True Blood: The Complete First Season

• Condition: New
• Format: DVD
• Box set; Color; Dolby; DVD; Widescreen; Subtitled; Closed-captioned; NTSC

He Never Fought A Battle He Couldn't WinAcademy Award®-nominee Sylvester Stallone stars as war hero ex-Green Beret John Rambo in the one that started it all! First Blood is an explosive action-thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the final powerful frame.System Requirements:Starring: Sylvester Stallone Richard Crenna and Brian Dennehy. Directed By: Ted Kotcheff. Running Time: 96 Min. Color. This film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 2004 Lions Gate Entertainment.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: R UPC: 012236163565 Manufacturer No: 20204It's easy to forget that this Spartan, violent film, which begat the Rambo series, was such a big hit in 1982 because it was a good movie. Green Beret vet John Rambo (Sylvester Stallon! e) wanders into the wrong small town to find a fellow 'Nam buddy and gets the living heck kicked out of him by the local law enforcement (led by Brian Dennehy). The vet strikes back the only way he knows how, leading to a visceral, if unrealistic, flight and fight through the local mountains. Based on the 1972 novel by David Morrell, this film saved Stallone's then-foundering career and the Rambo character became the inspiration for countless political cartoons. But this film is Deliverance without the moral ambiguity. --Keith Simanton First came the man: a young wanderer in a fatigue coat and long hair. Then came the legend, as John Rambo sprang from the pages of FIRST BLOOD to take his place in the American cultural landscape. This remarkable novel pits a young Vietnam veteran against a small-town cop who doesn't know whom he's dealing with -- or how far Rambo will take him into a life-and-death struggle through the woods, hills, and caves of rural Kentucky.!

Millions saw the Rambo movies, but those who haven't r! ead the book that started it all are in for a surprise -- a critically acclaimed story of character, action, and compassion.Academy Award-nominee Sylvester Stallone stars as war hero, ex-Green Beret John Rambo in the one that started it all! FIRST BLOOD is an explosive action-thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the final, powerful frame.It's easy to forget that this Spartan, violent film, which begat the Rambo series, was such a big hit in 1982 because it was a good movie. Green Beret vet John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) wanders into the wrong small town to find a fellow 'Nam buddy and gets the living heck kicked out of him by the local law enforcement (led by Brian Dennehy). The vet strikes back the only way he knows how, leading to a visceral, if unrealistic, flight and fight through the local mountains. Based on the 1972 novel by David Morrell, this film saved Stallone's then-foundering career and the Rambo character became the inspiration for countle! ss political cartoons. But this film is Deliverance without the moral ambiguity. --Keith SimantonFour all-new stories of forbidden passion and dark desire.

You never forget your first blood...Susan Sizemore returns to the universe of her Laws of the Blood novels with a sizzling story of the relationship between a vampire enforcer and a werewolf.

Erin McCarthy’s Sasha Checkikov flees the bright lights and dangerous slayers of Vegas for New Orleans, where she is saved by a vampire haunted by his pastâ€"and hungry for passion.

Set in the Vampire Babylon world, Chris Marie Green’s story puts the bond between twin female vampires to the test when one of them falls for her prey.

Meljean Brook’s vampire Annie Gallagher needs help to save a young human girl, but she doesn’t expect the help to come from the FBI agent she lovedâ€"and had to give upâ€" when she was transformed.TRUE BLOOD ch! ronicles the backwoods Louisiana town of Bon Temps... where va! mpires h ave emerged from the coffin, and no longer need humans for their fix. Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin, Golden Globe(R)-winner for "True Blood", Academy Award®-winner for “The Piano”) works as a waitress at the rural bar Merlotte's. Though outwardly a typical young woman, she keeps a dangerous secret: she has the ability to hear the thoughts of others. Her situation is further complicated when the bar gets its first vampire patron - 173-year old Bill Compton (Steven Moyer, "Quills") - and the two outsiders are immediately drawn to each other. Delivering the best of what audiences have come to expect from Creator and Executive Producer Alan Ball (writer of Oscar®-winning Best Picture “American Beauty”, creator of the Emmy® Award-winning HBO® series “Six Feet Under”), TRUE BLOOD is a dark and sexy tale that boldly delves into the heart - and the neck - of the Deep South.Alan Ball’s True Blood series works well for television, as it has enough sensation! alism to tantalize 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, humor, tragedy, mystery, and fantasy. 

Set in a rural, swampy Louisiana parrish, 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 bloo d 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 cousi! n, 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 societal 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

Stills from True Blood (Click for larger image)

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The Devil Came On Horseback

• An up-close, honest, and uncompromising look at the crisis in Darfur, THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK exposes the ongoing tragedy in Sudan as seen through the eyes of one American witness. Using the exclusive photographs and first hand testimony of former U.S. Marine Captain Brian Steidle, the film goes on an emotionally charged journey into the heart of Darfur, Sudan, where in 2004, Steidle became

The Devil Came on Horseback is an intense, vivid autobiographical report from the heart of violent Darfur and a call to action by a former American Marine who became a military observer for the African Union. The first extensive on-the-ground account of the genocide in Sudan, it leads us through the tragic impact of an Arab government bent on destroying its black African citizens and the frustrating complexity of international inaction. At the same time, it is a powerful memoir of one soldier's ! awakening to conscience and his awkward, heroic transformation from Marine to humanitarian. While bearing witness to unmentionable atrocities, this compelling story offers evidence that the actions of just one committed person have the power to transform the world.
This intense, vivid report and call to action
from the heart of violent Darfur, by a former
Marine working as an unarmed military
observer for the African Union, is a powerful
memoir of a young man's awakening to
conscience and the first extensive on-theground
account of the genocide in Sudan.

Former United States Marine Brian Steidle served for six months in Darfur
as an unarmed military observer for the African Union. There he witnessed
first-hand the ongoing genocide, and documented every day of his experience
using email, audio journals, notebook after notebook and nearly 1,000
photographs. Gretchen Steidle Wallace, his sister, who wrote this ! book with
Brian, corresponded with him throughout his ti! me in Da rfur. Fired upon,
taken hostage, a witness to villages destroyed and people killed,
frustrated by his mission's limitations and the international community's
reluctance to intervene, Steidle resigned and has since become an advocate
for the world to step in and stop this genocide.

The Devil Came on Horseback depicts the tragic impact of an Arab
government bent on destroying its black African citizens, the maddening
complexity of international inaction in response to blatant genocide, and
the awkward, yet heroic transformation of a former Marine turned
humanitarian. It is a gripping and moving memoir that bears witness to
atrocities we have too long averted our eyes from, and reveals that the
actions of just one committed person have the power to change the world.
This intense, vivid report and call to action
from the heart of violent Darfur, by a former
Marine working as an unarmed militaryobserver for the African Union, is a powerful
memoir of a young man's awakening to
conscience and the first extensive on-theground
account of the genocide in Sudan.

Former United States Marine Brian Steidle served for six months in Darfur
as an unarmed military observer for the African Union. There he witnessed
first-hand the ongoing genocide, and documented every day of his experience
using email, audio journals, notebook after notebook and nearly 1,000
photographs. Gretchen Steidle Wallace, his sister, who wrote this book with
Brian, corresponded with him throughout his time in Darfur. Fired upon,
taken hostage, a witness to villages destroyed and people killed,
frustrated by his mission's limitations and the international community's
reluctance to intervene, Steidle resigned and has since become an advocate
for the world to step in and stop this genocide.

The Devil Came on Horseback depicts the tragic im! pact of an Arab
government bent on destroying its black Af! rican ci tizens, the maddening
complexity of international inaction in response to blatant genocide, and
the awkward, yet heroic transformation of a former Marine turned
humanitarian. It is a gripping and moving memoir that bears witness to
atrocities we have too long averted our eyes from, and reveals that the
actions of just one committed person have the power to change the world.An up-close, honest, and uncompromising look at the crisis in Darfur, THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK exposes the ongoing tragedy in Sudan as seen through the eyes of one American witness.

Using the exclusive photographs and first hand testimony of former U.S. Marine Captain Brian Steidle, the film goes on an emotionally charged journey into the heart of Darfur, Sudan, where in 2004, Steidle became witness to a genocide that to-date has claimed over 400,000 lives. As an official military observer, Steidle had access to parts of the country that no journalist could penetrate. Unprepa! red for what he would witness and experience, Steidle returned to the U.S. armed with his photographs, intent on exposing the images and stories of lives systematically destroyed.

A 2007 world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, this astonishingly propulsive and dramatic film from award-winning filmmakers Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern (The Trials of Darryl Hunt), is a heartfelt account of what this particular American witness saw and, just as important, what he did afterward.

DVD Features: Bonus Short Film: Supporting Survivors; Take Action Save Darfur: How to HelpThe Devil Came on Horseback presents a first-person account of the genocide in Darfur. Former Marine Captain Brian Steidle joined the African Union in 2004 to help monitor the cease-fire in Sudan. As he puts it, "All I had was a camera, a pen, and paper. I was totally unprepared for what I'd see." An unarmed military civilian, he describes his observations, via voice-over and audio record! ings, as filmmakers Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern alternate b! etween t heir contemporary footage and his images of slaughtered civilians and incinerated villages. When his contract ends, Steidle leaves in disillusionment. He wrote his reports and took his pictures, but nothing changed. Since reporters lacked the same degree of access, he goes to The New York Times, and they publish his photographs. The soldier-turned-activist proceeds to spread the word everywhere he can. Aside from Steidle, the film features his sister Gretchen Wallace, founder of Global Grassroots (an organization working with female victims in Sudan and Rwanda), and Senator Barack Obama, who has also made Darfur his personal mission. The title comes from a loose translation of janjaweed, the government-backed Arab militias behind the atrocities to which Steidle bore witness. (Steidle and his sister use the same title for the book they wrote together.) As in their previous documentary, The Trials of Darryl Hunt, Sundberg and Stern maintain a measured tone, but t! heir subject's horrifying images speak for themselves. The Devil Came on Horseback is accompanied by Wallace's Supporting Survivors, a short film about Global Grassroots. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

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