"Death Valley" and Your First Ride Through a Possessed LA: A Television Review (Pilot)

Writer: Curtis Gwinn.

Cast: Tania Raymonde, Texas Battle, and Bryan Callen.

"Death Valley" is MTV's latest production, which takes place in Los Angeles. Produced in bite size episodes of about twenty minutes, the first episode of this show was aired in Canada September 6th. The show involves several LAPD officers who must deal with vampires, zombies and werewolves in comedic fashion. There are lots of great lines like "hands up vampire tits," or bizarre shots of nude women on iPhones and "I do it for them!" Pretty funny the whole way throught, the pilot episode of "Death Valley" had this viewer cracking up.

Stubeck (Charlie Sanders), Kirsten (Caity Lotz), Carla (Raymonde) and an angry Captain (Callen) immerse the watcher in a Los Angeles filled with vampire prostitutes and donut making zombies. The tension is broken up by a large amount of commercial breaks; this viewer counted 5 breaks in a half hour. However, almost each snippet of the show is full of hilarity, as the cops bust a john or pull over a werewolf. The dialogue is witty and this first episode is a good intro' on what to expect in upcoming shows e.g. "Blood Vessels," "Two Girls, One Cop."

Comparisons will be made between this show and "Reno 911." Both shows are ridiculous and absurd. There are no high riding, skin tight shorts here, but there are a few cops who live up to their donut eating stereotypes. Incompetency and slapstick comedy abound, as a confused Captain does his best with a rookie: "Your name is Kirsten? How was I saying it? Kristen? I am going to have a tough time with this one." All of the show is utlized via a pseudo-documentary style, while the filming crew also gets in on the action. A boom mike substitues for a wooden stake in one shot, while one sound guy gets bitten by a zombie before being put down by one of the officers: "there are lots of sound guys in the valley."

This is a great fun and comedic show that has to be seen by fans of both horror and comedy. Not entirely unique, but not entirely copied, MTV's "Death Valley" succeeds in being an entertaining time, despite the many interruptions for adverts'. Future episodes are slated to be shown in September and this new "Death Valley" fan would encourage you to give the show a try for the many laughs and inappropriate dialogue. Check your MTV listings for exact show dates.

Overall: 7.75 out of 10 (great dialogue writing, good characters, lots going on in this first episode).

*MTV has also produced the popular My Super Psycho Sweet 16 and sequel.

More on this show at MTV:

Death Valley at MTV

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