Reaper – Season Two (2009/ABC/Lionsgate DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C- Episodes: C-
Though
not a huge hit, Reaper is a slightly
amusing, if obvious pastiche of every Horror-genre convention involving
Satanism and demons since the 1980s in particular. Meant as a comedy, it is one the one-joke
variety and we did cover the first season at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7800/Reaper+%E2%80%93+Season+One
Continuing
the tale of a teen who finds out he was sold to The Devil by his parents, he
has to catch souls to save his in a Ghostbusters
(or Ghost Busters, as tin the 1975
TV series, as reviewed elsewhere on this site) device that captures them. Mildly amusing at best, the show simply does
not know what to do with itself or where to go, so it drags out any ideas and
drags on in an attempt to hope it will get viewers who will tune in and have
nothing else to do. That has not
happened in great numbers.
Longtime
character actor Ray Wise is The Devil and steals every scene he is in,
especially since he can out-act the other cast members with their minimal lines
and material, but also because he has more presence versus those acting like “slackers”,
but even his version of “that fallen angel” is not as thoroughly written as it
could be.
All 13
hour-long shows are presented over 4 DVDs.
If you are interested in the show, start with the first set. Otherwise, skip it.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image was shot on digital video, has its share
of motion blur and can have other weaknesses.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo mixes are similar for the most part
and dialogue-based. The combination is
fairly good, but not too impressive.
Extras include deleted scenes, a making of featurette and gag reel.
- Nicholas Sheffo
