Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #66 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-10-26
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Formats: Box set, PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Norwegian, Swedish
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 5
• Running time: 691 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Alan Ball’s True Blood series works well for television, as it has enough sensationalism to tantalise 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, humour, tragedy, mystery, and fantasy.

Set in a rural, swampy Louisiana parish, 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 social 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

DVD Description
From the creator of Six Feet Under and American Beauty comes True Blood, a TV series that follows Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin, who won a Golden Globe award for her role), a barmaid living in Louisiana who can read people's minds, and how her life is turned upside down when the Vampire Bill walks into her place of employment two years after vampires "came out of the coffin" on national television.

Synopsis
Created by SIX FEET UNDER's Alan Ball, TRUE BLOOD is like a sexier, bloodier older sister to the relatively well-behaved TWILIGHT. This HBO drama is based on the Southern Vampire Mysteries novels by Charlaine Harris, a series set in a world where vampires have just begun to 'come out' after a synthetic blood substitute called True Blood is introduced. Oscar winner Anna Paquin stars as Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic waitress living in Bon Temps, Louisiana, who falls hard for Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), a Civil War veteran and vampire. But their romantic romps aren't the only draw for the series: the existence between humans and vampires is an uneasy one, and people are dying.
Clothes fall to the floor almost as often as blood spatters the walls in this show that blends supernatural horror, sex, and mystery, with just a little bit of social commentary thrown in for good measure. Executive producer Ball and his writers have shaped a variety of fascinating characters in addition to Sookie and Bill, including Sookie's mysterious boss, Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell); her best friend, Tara (Rutina Wesley); her womanising brother, Jason (Ryan Kwanten); and her sweet grandmother, Adele (Lois Smith). This collection presents the show's complete first series.

Customer Reviews

Twilight for grown ups!
The basic premise of this show is pure genius and quite unique. Based on a series of books this show is more addictive than crack! Vampires have 'come out of the closet' and live among humans. Japanese scientists create a synthetic blood (True Blood) so that they don't have to drink from humans. Obviously this doesn't stop some of them but the big surprise is that humans can also drink from them and their blood is a drug known as V.

Sookie (pronounced largely as Sucky!) Stackhouse is a waitress with a talent - she reads minds. Unlike most portrayals of such "gifts" she struggles to switch off the voices in her head in order to live a normal life. When Bill walks in to her restaurant she and all the patrons know immediately that he is a vampire. She's instantly drawn to him as she cannot read his mind and therefore finds peace in his company.

What follows is not for the faint hearted so be warned that this contains massive amounts of sex, nudity, some really bad language (the "c" word is used in the first episode) and graphic violence.
For those reasons I adored it but if you're the type of person who finds Sex and the City to be too full on then steer clear because within the first few minutes this show will shock you!

Alongside some other plotlines is an ongoing murder mystery. Someone's out to get Sookie and Bill vows to protect her. The writers aren't scared of killing off central characters and you'll be left guessing up to the last minute who the killer is.

The main reason to watch this is the amazing acting. Anna Paquin won a Golden Globe for her depiction of Sookie and you can see why. This is a bold and courageous choice for her and her wide eyed innocence is beguiling if a little twee at times.
Personally I loved Ryan Kwanten who has really proved himself as Sookie's older brother Jason. His accent is spot on and he tackles the role with enthusiasm which is just as well as he's naked most of the time! I have gotten all my friends to watch this show based solely on my description of the events leading up to Jason being found with a T-bone steak firmly held to his groin. Classic moments.
Another mention has to go to Rutina Wesley who plays Tara, Sookie's best friend who has a major chip on her shoulder and a huge crush on Jason. Tara takes her frustration out on those around her and her put downs are classic! I was laughing so much throughout.
The only person who can match her is Lafayette her cousin played by Nelsan Ellis. A few friends have said that his portrayal of the gay cook is cliched but I thought he was hilarious and terrifying in equal measure.

All in all if you like your sex full on, your laughs loud and your violence shocking then you will be hooked from the 1st episode. I can't praise the writing enough and the direction is perfect.
The only shame is there are only 12 episodes and you'll be waiting for the 2nd season with baited breath!

True Blood, Hot Stuff
The latest cult tv series, which has just started to air in the UK, arrives on Region 1 DVD and is it worth the hype that's been generated about it? Is this really the greatest fantasy series since Buffy?

For the first three episodes I wasn't sure. It took a little while to get into it, partly because of the way it was filmed; lacking the glossy image of film, it almost seemed cheap. The local Louisiana accent seemed somewhat stilted to me too. Then, of course, there's the introduction of a whole new bunch of characters and for a while I sometimes got confused between two of the male leads. It also seemed a lot darker than the books (or so memory tells me) while remaining quite faithful. I was enjoying it certainly, but it didn't click home until around episode 3 and then-

Wow, this is really good!

It also makes Buffy look like the Sarah Jane Adventures -tea-time viewing. True Blood is rough stuff. The violence alone will earn it an 18 rating when the UK DVD is finally released. But then so will the explicit sex which verges on being soft-core porn with its nudity and positions other than the missionary one. And also the language which, if not quite as frequent as Goodfellas, is nevertheless frequent. Put together this series is not for the sensitive and squeamish.

Gore and sex alone, however, do not make for a good program. Though they don't hurt either. The characters, once you get to know them, are strong and interesting and well played by the leads with excellent support such as Sam, the sympathetic bar owner with a secret, and Tara, our heroine's best friend and motormouth and my favourite character. There are more, in particular Lafayette, Tara's cousin, cook at Sam's bar, and also tough guy, effeminate gay, and drug dealer -I like him too. Then there's also Josh, Sookie's black sheep brother. These are the key characters but then is also a large supporting cast with important roles to play.

I'm deliberately not going to write too much about the plot because it's best enjoyed with as few preconceptions as possible. I will tell you that it's likely to go in directions you don't expect including people you thought would be in it to the end. There's much more to it than just a supernatural love story. There is a very blatant subtext which two items make explicitly clear. A sign that reads: God Hates Fangs. Remove the 'n' and what have you got? Then there's the news item where Vermont makes vampire marriage legal. And that Alan Ball, the talented creator of the series, is himself openly gay. Vampires have always been a commonly used metaphor for the outsider figure but here the metaphor is very specific. By the way, this isn't a criticism, I like the very pointedness of it. It gives the series an extra resonance.

At the end the ongoing serial killer thread is resolved and elements have been put in place for season 2 and, I've since learned, there's going to be a lesbian vampire Queen of New Orleans appearing. And I've got to wait a whole year to see it. God dayum.

sexier than the books
Having read all of the Sookie books to date; whilst in USA last September I was delighted to catch 3 episodes of True Blood. Enjoyed the books (more so than the Twilight series) but the HBO series is definitely sexier than the books...excellent casting..Anna P definitely deserved her Golden Globe