Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.5

Holliston: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Back to the Market BasKET

Reviewed by Michael Reuben May 23, 2014

Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the Season 2 Blu-ray of Holliston, FEARnet's original horror sitcom, is that it exists at all. Season 2 concluded its ten-episode run on August 6, 2013, but creator, writer and star Adam Green and his cast and crew weren't given the green light to record commentaries until the following year, when the decision was finally made to release a Blu-ray. In the disc's commentaries, Green repeatedly notes the industry trend toward streaming and away from physical media, and there's a strong hint that the Blu-ray wouldn't exist if Green and co-star Joe Lynch weren't such fans of the format. Indeed, as Green notes several times, Image Entertainment is not releasing Season 2 on DVD. (In "The Christmas Special" that aired between Seasons 1 and 2, the gift of a Blu-ray player is used as a sign of true devotion between friends.)

For an introduction to Holliston, a history of its lengthy development and an overview of its world, please see the review of Season 1. The discussion after the first screenshot assumes that the reader has seen the entire first season and contains spoilers for anyone who hasn't. Season 2 continues the exploration of the comically frustrating world of Adam and Joe (Green and Lynch, playing alternate versions of themselves) as they struggle to break into the horror film industry, and Adam keeps looking for love. The only difference is that both the writing and the performances are more accomplished and inventive. Having connected with a loyal and growing fan base, Green and his creative team could proceed with confidence, as they broke new ground for their horror sitcom. The actors relaxed into their alter egos, and their natural chemistry added further shades of humor to the bizarre situations into which Green delights in placing them. The show also grew more technically daring in its use of both practical and digital effects.

One of the running jokes on Holliston is that main characters can be killed off during an episode, only to return in the next show as if nothing had happened. At the conclusion of Season 1, Adam, Joe, Corri (Corri English) and Laura (Laura Ortiz) were gunned down by a maniac, but both the maniac and his murder spree were forgotten by the time the hour-long "Christmas Special" aired on December 18, 2012. Ignoring media reports of a dangerous escaped lunatic with a grudge against Yuletide celebrations—gee, do you think the maniac will appear by the end of the episode?—and also coping with a lack of heat and power, due to Joe's failure to pay the bills, the four main characters reminisce about old times. In the process, Green gets to fill in the "origin stories" of his characters (shot in black-and-white, with all four playing themselves as children) and launch a few key themes that will develop over the course of Season 2.

Adam remains hopelessly in love with Corri, despite their breakup, but in Season 2 he tries his luck with other women. One of them is horror star Danielle Harris, who appeared briefly in the finale of Season 1 and volunteered to return for Season 2, but only if Green wrote her Holliston alter ego to be worse than the one he wrote for Candyman's Tony Todd in Season 1. Green obliged by writing Harris as a drug-addled diva who shows up to appear in Shinpads (Joe's and Adam's fictitious horror project) and seduces Adam while stealing everything he has (Episode 2, "Halloween Girl"). Later in the season, Adam suddenly acquires a charming girlfriend named Bailee (Bailee Madison, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark), but only a horrified Corri seems to notice that she's a child. In an obvious homage to Orphan, the sweet-natured tot pulls Corri aside and threatens her life if the former girlfriend doesn't quit interfering. (Episode 5, "Rock the Cradle"). Later, Adam is stunned to find himself dating a "perfect 10" named Rachael (Caite Upton), but she turns out to have serious issues. How convenient, then, that the gang needs an appropriate victim to whom they can pass a Ring-like video they've been tricked into watching. (Episode 8, "Cursed".)

By the end of the season, Adam may finally have met the right woman, Dana (Rileah Vanderbilt, Green's real-life wife). Unfortunately, since the season ends with several types of apocalypse, one psychological and one that is typically Holliston, the future of that relationship is uncertain at best. (Episode 10, "Farm Festival".)

On Corri's side, things look much different than they did in Season 1, when she was confident about her feelings toward Adam. All that confidence is gone in Season 2; as actress Corri English describes her character, she's "a mess". Unwilling to reunite with Adam but unable to walk away entirely, Corri reacts like a jealous girlfriend whenever anyone new enters Adam's life. She's so unsettled that, when another ex-boyfriend named Kevin (Nick Ballard) announces his marriage, she acts like a jilted lover and makes a spectacle of herself at the wedding. (Episode 9, "Kevin's Wedding".)

Joe and Laura continue to fulfill their role as Holliston's stable (if not "normal") couple, but even they hit bumps in the road. When Laura's parents arrive from Colombia for a visit, it turns out that Laura hasn't been completely honest about her boyfriend. (Episode 4, "Honesty".) This classic sitcom setup gets run through the Holliston formula with hilarious results. Just the parents' reaction to the horror memorabilia in the apartment is worth the episode. And then there's the sight (and sound) of Joe trying to pass for a Colombian, which is unique. Laura's artwork also causes problems, especially when one of her paint mixtures creates a creature that turns everyone into an animated figure and then proceeds to destroy much of the town of Holliston. (Episode 7, "Blobby".) By the end of Season 2, Joe and Laura stand at a crossroads.

Adam and Joe continue to eke out a living working for the local cable station managed by Lance Rockett (Dee Snider), who gets his own surprise when a love child from his touring days named Valentino Foxx tracks him down and wants to bond. (Episode 5, "Rock the Cradle".) In a hall-of-mirrors bit of casting, Valentino is played by Dee Snider's son, Cody Blue Snider, whose own impression of his father was the original basis for Snider's characterization of Lance Rockett. (Think about that as you watch the two of them rock out together.) Lance has bigger issues on his mind, however, and so do Adam and Joe, as the station's owners decide to shutter the place because it's losing money. Without the station's equipment, how will they complete their dream project, Shinpads? In their desperation to make something quick and cheap, the duo tries their hand at a "found video" horror film based on a made-up legend, the "Holliston Hobgoblin", with predictably disastrous results. (Episode 3, "Hobgoblin".)

Holliston's second season continued to attract interesting guest stars. In addition to the aforementioned Danielle Harris and Bailee Madison, horror icon Kane Hodder returns as a parody of himself: depressed, suicidal, crumpling at the mere mention of the film Jason X, in which Hodder was replaced as the hockey-masked killer. (Episode 1, "Suicidal Tendencies".) One of the later Jasons, Derek Mears, appears several times as Officer Duffy of the Holliston Police. Seth Green reprises his role as Gustavo, the makeup artist afflicted with multiple personality disorder, and director James Gunn (Slither) has a darkly comic turn as a high school bully from Adam's and Joe's past. Sid Haig (The Devil's Rejects) plays himself as a celebrity attendee at the film festival that Adam and Joe invent as a showcase for their own project. And when Corri is bitten by a maniac patient at the hospital where she works as a nurse, he turns out to be none other than David Naughton, star of An American Werewolf in London.

Oderus Urungus, the imaginary friend who lives in Adam's closet, remains a vital and consistently hilarious part of the show, but watching him in these episodes is a bittersweet experience, because the performer who plays him, vocalist Dave Brockie of the heavy metal band Gwar, died suddenly at age 50 this past March. (There is no reference to this event in the commentaries or extras, all of which were created before Brockie's death.) If Holliston is eventually renewed for a third season, filling the void left by Brockie will provide a major challenge for Green and his creative team. He was one of a kind.

Holliston: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Cinematographer (and producer) Will Barratt returned for Season 2 of Holliston, which has the same well-lit, sitcom visual style as Season 1 and looks just as good in Image's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray. If anything, I would say that the image has improved slightly, but this has more to do with lighting and production design than with any change in Blu-ray mastering (especially since Holliston is a digitally originated project). With the show's success, the production design appears to have been somewhat spruced up, and the wardrobe favors brighter colors. Otherwise, fans can expect the same crisp, detailed and noise-free image that they enjoyed while watching the first season on Blu-ray.

Holliston: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Like its visuals, Season 2's DTS-HD MA 5.1 track is comparable to that of Season 1, with its front-oriented focus on dialogue and occasional use of specific and distinctive rear-channel effects. The dialogue remains clear, and the simulated audience reaction track has been mixed to provide an appropriate sitcom "feel" without becoming intrusive. Bear McCreary's scoring is used sparingly but effectively.

Holliston: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentaries: Except for Episode 7, every episode (including the Christmas Special) has a commentary with Adam Green, Joe Lynch, Laura Ortiz and Sean Becker, who split directing duties with Green in Season 2. The commentaries were recorded in January 2014, as much as a year after the episodes were shot. Green and Lynch do most of the talking, but Ortiz has some of the best zingers. The commentaries provide a wealth of information about the production of the series, the background of the guest stars, alternate versions of scenes, editing choices, contributions by the crew and cast, experiences at fan conventions—indeed, anything and everything relating to Holliston.



• Deleted Scenes: Deleted scenes are included separately with Episodes 2, 4, 5, 9, 10 and the Christmas Special. Adam Green provides an introduction to the deletions for each episode.



• Behind the Scenes (480i; 1.78:1, enhanced; 14:22): This section consists of three featurettes. The first covers Lance Rockett's wardrobe, most of which came straight from the closet of Dee Snider and was overseen by his wife, Suzanne Snider; Cody Blue Snider also discusses the music video for "Love It Down Your Throat". The second featurette deals with the plotting of Season 2 in general. The third featurette covers the Season 2 premiere in Hollywood.



• Bloopers (1080p; 1.78:1; 5:18): I suspect there are plenty more where these came from.



• Table Read (1080p; 1.78:1; 29:14): This episode was written specifically for the Rock and Shock Convention held on Oct. 13, 2012 in Worcester, Massachusetts. Several members of the audience were chosen to read key parts, and several surprise guest stars appeared. The cast has since repeated this experience at other fan conventions, each time with an episode specifically written for the occasion.



• Music Videos


• Can You Hear (720p; 1.78:1; 4:16): The full title of the song is "Can You Hear Me", performed by Corri English's band, Brokedown Cadillac. Corri performs a portion of the song in the season finale.


• Love (1080p; 1.78:1; 3:11): The full title of the song is "Love It Down Your Throat", allegedly performed by the band known as "Dyver Down", which is Lance Rockett's band, from their album entitled Original Van Halen Covers. The video credits list the director as Lance Rockett; in fact, it was directed by Cody Blue Snider.


• Road (1080p; 1.78:1; 5:40): Episode 7, "Blobby", opens with Adam rocking out in his bedroom as he pretends to perform Gwar's song "The Road Behind". This extra contains a complete run-through of that performance, with titles indicating which portion was used in "Blobby".

Holliston: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

As of this writing, FEARnet has yet to renew Holliston for a third season. The main participants are all involved in other projects, their careers propelled in part by the exposure that Holliston has given them through conventions, word-of-mouth and fan sites. It remains to be seen whether FEARnet is willing to continue funding this type of original programming and, if so, whether Holliston's creative team can recover from the loss of a major cast member. In the meantime, Season 2 is available in a first-rate Blu-ray presentation. Highly recommended.