VAMPYROS LESBOS

Yeah, yeah, we know what you’re thinking. But no, this German-Spanish horror film is not quite like that. Vampyros Lesbos is a poetic and dreamlike twist on Bram Stoker’s classic tale. With an underwater scorpion, a talking kite and a lot of sex. Oh, who are we kidding? You were probably right the first time.

Linda (Ewa Strömberg) works for a Turkish legal firm called Simpson & Simpson (no, really) and sees Nadine (Soledad Miranda) doing a sexy nightclub act with a woman who looks like a mannequin but isn’t (we think). She’s obviously impressed because she nibbles her lip a lot while she’s watching it and, as far as we understand the rules of cinema, this means she’s a bit turned on. Needless to say, Linda starts to have dreams about Nadine. As luck would have it, she’s called to the island Nadine lives on (who turns out to be Countess Nadine Carody, so she’s obviously a vampire) to make arrangements for her inheritance. Oooh, bit like Jonathan Harker then. Despite receiving warnings not to go from what turns out to be the local psycho (Jesus Franco himself), she goes along anyway and a kite (repeatedly) calls her name. Seriously, there’s an awful lot of that kite. She checks into the local hotel (without any luggage, we couldn’t help but notice) and meets up with Nadine who obviously isn’t one of those sunlight-fearing vampires as she likes to sunbath in a white bikini. Like all good business meetings, they start off with some skinny-dipping and then they have sex (Tod Browning obviously missed a trick there). And then it all gets a bit complicated. There’s lots of dreamy-weirdness involving an underwater scorpion (no idea, sorry) and there’s even a Doctor Seward (Dennis Price) just to give it a bit more Stokeresque authenticity. A bit unconvincing on that front, we’re afraid. But there’s a lot more sex and a soundtrack that makes you think you’re in a 1970s curry house.

So you’re probably wondering if all of this is any good . Actually, to be fair, you might not be wondering at all as you may well have made your mind up from the title. It’s not a bad way of judging it. Vampyros Lesbos does indeed have an artsy-beauty to it all and it’s certainly dreamlike as long as you’re prepared to accept being a bit slow as part of the deal. But that probably isn’t going to be quite enough to keep you entertained if the sight of Ewa Strömberg and especially Soledad Miranda going girl-on-girl isn’t your thing. It has to be said that the very beautiful Miranda (who died in a car crash just a month after completing the film) is very much the star here even if Strömberg gets top billing. If you’re a fan of Miranda, then you’ll probably love this.

We still don’t get the kite…

Special Features: Interviews / German trailer / Opening titles

VAMPYROS LESBOS (1971) / DIRECTOR: JESÚS FRANCO / SCREENPLAY: JAIME CHÁVARRI, JESÚS FRANCO / STARRING: EWA STRÖMBERG, SOLEDAD MIRANDA, ANDRÉS MONALES, DENNIS PRICE, PAUL MÜLLER / RELEASED: NOVEMBER 30TH

 

THE BIG BOSS

The Big Boss, also known as Fists of Fury by Western audiences, is a 1971 Hong Kong martial arts action film starring Bruce Lee and made the actor a star across Asia. In the film, Lee’s character Cheng Chao-an, a Chinese man from mainland China who moves to Thailand to live with his cousin, takes on a gang of drug dealers.

Frustrated with Hollywood after the cancellation of the TV series The Green Hornet and America’s reluctance to cast an ethnic Chinese actor, even one born in San Francisco, as a leading man, Lee left the United States for Hong Kong, hoping to win acceptance as a major star in America via the backdoor. Lee’s gamble would ultimately pay off, with the famed philosopher/martial artist cast as the star of Enter the Dragon in 1973; the first Chinese martial arts film produced by a major Hollywood studio, Warner Bros.

While regarded by his fans today as the best martial artist of the 20th century and already a television star after his portrayal of Kato in The Green Hornet and Batman, Lee was still unproven in films. Initially then, James Tien, who was already a major film star in Hong Kong, was the main protagonist in The Big Boss. This was quickly changed, however, after the producers saw Lee’s electrifying performance in his first fight scene. With the charisma of a prime Michael Jackson and the fighting genius of a Muhammad Ali, Lee takes out an entire gang of thugs single-handedly.

This Blu-ray release includes a wealth of extras, including documentaries and interviews with friends and relatives, to accompany the film that shed light on the Jeet Kune Do master’s unique philosophy on fighting and life.

THE BIG BOSS / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: WEI LO / STARRING: BRUCE LEE, MARIA YI, JAMES TIEN, YING-CHIEH HAN / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
 
 

THE ECCENTRIC FAMILY: COMPLETE COLLECTION

It’s easy to imagine the majestic temples, gardens and palaces of Kyoto as home to folkloric figures of beauty, mischief and chaos. Being the animated translation of Tomihiko Morimi’s 2007 novel, The Eccentric Family offers just that. It’s a city divided into a hierarchy of Tengu, humans and Tanuki and, roughly speaking, in that order. Humans still steadfastly top the food chain, and one group, known as The Friday Club, round off every year with a Tanuki hot pot. As their dad was once the unfortunate main course, the Shimogamo family know more than most their lot in life.

To mask their racoon-like natural states, Tanuki are able to transform into humans. For most, that’s about where the ability ends. Third son Yasaburō Shimogamo, however, who trained under grumpy tengu Akadama-sensei, can switch from one form to any other with ease and abandon. We’re first introduced to him in schoolgirl form, demonstrating his devil-may-care run amok attitude, and enjoying the chaos of the everyday and ordinary. Whether that’s irking his old master, imitating humans or side-stepping the half-human Benten, he’s usually at the root of some misfortune.

As it evolves, the series opens up a dark and festering secret embedded in Tanuki society. Even in amongst the darker shades of its story, The Eccentric Family is filled with optimism, boosted by the celebratory opening song and the luscious animation. It’s a granular patchwork of dazzling colour in motion, like a twinkling sea or clouded sky. There’s a kind of refreshing simplicity to the impish look of the characters – block coloured and beautifully basic – all dotted nostrils and sticky-out ears.

It’s not that the characters are unusual, it’s that they ring true to real life: their interaction, yearnings, hurts and ambitions. The weirdness is saved for elsewhere, and there’s plenty of it. Take the bamboozling soundtrack, part jazz and part . . .  well, eccentric. The breath-taking sequences and vistas see director Masayuki Yoshihara at his absolute best, from Benten waxing lyrical to the moon, or swimming naked with a whale, to the floating tea houses like something conjured by Hayao Miyazaki.

Because of the literary origins, individual episodes can be less eventful than others, following as it does the structure of a novel in the way the story unfolds. But the complexity of the drama, superior voice acting and thoughtful story ensure The Eccentric Family covers life, death and everything in between without shirking its sense of wonder and mischief.

Special Features: Clean opening and closing / TV spots / Trailers

THE ECCENTRIC FAMILY: COMPLETE COLLECTION / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: MASAYUKI YOSHIHARA / SCREENPLAY: SHOTARO SUGA / STARRING: TAKAHIRO SAKURAI, JUNICHI SUWABE, HIROYUKI YOSHINO, MAI NAKAHARA, KIKUKO INOUE / RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 23RD

 

LOVE IS THE DEVIL

If you set out to make the artiest arthouse story about an artist and his arty friends in their art filled world, the resulting film would probably look and feel something like Love is the Devil (or Love is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon to give its full title). A bleak, often masochistic depiction of Bacon’s destructive relationship with his unstable muse and lover George Dyer, this is a gloriously eccentric story of London’s bohemian underbelly in the 1960s but one that is a little too pretentious for its own good at times.

Writer and director John Maybury’s film focusses on a particular period in Bacon’s life and his turbulent relationship with petty crook Dyer. At this time the successful Bacon was enjoying the life of an alcoholic bon viveur and he and the equally substance reliant Dyer became emotionally intertwined, despite the latter’s lack of any artistic sensibility.

The main issue with Love is the Devil is the episodic nature of the narrative. Feeling more like a play than a film throughout, it feels like an eccentrically diarised account of the period. Brief, overly edited scenes, although often highly impactful, become increasingly incoherent as Maybury seems intent on entirely reflecting the abstract stylings of his subject. Rarely is a scene allowed to flow and develop giving the whole piece an uneven pace and tone. There are moments to enjoy, in particular scenes within the legendary The Colony Room so popular with artists and drinkers of the time, but these are rare against the unapproachable nature of the film.

Conversely, the performances are anything but. Jacobi and Craig inhabit their respective roles of Bacon and Dyer entirely, pushing the uncomfortable truth of the central relationship to the limits of taste, and Swinton adds to her chameleonic reputation as the larger-than-life proprietor of The Colony Club. There is great joy and sadness to be found within the extreme lives of these era defining characters, but the controlling direction gives only a passing glimpse behind the drunken façade.

So obsessed do the filmmakers appear to be with Bacon that they have produced a film entirely beholden to the artist, and while admirable in many ways, if you’re not a fan of his work then this could come across as entirely indulgent and forgiving of a man who was as flawed as he was brilliant.

LOVE IS THE DEVIL / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: JOHN MAYBURY / STARRING: DEREK JACOBI, DANIEL CRAIG, TILDA SWINTON, ANNE LAMBTON / RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 23RD

 

MANEATER

If preposterous and poor B-movie creature features are to your tastes, then Hank Braxtan’s eco-horror Maneater (formerly titled Unnatural) could provide the viewing for your perfect Friday night. If not, this thinly-veiled lecture on climate change may prove as lifeless as some of the clichéd performances it contains.

Clobirch Industries, headed by genre legend Ray Wise in a role that barely counts as a cameo, are publicly researching and monitoring climate change. Privately they are carrying out experiments to genetically alter animals, including the particularly aggressive polar bear of the title. When said polar bear escapes, seemingly by just sneaking out at night, an isolated lodge and the irritating inhabitants within provide the nearest food source.

Maneater contains nothing you will not have seen many, many times before and stylistically is little more than a routine SyFy Channel release. Following an age-old premise so perfectly delivered on by Jaws, Braxton keeps his creature hidden for much of the film. As the terrorised human characters, including hero-in-waiting survival expert Martin (Remar) and dodgy scientist Hannah (Fenn), are picked off one by one by the bloodthirsty bear, Braxton tries and fails to utilise that premise in order to build the tension. That you never really care who lives and who becomes the next inevitable victim removes any remote sense of trepidation, and the weak plot contains so many holes and “eh?” moments as to never hold together on any narrative level. Perhaps this is a case of taking the film too seriously, but when that central eco-message is so bluntly and humourlessly handled, Maneater deserves close scrutiny. The humour that does exist is entirely accidental as nothing is delivered with a knowing tongue planted firmly in an ironic cheek, and as such the film peters out into dull weariness.

There will always be a nostalgic demand for creature features, but these films need to understand what they are. Alongside the monsters, gore and genre stereotypes there must be a sense of fun; of being entertaining first and foremost and letting the message, if there needs to be one at all, reveal itself without the need for clumsy lecturing.

If there is nothing else on, nothing on any of the many channels at your disposal, then Maneater may be worth a look, if only for one of the worst pay-off lines you will ever hear. The chances are there will always be something else on.

MANEATER / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: HANK BRAXTAN / SCREENPLAY: RON CARLSON, ARCH STANTON / STARRING: JAMES REMAR, SHERILYN FENN, RON CARLSON, GRAHAM GREENE, RAY WISE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
 
 

SONG OF THE SEA

This past year has been a true renaissance for animation, from Inside Out to Big Hero 6 to The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, and with Song of the Sea, that rich ingenuity continues. After the disappearance of his mother, Ben, an adventure-seeker, is left on his own with his broken father and his young sister Saoirse, who he considers a nuisance. Saoirse is a 6-year-old who has never learned to speak and unintentionally causes Ben nothing but trouble, but in actuality, she is actually the last of the Selkies, a race of women who can turn into seals. When her power is revealed, the siblings are drawn into the world of fairy folk, witches and magic – and Ben has to step up to keep his sister safe from harm.

Directed by Tomm Moore, who in the past had directed the equally fabulous The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea is beautifully enchanting and wonderfully engrossing animation with genuine appeal for all ages. This year’s Oscars’ animation category saw this up against Big Hero 6, The Boxtrolls and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, which just demonstrates that animation can be wonderfully diverse and enriching cinema outside the live-action filmmaking spectrum. In fact, whilst Big Hero 6 was a worthy winner for the ‘Best Animated Film’ Oscar, this actually deserved that title much more.

Much like The Secret of the Kells, this is deeply rooted within Irish folklore, being a story that has these magical fantasy elements of Selkies, Faeries and Giants slipping in and out of a tale where we find these two young siblings being separated from their father and are trying to find their way back home. The story in itself is cut from the same mould as Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, but that does not make the whole thing stale or formulaic, far from it. It was executed in a brilliantly engaging way, allowing us to become invested in the two children and how closely they bond with each other over the course of the film. The voice acting is superb, doing away with the clichéd reliance of Hollywood talent and getting in people whose voices match with the characters on screen. Even the soundtrack by Bruno Coulais was absolutely gorgeous and very well-fitted with that world and culture.

What the film certainly doesn’t lack in is its artistic department as the animation is very distinctive, absolutely beautiful to behold, resolutely 2D, heartbreakingly rendered, honest and truthful to the Celtic roots of the story, and is almost a character in and of itself. The spiralling landscapes and colour schemes felt very distinctive and clever in its usage, with the deep rich blue of the faerie world contrasting with the yellow/browns of the mainland. Its jaw-dropping visual style harks back to the painted-hues of Studio Ghibli, whilst also containing elements of both Hayao Miyazaki’s Ponyo and Isao Takahata’s The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.

The Song of the Sea is a genuine, heartfelt family film that will work across all age demographics, and everyone watching it will probably see something in it that’ll stay with them long after the film has ended. It’s a proper animated classic that’ll stand the test of time and real testament to animation’s current golden age.

SONG OF THE SEA / CERT: PG / DIRECTOR: TOMM MOORE / SCREENPLAY: WILL COLLINS / STARRING: DAVID RAWLE, BRENDAN GLEESON, LISA HANNIGAN, FIONNULA HANNIGAN / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

BETTER CALL SAUL – SEASON ONE

This is the story of a good man. Saul Goodman, to be precise. Or, more accurately, it’s the story of how a good man – shabby, struggling lawyer Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) eventually becomes the morally-dubious wheeler-dealer shyster who provided the comic relief in many of the more tense instalments of Breaking Bad (officially the best TV show ever made?). Fans worried that the BB Universe was just too exquisitely-crafted to risk being compromised by some ill-considered sequel or prequel series – even with BB’s creator Vince Gilligan calling the shots – must surely have breathing long heaving sighs of relief when the first ten-episode run of Better Call Saul landed earlier this year and proved to be, in its own way, as compelling, irresistible and downright bloody brilliant as its perfectly-formed parent show.

Following a brief first-episode sequence updating us on Saul Goodman’s circumstances in the wake of Breaking Bad – he’s working, in disguise, in an anonymous ice cream bar somewhere in Nebraska, spending his evenings watching his cheesy TV ads from his ‘glory’ days as Albuquerque’s most slippery lawyer, we flashback to 2002 when things were very different and Saul Goodman had yet to be born. Struggling to earn a living as a public defender, Jimmy McGill works out of a stuffy, cramped office in the back of a nail bar, drives a battered car (“the only way that car is worth $500 is if there’s a $300 dollar hooker sitting in it,” rages Jimmy at one point), wears shabby suits and can’t even win the respect of the local court house’s dour security guard Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) who refuses to validate his parking. McGill – desperate to be the best lawyer he can despite life’s knocks – rolls from scam to scam in an attempt to establish himself (one adventure involves an early encounter with BB bad boy Tuco Salamanca and a desert face-off which could have come straight from BB itself) whilst always trying to protect the interests of his brother Chuck (Michael McKean), a fabulously successful lawyer and partner in the firm Hamlin, Hamlin and McGill but currently on extended sick leave suffering from a condition which makes him terrified of exposure to electromagnetic fields, rendering him virtually a prisoner in his own sealed-up home. Jimmy sees his big chance to make a name for himself by representing a local treasurer charged with embezzlement and later by exposing a charging racket at a local care home. But things never go quite right for Jimmy who is either frustrated at every turn or else a victim of his own greed, blind ambition and, occasionally, stupidity.

Better Call Saul is a magnificent piece of television; like Breaking Bad, it’s virtually a work of art. It’s beautifully written and directed, Odenkirk is a passionate and likable leading man – we’re always rooting for him and we genuinely feel his pain as his schemes go frustratingly wrong and he drifts, inevitably, towards becoming the sleazy chancer we’re familiar with from Breaking Bad. Flashbacks fill us in on the deeper backgrounds of both Jimmy and Mike and it’s genuinely heartbreaking to see both men – both good men – drift into the dark dangerous worlds we meet them in when they finally pitch up in Breaking Bad. With plotting and characterisation which is both rich and endlessly rewarding, Better Call Saul is an utterly immersive and rewarding TV experience and its first season – the second is on its way and can’t come soon enough – is a more than worthy companion piece to the peerless Breaking Bad. This handsome three-disc Blu-ray set looks suitably stunning and is packed with absorbing special features and a string of engrossing, intelligent commentaries. Better buy Better Call Saul.

Special Features: Commentary on every episode / Day One / Creating the first season / Gag reel / Deleted scenes / Becoming Mike / Table read / Bob Odenkirk and Michael Mckean in conversation

BETTER CALL SAUL – SEASON ONE / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: BOB ODENKIRK, JONATHAN BANKS, MICHAEL MCKEAN, RHEA SEAHORN / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

DAG: SEASON 1

As a change from the bleak world of criminality and long-suffering detectives served up by Nordic Noir, we get a comedy from Norway called Dag. It’s about a relationship counsellor, Dag Refsnes (Atle Antonsen), who believes that people are better off living on their own. As he tells one couple in his consulting room, “Living together, you’re only as happy as the least happy person there.” He’s so sure of this philosophy that he even puts a dirty great big sign up to this effect on his office wall – asking the question “too much” when he switches it on.

Dag practises what he preaches by literally locking himself away in his apartment, but he is far from happy as evidenced by his dependence on swallowing Valium from a Pez sweet dispenser! It’s a good job he doesn’t work for the Samaritan’s helpline as he would clear the client list in a single night.

Well it is Norwegian, so it’s no surprise this is a dark comedy series rather than a full-on funfest – more The League of Gentlemen than Miranda. You can regard this as a bleaker Nordic version of Frasier, where Frasier Crane’s pompousness is replaced by grumpy depression. Just as Frasier’s brother Niles inflamed Frasier’s bombastic behaviour and cultural snobbery, Dag’s friend Benedikt (Anders Christiansen) is equally useless and only adds to his belief in lonely isolation.

Benedikt breaks up from his girlfriend as she is giving birth, by explaining that “…we want different things, for instance you want to have kids.” In England, we’d carefully tell him that it’s too late in the day for that old man, in Norway he takes to living in Dag’s hallway like an animal to escape his girlfriend’s murderous brothers who aren’t exactly pleased with him. With friends like that who needs social interaction, as they say in psych school (no kidding).

To try to help Dag out of his pit of despair, his sister Marianne (Silje Torp) is determined to fix him up with a woman. This isn’t an easy task and on dinner date 19, he gets to meet her friend, the beautiful Eva (Tuva Novotny). Will she stop him being a grumpy old git? Will she make him rethink his life is better alone ethos? Will this make us laugh at his predicaments?

Dag has a good mix of odd characters and situations that confirm psychologists and Norwegians are a funny lot. Certainly worth a watch whilst taking a break from Wallander or Lilyhammer.

DAG: SEASON 1 / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: OYSTEIN KARLSEN, TUVA NOVOTNY / SCREENPLAY: OYSTEIN KARLSEN, KRISTOPHER SCHAU / STARRING: ALTE ANTONSEN, TUVA NOVOTNY, SILJE TORP, ANDERS BAASMO CHRISTIANSEN, AGNES KITTELSEN, ROLF LASSGARD / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

THE GOONIES (30TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTOR’S EDITION)

We all know The Goonies. If you don’t, you should be ashamed of yourself. Assuming you are one of the handful who should be afraid of themselves, here’s a very brief primer: Let’s head back to 1985. The Goonies are a lovable band of pre-teen misfits from the ‘Goon Docks’ in Oregon. The actors who played The Goonies weren’t so well known at the time, but thirty years on and most of them have names and faces that are very familiar. But we digress. Back to the plot…

When their homes are targeted for demolition, The Goonies set out to save their neighbourhood with the aid of a map and an ancient doubloon that leads them on an adventure to find the long lost treasure of 17th century buccaneer One-Eyed Willy. Unfortunately for The Goonies, they’ve got sinister competition for that treasure in the form of the Fratellis, a family of criminals who are running a counterfeiting operation out of a closed-down restaurant.

Before they know it, the kids are dodging booby traps, avoiding the clutches of the bumbling hoodlums, the Fratellis deformed younger brother and their downright terrifying Mama, and making hair raising escapes through dank and dangerous underground caves, never knowing from one moment to the next if they will escape this quest with their lives or if One-Eyed Willy’s treasure even exists.

Will The Goonies save the day, and save their homes? Will they discover One-Eyes Willy’s remains and a fantabulous pirate galleon loaded with riches? Don’t be so sure. There are twists and turns all the way, and for a family adventure this film can get pretty scary. Also, don’t forget the movie was directed by Richard Donner, who’s no stranger to a downer climax – after all, he killed off Gregory Peck to let Damien Thorn continue his reign of terror – so there’s no guarantee of happy endings. But here’s the deal: whether you’ve only watched it once or you’ve seen it a hundred times, The Goonies is one of the best loved family movies ever made for a very good reason: it is absolutely fantastic!

And speaking of fantastic, The Goonies 30th anniversary Blu-ray is everything a stalwart Goonie fan could ever want, and everything the newbie Goonie fan will ever need – the transfer is fabulous, the extras are plentiful (the commentary by Richard Donner is worth the price of admission alone) and once you dive into this hi-def treasure trove you’ll never want to come up for air.

Grab your shovels and dig up this piece of Goonies Blu-ray gold immediately! This is an incredible set that is guaranteed to take you to Goonies heaven!

THE GOONIES (30TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTOR’S EDITION) / CERT: PG / DIRECTOR: RICHARD ONNER / SCREENPLAY: CHRIS COLUMBUS / STARRING: SEAN ASTIN, JOSH BROLIN, JEFF COHEN, COREY FELDMAN, KERRI GREEN, JONATHAN KE QUAN / RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 9TH

SLEEPY HOLLOW: SEASON 2

For those not in the know, Sleepy Hollow is a series which follows in the spirit of others such as Grimm and Warehouse 13, putting a supernatural spin on the police procedural drama. With a twist on the classic legend, Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) is a decorated hero of the American Revolution who, having been awoken after over 200 years, teams up with Abby Mills (Nicole Beharie) to take down the classic Headless Horseman amongst other supernatural baddies.

Season 2 begins with the resolution of Season 1’s cliffhanger in which Crane has been buried alive by his evil son, Henry Parish (John Noble) and Mills being trapped in purgatory; nothing that our two heroes couldn’t handle! However… the plot has only just begun to thicken in the chess-like game being played between father and son. Amidst the pawns are Crane’s wife, Katrina (Katia Winter), who is now at the mercy of the Headless Horseman, and Mills’ former boss Captain Irving (Orlando Jones) who is now in the care of a psychiatric ward. But as the game intensifies, does that allow the elusive demon Moloch closer to the real world?

Sleepy Hollow is at best a real treat or, at worst, a really guilty pleasure; there’s very little to not like about it! As a show, it benefits from excellent main casting: Tom Mison suits the archaic Crane adjusting to modern life with sometimes ticklish results; meanwhile, Nicole Beharie offers all of the humour, threat and tragedy that makes for an excellent protagonist. At the villainous end of the scale, Sleepy Hollow also has the wonderful John Noble as Henry Parish, wonderfully malevolent and sophisticated enough to be a real adversary for Crane and Mills. It’s the wonderful casting and performances such as these that (only sometimes) saves the episodes from being a tad predictable.

Away from the series, the special features of Sleepy Hollow are the standard fare: gag reels, episode commentaries by cast and crew, and deleted scenes as well as some interesting feature programmes about the second series itself and the monsters which feature throughout.

Overall, this second series Blu-ray is a real treat for established fans and its mostly excellent storytelling and always excellent cast is enough to draw in new fans!

SLEEPY HOLLOW: SEASON 2 / CERT: 15 / CREATOR, DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: TOM MISON, NICOLE BEHARIE, ORLANDO JONES, KATIA WINTER, LYNDIE GREENWOOD / RELEASE DATE: OT NOW