[Blu-Ray Review] ‘Fear The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season’: Now Available On Blu-ray & DVD From Anchor Bay

Fear The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season [Blu-Ray]

Cast: Kim Dickens, Cliff Curtis, Frank Dillane

Release Date: Now Available On Blu-ray & DVD

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Disc Rating: 7.5/10

Synopsis:

Living in the same universe as “The Walking Dead”, “Fear the Walking Dead” is a gritty drama that explores the onset of the undead apocalypse through the lens of a fractured family. Set in Los Angeles, a city where people come to escape, shield secrets, and bury their pasts, a mysterious outbreak threatens to disrupt what little stability high school guidance counselor Madison Clark (Kim Dickens, Gone Girl) and English teacher Travis Manawa (Cliff Curtis, Missing) have managed to assemble. The everyday pressure of blending two families while dealing with resentful, escapist, and strung out children takes a back seat when society begins to break down. A forced evolution, a necessary survival of the fittest takes hold, and the dysfunctional family must either reinvent themselves or embrace their darker histories.

Occupying the same universe as the hit series ‘The Walking Dead’, this new companion series ‘Fear The Walking Dead’ follows a broken family living in Los Angeles at the beginning of the outbreak. Desperate to protect those they love and get to the bottom of what is actually happening, two families must band together with strangers and loved ones alike if they stand any chance of discovering the truth of the outbreak which the military seems intent to keep quiet at all costs.

Created by Dave Erickson (Sons of Anarchy) and none other than Robert Kirkman, the man who helped bring ‘The Walking Dead’ comic book series to life as well as maintaining an active in the television series, ‘Fear The Walking Dead’ is a unique and inventive look at the beginning of the zombie outbreak, allowing us a chance to see how civilization crumbled while Rick Grimes lay unconscious in a hospital bed. This companion series is brutal, emotional and at times unsettling, all in the best way possible and is far more riveting and inventive than the last few seasons of its parent show. Fans of ‘The Walking Dead’ franchise in general who might not have had the chance to check this series out yet will certainly want to make certain they do, as well anyone who enjoyed ‘The Walking Dead’ at any point in time; ‘Fear The Walking Dead’ is not to be missed.

Fans of the new companion series ‘Fear The Walking Dead’ as well as ‘The Walking Dead’ franchise fans in general will almost surely want to make certain to pick up a copy of ‘Fear The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season’ on Blu-ray to add to their collections. The Blu-ray release of the debut season delivers impressive high definition video and audio presentations on all six episodes which are undoubtedly the best quality currently available for the series, in addition to a couple of short Behind the Scenes Featurettes (more detailed information regarding the bonus content can be found in the special features section of the technical specification coverage below) which will surely make it a must own for many, especially those who want to make certain their franchise collection remains complete on Blu-ray.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Fear The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation utilizing the show’s original 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio on all of the first seasons episodes. The video presentations look outstanding, delivering a beautiful, sharp and detailed presentation on every episode of the debut season with no notable faults to be found within, holding up impressively even during the fast moving and darkly lit sequences which are fairly common in the series and never resulting in anything occurring on screen to become negatively affected or rendered indiscernible. Overall, these are top notch high definition video presentations that should easily satisfy fans of the franchise.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a lossless 5.1 channel Dolby TrueHD soundtrack on all 6 Season One episodes. These lossless multichannel soundtracks sound great, providing sharp, clean and aggressive audio presentations, utilizing all five available channels regularly in order to surround the viewer with the bass heavy score in addition to plenty of background activity, especially in sequences taking place in crowded environments such as the street riots and compound holding cells; never causing any dialogue which may be occurring simultaneously to become distorted or rendered inaudible. Overall, these are solid 5.1 channel Dolby TrueHD soundtracks; while not quite as impressive as the 7.1 lossless soundtrack inclusions on recent ‘The Walking Dead’ season releases; it still delivers in every way required of it.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Fear The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season’ doesn’t include a great deal in the way of extras, although it does include a couple of short Behind the Scenes Featurettes including interviews and comments with the cast and crew, both of which can be found on the second disc. The two included Featurettes are: ‘A Look at the Series’ (running approximately 4 minutes in length), and ‘Inside the Characters of Fear The Walking Dead’ (approximately 3 minutes).