Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21545 in DVD
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 7
• Original language: Arabic, English, French, German, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English
• Dimensions: .90 pounds

Customer Reviews

Cthulhu Mythos meets Lord of the Flies
Sci-fi horrors that try to offer a rational explanation for every irrational plot-line are notoriously difficult to pull off on screen. There's a limit to the number of weird new plot devices that a script will bear without tripping the credibility of the audience. Lost's trick is to throw in something so sinister, so spine-tingling, that it seems to be impossible. It then takes as long as possible to give you an explanation, intercut with the back stories of the castaways. Then, when an island mystery is finally revealed, you never know what it is you're seeing... so the viewer spends half her time pontificating over the tiniest morsels of information and theorising endlessly over jetsam and flotsam.

The plot - a plain crash, a semi-mechanical monster, a gang of indigenous islanders called "the Others", a sequence of mysterious numbers, an underground hatch, nonhuman influences and superhuman powers - owe enormously to the work of HP Lovecraft and his unique blending of science fiction, horror, and cosmic pessimism. Hurley's encounter with Sam Toomey, for example, is similar to Lovecraft's take on madness - the idea that some experiences are barely comprehensible to human minds, and those who delve into such forbidden knowledge risk their sanity. This, again, is a recurring theme, especially during Sayid's rendezvous with Danielle Rousseau and John's mysterious encounter with the island's "security system." The show's obsession with fate and free will - the idea that no person is in control of his or her destiny - is another paean to Lovecraftian horror. (The "Monster," in my opinion, bears a striking resemblance to the shoggoth.)

Lost's compelling story is backed-up with sharp writing, stunning cinematography, and great performances. The two main characters, the good-looking doctor Jack Shepherd and his roguish love interest Kate Austen, are useful counterweights to "Sawyer" and Sayid Jarrah - both of whom would fit nicely into William Golding's Lord of the Flies (good performances are also put in by Jorge Garcia, Maggie Grace, Daniel Dae Kim and Ian Somerhalder). Admittedly, some of the individual flashbacks are occasionally too melodramatic and sloppily written. These lapses, nonetheless, are overshadowed by the overpowering performance and presence of Terry O'Quinn - who plays the knife-wielding, boar-hunting, hatch-digging John Locke. He's a cross between Confucius and Ray Mears; and if there is one reason why everyone should own this boxset, it is to see his dazzling, Zen-like performance.