Pretty Little Liars:Original Sin-The Complete First Season, the fourth television series in the Pretty Little Liars franchise, is out today on DVD and is also available on Digital. The DVD contains all 10 episodes of season 1 as well as almost an hour of bonus features. Thanks to our friends over at Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Cherry the Geek TV was given a free advanced copy of the DVD set to look at before today’s release.
Here is the synopsis of the show from the Warner Brothers Home Entertainment press release:
Twenty years ago, a series of tragic events almost ripped the blue-collar town of Millwood apart. Now, in the present day, a group of disparate teen girls — a brand-new set of Little Liars — find themselves tormented by an unknown Assailant and made to pay for the secret sin their parents committed two decades ago…as well as their own. In the dark, coming-of-age horror-tinged drama, we find ourselves miles away from Rosewood, but within the existing Pretty Little Liars universe — in a brand-new town, with a new generation of Little Liars.​
The thing that sets Original Sin apart from the other series in the franchise is that this series is written in the vein of a horror movie–particularly the slasher film. There are nods to Brian de Palma’s Carrie, John Carpenter’s Halloween, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, and the characters in the show spend a lot of time referencing old horror films of the 70s and 80s (although I personally find it a bit unrealistic that high school girls in the year 2023 would have THAT extensive of a horror movie database in their brains. They reference Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left, for example.) There is a mystery, some twists and turns, a few murders committed by a creepy masked Michael Myers-type killer known as “A”, and a big finale episode that reveals all. The end result is….fine. The horror/slasher elements are tame, and a lot of it seems too familiar and copied to be overly impressed, but there is enough there to keep the audience somewhat entertained until the ending with is just somewhat satisfying. The cast is good though, led by strong performances by Bailee Madison and Chandler Kinney. The rest of the cast– Zaria, Malia Pyles, and Maia Reficco are also wonderful.
The video and audio quality are impressive as well. The show has some decent production design, and that comes through on the video with vibrant colors.
The strength of the set lies in it’s bonus features. There are almost an hour’s worth here. They include:
Swagger, Romance, and Fear: The Boys of Original Sin
A New Generation of Terror: The Villains of Original Sin
Pretty Little Liars:Original Sin- Invitation to Sin
5 Inside the Sin Featurettes (going behind the scenes of episodes)
12 Character Pieces
Describe Pretty Little Liars:Original Sin Using Emojis
When you put all of the bonus content together, you get a pretty comprehensive look behind the scenes of season one. While I prefer longer, feature-length bonus content as opposed to shorter ones you have to piece together, there is some good stuff here. At least Warner Brothers threw SOMETHING together for this, unlike some recent releases like Lucifer, which contained almost zero bonus features.
You can get a preview of some of the bonus content by clicking on the link below:
While the mystery of season one is solved in episode ten, the producers hint in the bonus features that season two will contain a new killer and new mysteries. I’m interested to see if they keep the horror movie/slasher vibe going in subsequent seasons.
PRETTY LITTLE LIARS:ORIGINAL SIN- THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON DVD
Show Quality: B-
DVD Video Quality: A-
DVD Audio Quality: B
Bonus Features: A-
Overall Value: B+
About Author
