The first season of American Horror Story has been announced for release on DVD and Blu Ray. American Horror Story is an original psychosexual drama that is guaranteed to keep you on edge, with a huge amount of twists and turns along the way. Well written, and as addictive a thrill ride as any adrenaline-pumper, American Horror Story is guaranteed to suck you in.
With 17 Emmy Nominations and a Golden Globe and Emmy Award win for Jessica Lange, American Horror Story is certainly highly acclaimed. And with the second season of the show premiering recently, it’s just in time for a season one marathon.
American Horror Story Season 1 will be coming to DVD and Blu Ray on October 24, 2012. The DVD set will be $39.98 when it comes out – Preorder it HERE
Are you an American Horror Story fan? Keep an eye out on the site for recaps for the new season, as well as the other new fall TV shows.
Revenge: The Complete First Season Studio: The Page Fright Company, Mike Kelley Productions, Temple Hill Productions, ABC Studios Publisher: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Format: DVD Release Date: October 3, 2012 Price: $49.98 – Available Here
Overview
Revenge is a complex idea, with a lot of twists and turns and not a lot of stability. So really, the only question is, why hasn’t someone made a show about it earlier? I admit, when I first heard the title of Revenge I questioned it – all of these one word television show titles don’t really inspire the imagination. However, there really isn’t another good way to sum it up, it really is all about revenge.
Story
Revenge follows a young lady whose name was originally Amanda Clarke, but goes by Emily Thorne now, whose father was framed for domestic terrorism and died in prison. So it’s no surprise that she’s got a bit of rage inside, and she’s decided to take revenge on everyone involved in the court case against her father. Sounds fairly simple, but it is quite a twisted path that involves a whole lot of manipulation, high-tech spyware, and the dark secrets of the immensely rich.
It’s kind of like Gossip Girl (including the casting of Connor Paolo, or Eric van der Woodsen) in that there are rich people and they’re always trying to get one up on each other, except that in this case it involves far more serious things like death and jail. Plus, Emily is a total badass.
Not only does she pull some crazy stunts off with manipulation, she’s incredibly smart and adapts to just about any situation. Which helps when you’re trying to blackmail and expose a bunch of rich, dangerous people. She can also come off as a bit cold because of this, but it’s tempered by moments of honesty and vulnerability. But, to be honest, it’s just fun to see her devious mind at work.
Emily is also the best at the over the shoulder scheming look while hugging someone else. It’s actually kind of funny how she’s perfected the slight squint, head tilt, and suspicious look. And once you notice that you sort of look for it every time.
She’s not the only one with ulterior motives, Victoria Grayson (Madeleine Stowe) is the epitome of a sexy Devil in a red dress. She loves her family unconditionally and does whatever she can to protect them. She certainly isn’t a sympathetic character, but she is fun to watch. And that’s what this show is, with its morally ambiguous characters and conspiracies, it’s a huge amount of fun to watch.
As the first season, Revenge really establishes itself well as a great mystery show, with really interesting characters who develop a lot over the time of the show (not always in positive ways either). You’ll find yourself rooting for certain characters, then your opinion of them changing over time, that’s just how much the show sucks you in. However, there are also characters that you hate and can’t wait to get rid of. Unfortunately, the characters have a habit of never really leaving and on more than a few occasions you end up groaning as one of them returns like a bad rash.
There are the usual relationship dramas and love triangles (or squares) that you can expect from a drama show. These aren’t as annoying as the teenage equivalent, but they are frustrating in that whole ‘will they won’t they’ way.
Visuals
The style of Revenge models itself a little after the fakeness you can see in soap operas. The colours are a little off, leaving it a little unsettling, which is the purpose of it really. Apart from that, the Hamptons and the stunningly rich sets are breathtaking and allow for some pretty awesome backgrounds.
In terms of cinematography the shots are well set up, and well-designed to be given that surreal, overly pretty quality. It works really well, especially in the overly affluent setting.
Audio
The soundtrack of Revenge capitalizes on the suspenseful nature of it, emphasizing and exaggerating moments of the show. The main soundtrack theme is a bit Inception-y – we’re all about mystery and suspense here, especially when it involves ominous sounds. Overall, it works well and you’re never really left feeling that it’s over the top or out of place.
Special Features
There are a tonne of special features included on each disc, including behind the scene featurettes, deleted scenes for almost every episode, and bloopers. It’s everything you want from the extras in a DVD box set.
Overall
Revenge: The Complete First Season is a DVD box set that allows you to relive the crazy and intense storyline of Revenge, as well as some extras. Revenge is a story for those who love mystery, suspense and some good old double-crossing. Revenge is well written and acted with some really intriguing plot twists and character relationships. You’ll find yourself watching more and more episodes as the suspense and cliffhangers get to you.
Plus, with the second season of Revenge out on TV, it’s the perfect time to rewatch the first season and get a refresher on the story up until now.
With Borderlands 2’s first piece of DLC “Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate’s Booty” just released, it seems that 2K Games is already hard at work on the next piece of downloadable content for the game. So hard at work in fact that they forgot to hide the trophies for the game on the PlayStation 3.
A tipster sent the above image to Joystiq revealing that the new piece of downloadable content for Borderlands 2 will apparently be called “Mr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage.” No details about this DLC have been revealed yet, and since this is not an announcement from 2K or Gearbox, this should be seen as a likely rumor at the moment, though it is worth noting that Torgue is the weapon manufacturer in Borderlands 2 that creates mini-rocket bullets.
In some rather shocking news, Tadatoshi Fujimaki the mangaka behind the popular sports manga Kuroko’s Basketball has received death threats from an anonymous hater. A variety of different places connected to Fujimaki, such as his University he attended, the publishing company of Kuroko’s Basketball and his studio received the death threats in the form a letter along with a mysterious powder and liquid.
Tokyo Metropolitan Police reported that at each location of the threat a container was found which contain hydrogen-sulfide like powder and liquid along with a letter attached. The letter mentioned things like “I don’t like Tadatoshi Fujimaki” and “Stop the manga.” The letter concluded by saying “If you don’t stop the parody manga, hydrogen sulfide will be boiled.” Police have begun a full investigation into these death threats and believe they have a lead, however no more information on the case has been revealed at this point in time.
Are you a bit down that BioShock Infinite’s release has been pushed back a few times? Well now that you’ve had some time to save up your money for the game, Irrational and 2K Games have a special treat for you. A more expensive version of the game with some neat goodies!
Today the company revealed that BioShock Infinite will have a Ultimate Songbird Edition released for $149.99. This version of the game will come with a special box, a keychain modeled after an item in the game, a 5 x 7 lithograph, a resin-cast miniature from the BioShock Infinite board game, an art book and various digital goods like a soundtrack, in-game upgrades and some DLC bonuses. Perhaps the biggest bonus however is a 9.5″ statue of Bioshock Infinite’s Songbird.
Those who don’t feel like dropping that much money, can still pick up the Premium Edition of the game for only $79.99 which includes everything above minus the Songbird Statue. Gamers in North America can pre-order this special version now while Europeans and Australians can do so on October 22nd.
If you enjoy dressing your favorite Dead or Alive 5 fighters in various costumes then Tecmo Koei certainly has you covered. Today it was discovered on the Japanese PlayStation Store that the third costume pack for the game is expected to be released in that country on October 30th.
There is no mention of what these costumes may be nor if they will be released in other regions on the same day. on the other hand, it is very likely that these costumes will be released worldwide on the same date. Considering the date, any guesses as to what these costumes could be? Perhaps some cosplay costumes or Halloween outfits for some of our favorite fighters?
After a short break of new champions, Riot Games created a new combatant that has been in the works for quite some time. Elise, the Spider Queen will cross over to the Fields of Justice in the upcoming League of Legends patch. Not likely to be crushed by any boot, Elise is a transform champion that can shift between a human mage and spider form. Let’s take a look at her abilities and lore.
Abilities (Human Form)
Spider Swarm (Passive): Elise’s Human Form spells will ready a spiderling when cast on an enemy.
Neurotoxin: Elise damages a target based on its current Health.
Volatile Spiderling: Elise releases a venom-gorged spiderling that explodes when it nears a target.
Cocoon: Elise fires a skillshot that stuns the first enemy struck.
Spider Form: Elise transforms into a menacing spider with new abilities. While in Spider Form, Elise deals magic bonus damage on attack and has increased Movement Speed, Armor, and Magic Resistance. Each level of her ultimate allows Elise to summon an additional spiderling.
Abilities (Spider Form)
Spider Swarm (Passive): Elise summons her spiderlings to fight by her side. Spiderlings deal physical damage and take reduced damage from multi-target abilities.
Venomous Bite: Elise lunges forward and bites her target, slowing them and dealing bonus damage based on how low its Health is.
Skittering Frenzy: Elise and her spiderlings gain Attack Speed and heal her on each attack.
Rappel:
On enemy cast: Elise and her spiderlings ascend high into the air and descend upon an enemy target.
On ground cast: Elise and her spiderlings ascend high into the air, becoming untargetable for two seconds. Casting Rappel on a nearby enemy during this time will descend upon your target.
Human Form: Elise transforms into a human form with new abilities. Each level of her ultimate allows Elise to summon an additional spiderling.
Lore
Before becoming the Spider Queen, Elise was a charismatic and deceitfully evil leader of a spider god cult. One day in the halls of her dark community, she emerged with a band of her loyal subjects to embark on a journey to find the shrine of their spider god. A long journey took its toll on the group, but finally the Shadow Isles came into focus. Up reaching the shores of the shrouded Shadow Isles, the group came to find a cavern – not a shrine – covered in large webs. As Elise raised her arms in triumph, her loyal subjects drew a gasp in fear as spider-like legs appeared out of her flesh. Terrified her subjects began running away from the cavern, but Elise stopped them with magical webbing. Elise let out a deafening screech calling out an ancient evil that lurched inside the cave. An undead spider slowly crept out into the clearing with its massive body on sharp, pointed legs. Soon screams could be heard amongst all of the Shadow Isles as the spider slowly devoured Elise’s subjects. The undead creature had became sated of its hunger of flesh and allowed Elise to take from it the spider’s deadly toxin.
Elise then drank from the vile toxin and experienced a rejuvenation through her cursed veins. Escaping mortality’s aging once again, she rejoined her congregation. Elise was deceitful in telling the story of the transpired events and spoke of her subjects staying to praise the spider god. She reassured her subjects there would be another journey, and that the spider god would be awaiting their return…
Some good news for all those Australian and New Zealand gamers as Mindscape Asia Pacific has announced a retail distribution partnership with leading casual games developer and publisher Alawar Entertainment. This will see Mindscape start to release Alawar’s popular titles and franchises across its many distribution networks. Expect to see the following titles this October with many more to come. Firstly Farm Frenzy 3: American Pie complete with 90 new levels, characters and challenges. If tending to the land on earth isnt enough for you then perhaps Smash Frenzy 4 is more your style as players struggle to save as many humans they can from the clutches of the evil kidnapping aliens. The last of the October releases is Sky Taxi 4: Top Secret where you take on the role of Mitch as he journeys through action packed levels to save a beautiful spy.
All three titles are available from leading retailers for $19.95
Jack the Giant Killer will now be Jack the Giant Slayer. Waner Bros have modified the title of its upcoming fantasy flick. One possible reason may be because “slaying” sounds a lot classier than “killing”, but no official reason has been released as yet.
As the official synopsis reads:
“Jack the Giant Slayer tells the story of an ancient war that is reignited when a young farmhand unwittingly opens a gateway between our world and a fearsome race of giants. Unleashed on the Earth for the first time in centuries, the giants strive to reclaim the land they once lost, forcing the young man, Jack, into the battle of his life to stop them.”
It is also directed by Brian Singer of X-men fame, so it will be one to watch out for, regardless of the title. Jack the Giant Slayer opens on March 21, 2013.
It appears the undead just wont die. With the release date of Breaking Dawn Pt. 2 on the horizon (Nov 15, 2012), those of us who are not teenage girls rejoiced. There was light at the end of the tunnel. The Twilight phenomenon was coming to an end. Well, the dream of living in a Twilight-free world has come crashing down around us as rumours fly of a continuation of the franchise.
There are no confirmed plans as yet, but everything from a movie reboot (yes, you read that right) to a spin-off tv series are being considered. Stephanie Meyer will have the final say in what will happen next in the world of Twilight. So Twihards, rejoice! As for the rest of us, these are dark days indeed…
In some rather shocking news, Tadatoshi Fujimaki the mangaka behind the popular sports manga Kuroko’s Basketball has received death threats from an anonymous hater. A variety of different places connected to Fujimaki, such as his University he attended, the publishing company of Kuroko’s Basketball and his studio received the death threats in the form a letter along with a mysterious powder and liquid.
