 | |
List Price: $59.99 | | Label: HBO Home Video
Salesrank: 60
Released: May 19, 2009 |
| Our Price: $22.98 |
| Used Price: $19.96 |
|
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
|
Editorial Review:
TRUE BLOOD chronicles the backwoods Louisiana town of Bon Temps... where vampires have emerged from the coffin, and no longer need humans for their fix. Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin, Golden Globe(R)-winner for "True Blood", Academy Award®-winner for “The Piano”) works as a waitress at the rural bar Merlotte's. Though outwardly a typical young woman, she keeps a dangerous secret: she has the ability to hear the thoughts of others. Her situation is further complicated when the bar gets its first vampire patron - 173-year old Bill Compton (Steven Moyer, "Quills") - and the two outsiders are immediately drawn to each other. Delivering the best of what audiences have come to expect from Creator and Executive Producer Alan Ball (writer of Oscar®-winning Best Picture “American Beauty”, creator of the Emmy® Award-winning HBO® series “Six Feet Under”), TRUE BLOOD is a dark and sexy tale that boldly delves into the heart - and the neck - of the Deep South.
DVD Features:
Audio Commentary
Documentary
Other
Description of True Blood: The Complete First Season (HBO Series):
Alan Ball’s True Blood series works well for television, as it has enough sensationalism to tantalize and enough story girth to make the viewer care about the characters. That one can finally invest emotion into monsters, including an undead Civil War victim, a transformer who can shapeshift into various animals, and a female mind reader, speaks volumes about America’s willingness to accept fantasy. Of course, television has always produced good fantasy shows (I Dream of Jeannie), but True Blood’s Southern Goth brand of fun horror is more macabre and more perverse, not to mention gorier, than most shows of its kind to date. Adapted from Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse novels, True Blood thrills because of its equal blend in each episode of erotica, humor, tragedy, mystery, and fantasy.
Set in a rural, swampy Louisiana parrish, the show centers around Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) and her clan, sweet grandmother Adele (Lois Smith) and air-headed brother Jason (Ryan Kwanten). Illicit love is spawned early on, when Sookie saves vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) from having his blood stolen in the parking lot of Merlotte’s diner, owned by Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell) who completes what will form a complex love triangle. As tensions between Sookie’s suitors loosen or tighten, many side plots, such as her African American best friend Tara’s (Rutina Wesley) struggle with an alcoholic, Bible-thumping mother and her brother’s dangerous crush on drug addicted hippie, Amy Burley (Lizzy Caplan), keep one wondering who will succeed in this podunk place. The main tension throughout, however, is a race war waged between vampires and humans. As murders of “fang bangers” occur (human girls who let vampires bite them) and dumb policeman Andy Bellefleur (Chris Bauer) fails to find clues, one sees the metaphorical implications of vampirism and feels deeper resonance with what can be a downright trashy show. Gossip galore, especially about what kinds of babies interbreeding will produce, is rampant. One of the funniest characters is Tara’s flamboyant cousin, Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis), who deals drugs, works as a fry cook, and services the local white politicians, while making sure he’s always up in everyone’s business.
What makes True Blood smarter than pure soap opera is the parallels it draws between its monster mash and actual, familiar societal problems. Sookie and her friends watch the news, where Evangelicals bash vampires and prohibit mixed marriage, and everyone is addicted to V, a.k.a vampire blood, that effects like psychedelic heroin. Even its gore reflects a mix of serious and silly, as vampires explode into red, sticky goop. Though it may not be attempting to qualify for the best vampire footage ever shot, True Blood is as addictive as that substance the town’s youth obsesses over, which is a metaphor in itself. --Trinie Dalton
Stills from True Blood (Click for larger image)
True Blood: The Complete First Season (HBO Series) Reviews:
So much fun! 
2009-12-21 - I read the books and didn't know what to expect from the show. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised! It has a little soap opera, action adventure, fantasy, horror, semi-porn and B movie in it. I just think it's fun! NOT for kids! The show follows the books pretty well... but they go more in-depth into the less important characters like Tara. You also learn a lot about V... vampire blood that's used by humans like a drug. I would definitely recommend this show to anyone who likes vampires, sex and the Sookie Stackhouse books!
Great show!!
2009-12-21 - I loved this show the first time I saw it on HBO and I still love it after 3 viewings. There was no question about adding this show to my DVD collection.
TRUEBLOOD 
2009-12-21 - I LOVE THE SERIES BUT MY DVDS CAME IN SCRATCHED UP. SOME OF THE DVDS STOPPED AND SKIPPED A BIT.
Tru Enjoyment
2009-12-19 - If you enjoy vampire, supernatural amd romance genre, then this series is for you. TruBlood loosely follows author Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series of SciFi/romance novels and does it well. The casting for the series is excellent with the actors fulfilling the temperments of the characters, and often as not the physical characteristics, also. The plot lines differ to some extent but are still as anjoyable as the books and plausible within the story setting. After awhile, one would not be surprised to read in the news that vampires have come out and are living in Bon Temps, LA. This definitely is not intended for a younger and sensitive audience. But if you are in the mood for horror and SciFi with a sexy attitude, sit back, kick up your feet, grab a bottle of TruBlood (yes, it is avaiable on the internet) and enjoy!
Yes, yes and yes!!
2009-12-18 - This is a must buy!!!!! This is a great show, the books are good and they are so different, you can read the book and watch the show at the same time without the book giving it away! I love these so much!
