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The Movie: Created as a mini-series for ABC, "Kingdom Hospital" was legendary horror novelist Stephen King's adaptation of director Lars Von Trier's series, "The Kingdom". "Kingdom Hospital" was heavily promoted before its release, but the series did not connect with audiences in the way that the network hoped, although the debut episode did start off well, gaining the top spot for its time slot on that night. I'm guessing that viewers who were put off by commericals frequently breaking the rhythm of the series during the network broadcast may enjoy it more on DVD. The series starts off with a difficult-to-watch moment where novelist Peter Rickman (Jack Coleman) goes out for a run one morning and gets hit by a distracted van driver. Badly injured and with no help, Peter starts hearing animals speak, including a giant CGI anteater. Medics eventually arrive, and Peter is taken to Kingdom Hospital, which was actually built over the site of a tragic accident. So, you guessed it - not long after Peter is admitted and put under the care of Dr. Hook (Andrew McCarthy), eerie goings-on start occuring at the creepy, shadowy hospital. I never entirely got into the series during its broadcast run, but I appreciated it a bit more while watching it on DVD. "Kingdom Hospital" is an odd mixture of tones, as the series will go for straight horror, weird horror and dark comedy, often within the span of a few minutes. Also, the show is rather deliberately paced, and the combination of that and the shifts in tone does make for a bit of an uneasy mix at times. However, those who stay with it will find that the writing is generally enjoyable, and the actors - including Bruce Davidson, McCarthy and others, are effective in their roles. Although some of the CGI is not entirely smooth, the production design and visuals in general are very fine. This release offers only the first two episodes (one being the two-hour pilot) of the series. The DVD VIDEO: Sony Pictures Home Video presents these "Kingdom Hospital" eps in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. The presentation quality is generally first-rate, as despite the very dark tone of the visual style. Sharpness and detail remain generally very good, although a few scnes look slightly softer than the rest. The DVD does suffer from some very slight edge enhancement at times, as well as a few traces of pixelation. The elements used are in fine shape, with no problems. The show's color palette is pretty subdued, but colors appear generally accurate. SOUND: The Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation was fine, with pleasing use of the surround speakers for sound effects and various atmospheric ambient sounds. Audio quality was fine, with crisp and clear dialogue, along with well-recorded effects and score. EXTRAS: Nothing. The actual full "Kingdom Hospital" series set includes plenty of supplements. Final Thoughts: I didn't entirely get into "Kingdom Hospital" during the show's run, but it does play a bit better on DVD. These new "best of" releases for the show (another one, called "Making the Rounds", comes at the end of the month) are a bit of an oddity, though. Given that the actual, full DVD set for the series offers so much more (and can be found for around $39 online, while this 2-episode disc goes for about $14 by itself), the only real purpose I can see for this release would be for potential viewers to rent online to see whether or not they like the show enough to either wait for the next "best of" or go for the full set. |