you the hell out (he is, after all, an adult who acts like a kid and talks to his couch) or makes you long for the innocent days when Laurence Fishburne dressed like a cowboy. Your friends at Complex go both ways, though more towards pleasant nostalgia.

Now you who we are, but what are you? (Get it? If not, you probably don't want this set for Christmas.)

Coolest special feature: a new retrospective featurette including interviews with David Lynch and original cast members

Price: $135 (Blu-ray only)

Buy it now at: Amazon

Who doesn't enjoy a good mind-fuck during the holidays? If that's how you roll, there's no better way to spend your Christmas/New Years vacation days than by consuming all of brain-scrambler extraordinaire David Lynch's one-of-a-kind and highly influential '80s TV series Twin Peaks, the unclassifiable '90s show that's basically the daddy of programs like Lost, Bates Motel, and any other genre-tinged TV series that doesn't play by the common procedural or soapy rules. And if watched while you're bent off that egg nog, Twin Peaks will make that holiday anti-classic Santa Claus Conquers the Martians seem as basic as Tim Allen's The Santa Clause.

Coolest special feature: “Holy Memorabilia Batman!” a featurette that follows three collectors and their most sought-after Batman collectibles

Price: $199 (DVD); $269.97 (Blu-ray)

Buy it now at: Amazon

When kids today picture the Caped Crusader, they envision Christian Bale's all-black, brooding, marble-mouthed incarnation, and in a couple of years they'll replace Bale's Batman with the already polarizing Batfleck. Older heads, though, know who the O.G. Bruce Wayne is—it's Adam West, the mediocre actor who donned those silly grey-and-blue tights and fight campy crime alongside Burt Ward's wimpy but always loyal Robin. To truly appreciate just how far Christopher Nolan took Gotham City in his Dark Knight trilogy, sit with this Batman: The Television Series DVD set and see the Joker, Penguin, the Riddler, Catwoman, and countless other villains at their cheesiest—that's not an insult.

Coolest special feature: a featurette including an interview with the late James Avery, a.k.a. “Uncle Phil” and the voice of Shredder

Price: $99.98 (DVD only)

Buy it now at: Amazon

If you're a self-respecting TMNT enthusiast, this past summer's Michael Bay-ified Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles flick—the one where the Turtles looked like HGH Shreks and Megan Fox did her usual Sexy Robot acting—still stings your inner Bebop/Rocksteady stan. Well, buck up, Krang gang member, because this "cowabunga collection" brings together all 10 seasons of the classic animated series in a massive 10-disc set. It's all the cartoon pizza and Lord Dregg you can handle, not to mention the discs come in a mini Turtle van that's just screaming for your to grab those old TMNT figurines and play make-believe with it.

Coolest special feature: the full-length American Masters documentary Rod Serling: Submitted for Your Approval

Price: $350 (DVD only)

Buy it now at: Amazon

How important is The Twilight Zone, that permanent member of "the top five TV shows of all time" club? Without it, modern-day showrunner titans, and outspoken Zone students, like David Chase (The Sopranos), Matthew Weiner (Mad Men), and Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad) wouldn't have given us their own respective shows. Thank the god Rod Serling, and celebrate the iconic genre anthology series' legacy with this major collection.

In it, you'll find all 156 original Twilight Zone episodes from 1959-1964, all of the 1980s reboot's eps, and a slew of making-of docs and rare Rod Serling on-camera interviews. You're looking at the Holy Grail for people who can cite all of Talking Tina's lines without pause.

Coolest special feature: a limited edition replica of Professor X's Cerebro helmet

Price: $79.99

Buy it now at: Amazon

What do you get the comic book fanboy who regularly shaves his head to look like Professor X and, *cringe*, never cuts his fingernails in order to be more like Wolverine? You break the bank and spring for this ultimate example in superhero fan-servicing. On the entertainment side, the Cerebro Collection includes every single X-Men film, starting with director Bryan Singer's 2000 original and spanning through this summer's X-Men: Days of Future Past; on the shamelessly geeky side, there's the replica of Charles Xavier's Cerebro helmet, perfect for those Marvel Comics heads who think Halloween is a 365-day affair.

Coolest special feature: two in-depth behind-the-scenes featurettes detailing how Andy Serkis channels his inner ape

Price: 129.99

Buy it now at: Amazon

While Marvel Studios' ongoing slate of fun-loving superhero movies have received more widespread attention, the two recent Planet of the Apes films starring Andy Serkis as head ape Caesar have quietly taken the crown for Best Modern-Day Summer Movie Blockbusters. And now you can own both Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes alongside 12" wide replica of Caesar's head and a 32-page "Planet of the Apes: Building an Icon" collector's booklet. It's a foolproof way to make the higher-brow popcorn muncher your family go…wait for it…bananas. (We're here all night, folks.)

Coolest special feature: new high-def restorations of David Lynch's six infamous pre- Eraserhead short films, all introduced by Lynch himself

Price: $29.95 (DVD); $39.95 (Blu-ray)

Buy it now at: Amazon

Anyone who frequently buys Criterion Collection releases and loves left-of-center cinema has been salivating for this release for what feels like decades. So when David Lynch's seminal Eraserhead finally hit the Criterion market in September, movie-adoring weirdos let their freak flags fly and ran to the nearest DVD/Blu-ray shop to scoop up this gorgeously remastered edition of the 1977 midnight movie classic. And like all Criterion Collection releases, this one's packed with awesome features like the 2001 Lynch-made documentary Eraserhead Stories and pristine transfers of the eccentric filmmaker's six unclassifiable pre-'77 short films, the titles of which include Six Figures Getting Sick, Premonitions Following an Evil Deed, and The Amputee.

Coolest special feature: new 45-minute documentaries about Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers

Price: $169.99 (Blu-ray only)

Buy it now at: Amazon

Want to see your horror-obsessed loves ones have nerd-gasms in front of the Christmas tree? No? Fair enough, that does sound about as appealing as bacon-flavored candy canes. But, nevertheless, Scream Factory's epic Halloween: The Complete Collection box set is the pinnacle of slasher movie nirvana. It's exactly what the title suggests—every single Michael Myers movie packed into one 15-disc package, a little box with a ridiculous body count and the infamous, never-before-released "producer's cut" of Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers. In case you didn't know, that's the one starring a pre-fame Paul Rudd in one of the most brutal slashers ever made.