Movie:
Disc:
If
you think that ‘Eighties sitcoms threw together the most unlikely roommates
for “comedic” effect, then wait till you get a load of the roomies in this
supernatural TV series currently running (late at night) on BBC: a vampire,
a werewolf and a ghost . . .
It may sound like the unlikely setup for a joke (no shedding on the carpet
please . . .), but Being Human is deathly serious. Each episode deals
with the characters trying to overcome their natures as supernatural beings.
The three unlikely flatmates are Mitchell, George and Annie.
The dreamy Mitchell (Aiden Turner) is trying not to make a hors deouvres out
of his numerous dates. The nervous George (Russell Tovey) is in denial about
his werewolf curse, trying to limit the collateral damage he causes with
each full moon transformation. Annie (Lenora Crichlow) is a ghost who cannot
accept the loss of her fiancée and thus hangs around in our mortal plane. In
addition to coping with their true natures, they have to deal with everyday
issues of the sort that plagues “normal” young people – dealing with
relationships, shedding on the carpet . . .
In this second season things are even more complicated by CenSSA, a
religious organization committed to the destruction or conversion of
supernatural freaks.
THE DISC: About 480 minutes’ worth of episodes are collected on three
discs plus about 86 minutes of special features. Image is high definition
1080i with an aspect ratio of 16.9. Audio is stereo (natch).
WORTH IT? Being Human is at times much gorier than
Twilight
and Buffy, but vampire fans with a stronger stomach should, er, eat
it up.
Largely character-driven the show can become maudlin at times with all the
sulking. Also it takes liberties with supernatural “rules” that will freak
those purists who whined about the glittering vamps in
Twilight. Vampires for
instance can walk around during the day. What’s so bad about one then if you
can still catch the occasional Majorca summer hols?
RECOMMENDATION: If YOU hadn’t OD’ed yet on vampire shows such as
True Blood and The Vampire Diaries
then this British take on the supernatural is worth checking out.
