Criss Angel - Mindfreak - The Complete Season One
by Criss Angel
List Price:
Our Price: $7.48
You Save: $7.47 (50%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.12 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Banachek, Criss Angel, Evelyn Ng, Luke Jermay, Michael MeccaDirector: Criss Angel
Brand: A&E
Producer: Criss Angel
Writer: Criss Angel
Producer: Andrew Yex
Producer: Ben Waller
Producer: Bradley Anderson
Producer: Chris Nicholas
Producer: Christian Jean
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 330 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-12-26
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: A&E Home Video
Product features:
- A reality show about anything but, CRISS ANGEL MINDFREAK takes viewers behind the scenes with today's most exciting master of the surreal and jaw-dropping escapologist. All 15 episodes from season one are on DVD for the first time. Don't believe your eyes! Go behind the scenes with today's most exciting master of surreality in CRISS ANGEL: MINDFREAK. A cross between Harry Houdini,
Movie Reviews of Criss Angel - Mindfreak - The Complete Season One
Movie Review: In The Beginning . . .Hunger and Heart.
Summary: 5 Stars
I had written a review for Season 1 about two years ago, and I have decided to rewrite it from a different standpoint. Two years later, and now with Season 5 just wrapping up, I am looking back at Season 1 rather than starting out with it.
My interest in Criss Angel came quite by accident. He was someone I stumbled across while I was flipping through the TV. When I decided to check him out, I took both Season 1 and Season 2 out of the library, along with his biography. I was also checking into his music as well.
I started with Season 1, and I can tell you that I pretty much watched the whole thing in one sitting. I was captivated by it. I think I managed to watch two episodes of Season 2 before ordering my own copies of both seasons. I also didn't return the library's until I had my own in my hands. I was never a fan of magicians, but something was different about Criss, and there was something more appealing about Criss that extended beyond his magical talents.
Now, after just about wrapping up Season 5 with one more episode to go, I can look back at Season 1. Season 1 was the beginning of the TV Series, Mindfreak. I view Season 1 in a special way because this was a new thing for Criss with doing this television show. He has some following now, but it is almost uncanny to view Season 1 and the small crowds that were available to watch these demonstrations as opposed to the throng of devoted followers he has now. As they say, you've come a long way baby. There was no pretense in this season. He made a transition from being a "goth" guy from his earlier specials (Mindfreak Special, Supernatural, Made in Japan) to this approachable, charming, seemingly warm individual who was hungry in his craft and creative with his art.
Just about every episode has dealt with a stunt that was considered dangerous and death-defying. He put himself on the line to catch the public's attention and it worked. From this point on, he showed more humor and personality in the next two seasons, while still having the tricks and stunts, but curbing back a tad on the danger factor. Season 3 started to see a rise in his popularity, and there was more of a thrust of image being brought to the forefront. By Season 4, there was lots of image, some stunts, and his personality appeared to have changed, which is why I have reviewed that season as the weakest. The latest Mindfreak is a 5-part hour-long special returning to his roots a little, but that's another review.
I would tell the new fan to start with this season if they don't have anything by Criss Angel, and then work upward through the seasons. I would then advise a look into his pre-Mindfreak days with the above-mentioned specials to acquire another viewpoint into how some of these demonstrations started out, and how Criss started out before he landed a TV deal with A&E.
Season one is the Huger and the Heart of why Criss does what he does. You have your stunts, and you have some cool slight of hand. You have a guy that wasn't as much an image as he was an artist. You have a guy who I found extremely likable. You get to see his family a lot in this season, too, which tells you a lot about his family values and what was important to him.
Criss has said himself that he's more about the way the trick made you feel than about the trick itself. He's all about that "emotional" connection. My wish for him would be to not see him lose that. Because each of us are individuals, who he is as a person is as much a selling point as his bag of tricks are. His personality and his art should stand on its own, and that is what I would like to see him known for.
I don't want to see him become a Britney Spears who is known more for her tabloid dramas, or what she wears or doesn't wear, than for her music and dancing. He doesn't need to generate "talk" by going that route - just let your personality and your creativity be the guiding light. Some of that got lost in Season 4 with the flashy, tabloid image he was portraying. He's better than that.
Season 1 is proof of that.
ARE YOU READY?
©Diane Trautweiler. Written 9/6/2009.
Criss Angel - Mindfreak - The Complete Season One
Summary of Criss Angel - Mindfreak - The Complete Season One
Go behind the scenes with today?s most exciting master of surreality in CRISS ANGEL: MINDFREAK. A cross between Harry Houdini, Cirque Du Soleil and Fear Factor, each mind-boggling episode of CRISS ANGEL: MINDFREAK captures the creative genius at work, preparing and training for his often death-defying feats. From levitating ordinary American citizens, to literally dangling by his skin from a helicopter one thousand feet above the Valley of Fire in Las Vegas, Criss Angel brings his extraordinary talents to the streets of Ameria--live, unstaged and without the use of any camera tricks. On DVD for the first time, experience all 15 episodes from the critically acclaimed debut season of CRISS ANGEL: MINDFREAK, starring the world?s only 3-time Magician of the Year, and featuring celebrity guests like Jonathan Davis of Korn, Mandy Moore, and Penn & Teller. Get Your Mindfreak On! DVD Features: Commentary with Criss Angel on Episodes "Burned Alive" and "Body Suspension"; Interactive Illusions Through Your Television Screen; "Inside the Mind of Criss Angel" Interview; Criss Angel?s Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Your Own Illusions; Photo Gallery; Biography; Interactive Menus; Scene SelectionLike a post-millennial Harry Houdini--crossed with Aerosmith's Joe Perry--Criss Angel is the illusionist as rock star. He's got the hair, the eyeliner, even the medallions. As it turns out, he's also a musician, who wrote and performed the theme song (with Korn's Jonathan Davis). A&E's Mindfreak, a 15-episode series, follows three TV specials and a Broadway spectacular. For those who may be wondering, Angel defines a "mindfreak" as "a modern day mystifier who utilizes skills beyond the category of magic."
The basic format of the 30-minute program, which was renewed for a second season, is documentary meets music video meets magic show. In the pilot, Angel (née Christopher Sarantakos) gets things off to a "crackling" start when he sets himself on fire ("Burned Alive"). It is, to say the least, a rather unconventional way to pay tribute to his mother on the occasion of her 70th birthday. As the mindfreak himself puts it, "I'll be the living birthday candle." In other episodes, he defies gravity ("Levitation"), lifts a cab ("Superhuman"), and blows himself up ("C4 Crate"). Angel is also a practitioner of street magic and performs a variety of sleights of hand (card tricks, etc.) prior to the more hazardous feats.
From the start, Angel makes it clear that he requires assistance with those feats and is often joined by an array of consultants, technicians, and such, including brothers J.D. and Costa. Then there are his guests, like Lance Burton ("Wine Barrel Escape"), Rob Zombie ("Buried Alive"), and Mandy Moore ("Blind")--even his cat, Minx, and girlfriend, JoAnn, put in occasional appearances. As with Jackass, Mindfreak is meant to entertain rather than to instruct. Accordingly, it comes with the following disclaimer: "These demonstrations are extremely dangerous and should not be attempted by anyone, anywhere, at any time." --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Similar DVD Movies
Mental Freak Criss Angel Magic TrickIdea Village; Magic Tricks; Toy
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
Mindfreak: Secret Revelationsby Criss Angel
It Books; Published: 2008-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.98
Price in other shops:
Criss Angel Mindfreak: The Most Dangerous EscapesA and E Home Video; Release date: 2009-09-29; DVD
Best price: $2.98
Price in other shops:
David Blaine - FearlessDIS; Release date: 2002-05-14; DVD
Best price: $2.96
Price in other shops:
Criss Angel Mindfreak - Halloween SpecialAAE; Release date: 2006-08-29; DVD
Best price: $0.91
Price in other shops:
Criss Angel Mindfreak: The Complete Season FourA and E Home Video; Release date: 2009-01-20; DVD
Best price: $14.88
Price in other shops:
Criss Angel - Mindfreak - The Complete Season ThreeA and E Home Video; Release date: 2008-01-15; DVD
Best price: $11.45
Price in other shops:
The Criss Angel Mindfreak Platinum Magic KitIdeavillage; Criss Angel; Toy
Best price: $19.85
Price in other shops:
Criss Angel - The Five Lives of Criss Angel Mindfreak DVD SETA and E Home Video; Release date: 2009-12-15; DVD
Best price: $3.98
Price in other shops:
Criss Angel: Mindfreak Season 6A&E; Release date: 2011-01-11; DVD
Best price: $11.49
Price in other shops: