“Ghost Hunters” is no different than most reality TV programs as it’s contrived, forced and, sadly enough since I used to enjoy the series on a superficial level, tedious with routine occurrences in every episode with little payoff at the end. With regards to the Blu-ray, just know you’re paying around $20 for no features and only OK video and audio transfers… oh, and only half a season.
“Ghost Hunters” Season Six, Part 1 (2010)
REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall
Genre(s): Documentary, Special Interest
Image Entertainment | NR – 528 min. – $29.98 | September 13, 2011
MOVIE INFO:
Directed by: NA
Writer(s): NA
Cast: Jason Hawes, Grant Wilson, Steve Gonsalves, Dave Tango, Kris Williams, Amy Bruni
DISC INFO:
Features: None
Number of Discs: 3
Audio: English (PCM 2.0)
Video: 1080i/Widescreen 1.78
Subtitles: None
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Region(s): A, B, C
THE MOVIE – 2.75/5
Members of The Atlantic Paranormal Society (or TAPS for the “cool” crowd) are once again back for a sixth season to investigate paranormal and ghostly activities and a variety of interesting and sometimes spooky locations. The group — comprised of team leaders Jason Hawes and Gran Wilson (who work for Roto Rooter in their day job) and investigators Steve Gonsalves, Dave Tango, Amy Bruni and others who come in and out — take stories from those living or working at the locations and try to get a fix on what’s happening before setting up cameras throughout the building. And of course since ghosts can’t come out with the lights on, even though it is said they draw energy from power sources, they turn off the lights and get to work.
That’s the basic premise behind “Ghost Hunters” and in reality it deviates from the formula except maybe to switch out members (sadly Kris Williams departed for “Ghost Hunters International”, those lucky bastards) and maybe introduce some piece of new equipment that works great and yet is probably never seen again… Otherwise each episode is the same where during the investigation (in teams of two) one member hears something and promptly asks, “Did you hear that?” to which the other either states it came from a certain direction or they didn’t hear it at all. Not surprisingly the sound was just off camera.
I realize I’m sounding overly critical and that’s because as much as I enjoyed the series in the beginning, the whole thing is tediously redundant and not at all scary and/or intriguing. Sure, shows like “Criminal Minds” and “CSI” are fairly routine as well but at least they’re entertaining and aren’t nearly as contrived. There I go again…
I used to give the benefit of the doubt to the show but over the years just realize it’s like any other “reality” programming where you might have 10% truth while the rest is entertainment industry BS. With that said – and with what we have in this season – I can at least tolerate the show and those fans out there will probably still enjoy the cases and the things that go bump in the night.
THE BLU-RAY
The 3-disc Blu-ray set comes housed in an HD Keep Case (slightly wider than a standard case) with a slick, reflective slip cover. In terms of the Blu-ray, Image continues the tradition in releasing the show in parts and at $20 a pop, which means close to $40 for a season set, not out of line compared with others but with no extras and average audio and picture, is a crazy price to pay.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 0/5
No features have been included.
VIDEO – 3.75/5
“Ghost Hunters” Season Six, Part 1 is presented in its original 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio and now 1080i high-definition. I’ve caught the show off and on during the sixth season and can say this is pretty much what it looks like. It’s not a great looking picture but it’s serviceable enough and even the darker shots, as you can imagine there are plenty, is pretty good. The detail level isn’t the best but given the cameras they use, I wasn’t expecting much and can’t hold it against the transfer.
AUDIO – 3.0/5
The audio meanwhile is OK but nothing special. Here we get a PCM 2.0 stereo track which offers no depth but at the same time, other than the off-camera bumps or recorded haunts, this is strictly dialogue which while flat is still decent enough.
OVERALL – 2.0/5
Overall, “Ghost Hunters” is no different than most reality TV programs as it’s contrived, forced and, sadly enough since I used to enjoy the series on a superficial level, tedious with routine occurrences in every episode with little payoff at the end. With regards to the Blu-ray, just know you’re paying around $20 for no features and only OK video and audio transfers… oh, and only half a season.
Brian Oliver, The Movieman
Published: 09/12/2011
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2.