Search - Dante's Cove - The Complete Second Season on DVD

AWSOME!!!

James | 03/30/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When i was first told about the show, i had my doubts. Finally i gave in and bought season one just based on my friends reviews and others positive reviews. I was not disappointed. Despite the bits of cheesy acting in the beginning and the campiness, the show is REALLY REALLY good. It is DEFINATLY unlike anything you have ever seen. While it does pay an omage to other shows, blending Melrose Place/Dark Shadows and Queer as Folk, it is a great supernatural gay drama that is uniquely it's own. After watching season one, i was hooked and got my cable provider to hook me to Heretv. Now after seeing season two, im anxiously awaiting the third season. Season two is just as great as season one. I highly recommend this show, after one episode YOU WILL BE HOOKED!!"

Inriguing and Erotic

Amos Lassen | Little Rock, Arkansas | 05/10/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Dante's Cove", Season II

Intriguing and Erotic

Amos Lassen and Cinema Pride

The second season of "Dante's Cove" is here and it was worth waiting for. The series won me over from the start and Here TV! has done itself proud by releasing it on DVD so that non subscribers to the cable station can enjoy it. It is a great supernatural drama that is unique in every way and it hooks you in and doesn't let go.
It is hard to take your eyes off of the TV set when you watch it---it has everything, intrigue and horror, mystique and romance, and hot people making love. The acting may not be the best but everything else is. The characters rise above the dialog in beautifully filmed love scenes in which the chemistry boils. I have yet to see anything quite this erotic on television -"Dante's Cove" puts "Queer as Folk" in its back pocket.
The series is very funny and very hot--part gay soap opera, part science-fiction, and part fun and altogether is a wonderful whole. It is one of my guilty pleasures. Beautiful photography, good-looking men in various states of undress and a great hotel make for a great series. The haunted Hotel Dante serves as a backdrop for open sexuality--even more so in the second season than the first.
An easy going storyline with gorgeous people and dreamy scenery do not always guarantee a good production but in the case of "Dante's Cove" everything works. Let me stress that the sex in no way detracts from the story. The series is not about being gay but rather that gay people have ordinary lives as they move through life and survive the same as straight people. All of the elements of a good thriller are there with the added dimension of gay life.
I have read some of the negative comments and I am reacting to them by saying to those who don't like "Dante's Cove" to get over themselves and learn to sit back and relax. It is good to have fun once in a while.
"

Campy, sexy and fun!

Bob Lind | Phoenix, AZ United States | 07/15/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In the second season of the guilty pleasure "Dante's Cove" (think of it as a cross between "The O.C." and the old series "Dark Shadows", but with gay erotic content that makes "Queer As Folk" look like an afterschool special), the hunky boys and beautiful girls who live at Dante's Hotel are living and loving, while still having to deal with the problems caused by its previous inhabitant, exiled warlock Ambrosius, and his ex-girlfriend and eternal nemesis, the witch Grace.

This season, they're joined by a mysterious, more powerful witch, Diana (played by Thea Gil, previously of QAF). As we rejoin the gang, somewhat naive Kevin is tired of living under Toby's shadow, wants to get a job and become more self-sufficient, which makes Toby insecure about their relationship. Seeing this as a chance to get Kevin back into his clutches, Ambrosius updates his image ("Call me 'Bro!") and tries to dazzle the young man with a fast car and to-die-for beach house. Toby's ex Adam (recast this year, for the better) gets involved with Ambrosius as well, and gets hooked on a local drug with supernatural origins. Meanwhile, Van gets further into dabbling in magic, with a book she found on the beach, learns the truth about Ambrosius and Grace, and takes desperate measures when her girlfriend Michelle says she has to choose between the magic or their relationship. The five (apx.) hour-long episodes also reveal a former boyfriend of Kevin's visiting the hotel, Adam's involvement with a gay afterhours sex club, the resort's handyman trying to seduce boss man Marco, more background on the two child ghosts that appear to Toby, as well as much more detail on the ins and outs of Grace's and Ambrosius' powers, and how they must ally themselves with a hotel guest in order to battle it out by the upcoming Solstice. Comic relief is provided by the appearance of an old porcelin doll, which has a spell causing anyone who touches it to fall in instant lust with the next person (male or female) they see.

Critics say "This is nothing more than a gay soap" and point at the often over-the-top dialogue and occasional overacting. Hey, it is what it is, and it works on that level exceedingly well, as most "guilty pleasures" should! They definitely cranked up the "camp" quotient a notch or two this year, with Tracy Scoggins as Grace (trying to teach young protege' Van the nuances of black magic) losing her cool and occasionally seeming to be channeling Agnes Moorehead in "Bewitched"! The photography, music and eye candy is outstanding, and I found myself powerless to avoid going through all five episodes in one sitting.

Note that the format of this 2-DVD set can be a bit confusing, in that there is a top menu to choose the episode you want to see (which should obviously be viewed in order), and then a submenu to play that episode (No option to view all episodes on the disk consecutively.) The second disk also includes some excellent extras, including deleted scenes, interviews with the cast, "backlot" featurette and "coming out" stories by the three openly-gay cast members. It isn't Emmy-worthy, but a fun diversion for you and open-minded friends. I'm under a spell not to give it anything less than a full five stars out of five."

This is the best we've got?

Warren Dugan | Milwaukee, WI United States | 07/25/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"In Season One of Dante's Cove, I was willing to look past the horrendous scripts, a story thinner than cheesecloth, and actors that practically broke off chunks of scenery in their haste to chew on it for the sake of supporting here! TV.

No more!

After reading reviews that season two of the show featured better acting, scripts, and plot, I eagerly ordered my copy and can definitively say that it's just crap.

The actors may have better haircuts and the set is an improvement, it's so different from Season 1 that all you can do is shake your head in disbelief.

To make a long (and bad) story short, here's just a few things that are wrong with Dante's Cove:

- It's not a guilty pleasure. So you're willing to overlook the lack of plot for nudity. The only nudity you'll find is the same character in several episodes; I've seen the handyman's genitals so many times I can draw them from memory. How come the main characters are unwilling to bare it all?

- It features the lamest "witches" ever. There is supposedly so much power to be had, why do they need to drive cars? Couldn't they just transport themselves from one place to another?

- The creators think the audience is stupid. The only way these "episodes" reach normal television lengths is to continually show you flashbacks. Flashbacks from last week, from last season, even things that happened only two scenes ago! We're gay, not stupid.

I hope that someone will come up with a gay Supernatural or X-Files, a show with quality writing and acting. This schlock gives all gay people a bad name!

Don't buy this, rent it and save yourself $[..]!"