Point Pleasant - The Complete Series
Combine elements ofThe O.C.,Dawson's Creek,Buffy the Vampire Slayer, andDesperate Housewives, to name just a few, and you have the slight but divertingPoint Pleasant. And for those frustrated by Fox TV's decision to cancel this 2005 series after just eight episodes, the good news is that this three-disc set includes the five episodes that never made it to the airwaves. The show centers on blonde teenager Christina Nickson (Elisabeth Harnois), who's pulled from the surf off the beach at Point Pleasant, New Jersey, and is soon taken in by one of the town's troubled families. It's not for nothing that Christina is, well, a bit mysterious; we learn that she is "the child of darkness," daughter of Satan himself, endowed with malevolent powers that she neither understands nor can control. Sleepy little Point Pleasant, meanwhile, will soon be "home to the greatest coming of evil since the angels fell from heaven," and Christina has arrived to usher in the End of Days, with a little help from the smarmy Lucas Boyd (Grant Show), ol' Mr. 666's errand boy. To that end, all sorts of bad stuff starts to happen: Insects attack! The church's stained glass window breaks! A dance marathon brings out the worst in the townsfolk! Teenagers get jealous! Horny adults flirt… and maybe more!If all of that sounds pretty tame, that'sPoint Pleasant's principal problem: good premise, less than stellar execution. The show looks great, including the actors; the teens all appear to have stepped out of a Gap commercial, and the grownups are model-beautiful too. But their acting isn't nearly as hot as they are. Same goes for the dialogue (ten episodes in, people are still saying things like "This may sound crazy, but…"). And the special effects. And the excruciatingly slow pace of the story development. Most of all, even though the body count and the fear factor rise in the last few episodes,Point Pleasant(which was co-created by formerBuffywriter-producer Marti Noxon) just isn’t scary enough. In trying to be titillating and concentrating so much on the characters' various personal problems, even those brought to light by Christina's appearance, the producers seem to have forgotten that when the Devil comes to town and the apocalypse is at hand, mere melodrama just won't cut it. In the end, those looking for genuine thrills have any number of other series and films to turn to. On the other hand, if a supernatural soap opera sounds like your cup of karma, thenPoint Pleasantis for you. The box set includes a "making of" featurette as well as the 13 episodes.--Sam Graham