STACK August 2016 Issue 142

The USA in the 1980s is regarded as the decade

of excess, not least for the masses of cocaine that

caressed nostrils. That particular phenomenon was

basically due to one enterprising fellow, Colombian

drug entrepreneur Pablo Escobar (portrayed with

admiral restraint by Wagner Moura). This 10-episode

first season of

Narcos

blends crime-thriller with

biography to deliver a fascinating view of the rise of

cocaine demand in the States, as seen through the

eyes of a fictional DEA agent, Steve Murphy (Boyd

Holbrook). While

Narcos

can be uncomfortably funny, it contains

an air of documentary, making it an educational, exciting and often

unnerving rush. Available as a limited edition with over 40 minutes

of behind-the-scenes features, exclusive to JB Hi-Fi.

There's no business like blow business.

NARCOS:

SEASON 1

In between directing fantastic

films, the supremely talented

Guillermo del Toro penned a

vampire book trilogy with Chuck

Hogan, which is now a major

TV series. He also directed the

pilot episode, in which a 747

lands at New York's JFK airport

with all onboard dead on arrival.

Or are they? CDC doctor Eph

Goodweather (Corey Stoll) soon

discovers an ancient evil with

a hunger for blood has been

unleashed upon the city. Ostensibly

The Strain

does for vampires what

The Walking Dead

did for zombies,

only this time we get to see the

apocalypse as it unfolds. And these

vamps are definitely not

Twilight

hunks! Gruesome and gripping.

THE STRAIN:

SEASON 1

Release Date:

24/08/16

Format:

American Horror Story

creators

Brad Falchuk and Ryan Murphy

bring their distinctive brand of

demented horror-comedy to this

sassy series that pays tribute

to the '80s slasher film cycle –

complete with original scream

queen Jamie Lee Curtis. A college

campus is stalked by a serial killer

in a red devil costume, who's

targeting members of the exclusive

Kappa Kappa Tau sorority house,

led by abrasive queen bitch Chanel

(Emma Roberts). Closer in tone to

Glee

than

AHS

Scream Queens

knows its target audience and

gives them exactly what they want,

like guest roles for popsters Ariana

Grande and Nick Jonas. Horror fans

will enjoy all the in-jokes, too.

SCREAM QUEENS:

SEASON 1

Release Date:

24/08/16

Format:

Release Date:

23/08/16

Format:

Stephen King's massive 2011 novel of the same

name, about a time traveller's attempt to prevent the

assassination of President John F. Kennedy on the

titular date, has been turned into an eight-episode

mini-series produced by J.J. Abrams. Jake Epping

(James Franco) is the guy who goes down the

temporal rabbit hole and eventually finds himself in

Dallas, 1963, with the opportunity to change history.

Jake shadows Lee Harvey Oswald and falls in love

along the way to the fateful date, and of course there

are the inevitable paradoxes and future repercussions to consider

should his mission prove successful. The concept alone makes this

a must-see, and the series thankfully trims much of the novel's fat.

The combination of King and Abrams is the icing on the cake.

A King-sized time travel tale.

11.22.63

Let’s go way back to the year

872 AD. We’re in what we now

know as England, but then it was

a collection of seven kingdoms,

which the Danes had an irritating

habit of invading and conquering.

This plundering leaves young Saxon

Uhtred orphaned, so the Danes take

him in and raise him. As he matures,

his loyalties become torn between

his ancestry and those who have

looked after him, hindered even

more by the fact that the Danes are

still busily conquering his homeland.

A rousing eight-part adaptation

of Bernard Cromwell’s

The Saxon

Stories,

a series of historically based

novels, any

Game of Thrones

fan

would be mad to miss out on this

sword-wielding bounty.

THE LAST KINGDOM:

SEASON 1

Release Date:

04/08/16

Format:

“Aussie” and “sci-fi” aren’t words that

go together often enough, so when a

superb entry enters the sparsely-filled

fray, it’s cause to get excited – and

six-parter

Cleverman

is exciting. Set

in a near-future Sydney where a

new species of super-strong hirsute

humanoids are discovered, and

quickly shuttered into a small ghetto

labelled “The Zone”, the concept is

plucked from tales of the Dreaming

– as is the series’ titular hero (Hunter

Page-Lochard). The Cleverman

is basically a conduit between

the Dreaming and the present,

and possesses powers such as

regeneration when injured. Touching

upon themes from brotherhood to

racism, border protection and beyond,

Cleverman

really is clever, man.

CLEVERMAN:

Season 1

Release Date:

24/08/16

Format:

Release Date:

10/08/16

Format:

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REVIEWS

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AUGUST

2016

DVD&BD