Hunger, The (TV Series) (DVD)

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When even Terence Stamp can´t save you, you know you´ve got serious problems.

In 1983, Tony Scott released "The Hunger" which featured Catherine Deneuve as a vampire who turned her attentions on both David Bowie and Susan Sarandon. The film´s main draw was a much-publicized sex scene between Deneuve and Sarandon that wound up disappointing everybody who expected to see some seriously hit girl on girl action. The film was soft-lit softcore Goth with a good bit of style and little else to recommend, but it has become a minor cult hit.

In 1997, Scott, along with brother Ridley and series creator Jeff Fazio, produced a horror anthology with the same time. The series "The Hunger" shares the style but not the story of the original film which sounds like a good idea, except that the stories substituted here are even weaker. Terence Stamp serves as host, bookending each episode, though it´s hard to see or hear him through the flash cuts and metallic screeches on the audio track.

Though each episode (approx. 28 minutes long) has a Goth horror theme, the overall feeling is more of midnight Cinemax softcore, known to some as Skinemax. Most episodes feature an obligatory sex scene that is "tastefully" lit to the point of being completely unsexy and nearly unwatchable.

In the tradition of most short-form horror anthologies, each episode builds up to a twist ending of some kind. The formula worked marvelously for "The Twilight Zone" but has rarely been replicated successfully. In the six episodes I watched, I can´t say there was a single ending that wasn´t telegraphed a mile away.

It´s not entirely fair to judge Season One of "The Hunger" just by the first six episodes, but it´s also a safe bet that if you have fought to stay awake through each of them, you´re not going to like much of the rest. I note, for whatever it´s worth, that in Season Two (not included in this set), Harlan Ellison wrote two episodes but chose to use his pen name Cordwainer Bird instead, his version of Alan Smithee and an indication that he wasn´t pleased with what was done with his scripts.

All 24 episodes of Season One are included on four discs. I have taken the episode titles and credits from the show´s Wikipedia entry and arranged by disc

DISC ONE:
1. "The Swords" (20/07/1997); Director - Tony Scott ; Guest Stars - Balthazar Getty, Amanda Ryan, Jamie Foreman
2. "Menage a Trois" (20/07/1997); Director - Jake Scott ; Guest Stars - Karen Black, Lena Headey, Daniel Craig
3. "Necros" (20/07/1997); Director - Russell Mulcahy ; Guest Stars - Philip Casnoff, Céline Bonnier, Leonardo Cimino
4. "The Secret Shih-Tan" (27/07/1997); Director - Russell Mulcahy ; Guest Stars - Jason Scott Lee, Robert Ito
5. "Bridal Suite" (03/08/1997); Director - Erik Canuel ; Guest Stars - Sally Kirkland, Karen Elkin, Colin Ferguson