True Blood: The Complete Fourth Season

The wicked witch of Bon Temps makes life difficult for Sookie and her vampire lovers...

This supernatural series has never been afraid to court controversy with its graphic sex and violence. But that’s nothing compared to the fuss generated by the fairy-filled opening to this fourth season. This 'Marmite moment' caused some fans to claim True Blood had finally jumped the shark, but for my money it’s only a minor blip in an otherwise enjoyable saga about rogue witches and amnesiac vampires.

Long-time fans - and anybody familiar with the quality of HBO's other hi-def releases - will already know what to expect from the set’s AVC 1.78:1 1080p encodes and DTS-HD MA 5.1 mixes. In other words, they're absolutely first rate and put many movie Blu-rays to shame.

The selection of extras will also be familiar to anyone who has picked up any of the previous seasons on Blu-ray. Each episode is accompanied by an Enhanced Viewing Mode (consisting of the usual Character Perspectives picture-in-picture video, Flash Forwards, Flashbacks, Histories, Biographies and FYIs), an Inside the Episode behind-the-scenes featurette, plus Recaps and Previews. In addition, six of the episodes feature audio commentaries, and the final disc houses a 28min roundtable discussion of the show's post-production and an interactive True Blood Lines feature allowing you to see how the characters link up.

HBO Home Entertainment, All-region BD, £45 Approx, On sale now
HCC VERDICT: 4/5

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