The Hollywood studios have started to unleash their usual blast of summer movie fare in multiplexes nationwide. But what if the kind of summer flick you crave isn't the latest blockbuster but a film that evokes the feelings of the sunburn season?

With that in mind, here are a few DVD double features that are guaranteed to put you in a hot-and-humid state of mind, even if you view them in the air-conditioned comfort of home.

SUMMERTIME SUSPENSE

You can almost feel the sweltering summer air when you're watching Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window," an exploration of the perils of voyeurism that came long before Shia LaBeouf got all peeping-tommy in "Disturbia." Follow it up with another elegant thriller, 2003's "Swimming Pool," which is set in a vacation home on the south of France and boasts a young babe (Ludivine Sagnier) in a bikini as well as a twist ending.

SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER

It's technically about skipping school, not summer break. But the picture-perfect Chicago day and carpe-diem vibe in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" — not to mention the fact that the comedy classic was originally released June 11, 1986, just as we '80s kids were shutting our lockers for the year — make it an ideal summer-cinema choice. Pair it with what I consider an annual post-Memorial Day movie-viewing ritual: "Dazed and Confused," Richard Linklater's ambling ode to the last day of school, circa 1976.

TWO FOR THE KIDS

If you have a child who loves both the ocean and horses, pop "The Black Stallion" into your DVD player ASAP. The 1979 adaptation of the children's novel about a boy and his love for a wild, ebony beauty features some of the most stunningly shot beach scenes on film. Complete the double feature with another family favorite from the same year: "The Muppet Movie." Released in the summer of '79, the road trip musical takes Kermit from the steamy swamps of Florida to the bright studio lots of Hollywood, with plenty of cameo appearances (Steve Martin! Richard Pryor!) and catchy tunes along the way.

A NEW YORK-SUMMER STATE OF MIND

If the "Sex and the City" movie sparks a craving for more NYC stories, try this pair, both from decidedly opposite ends of the New York spectrum. "The Seven Year Itch" offers a summer-centric plot — a Manhattan workaholic connects with a tempting neighbor while his family spends their lazy, hazy days in the country — and the prospect of watching the iconic image of Marilyn Monroe's billowing skirt flap seductively above a subway grate. After this Billy Wilder comedy, jump forward a few decades to fight the power with 1989's "Do the Right Thing," Spike Lee's ground-breaking exploration of racial tensions, set on the hottest day of the summer in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn.