Happy Tree Friends

First Blood (Volume 1), Second Serving (Volume 2), and Third Strike (Volume 3)

Here amongst the members of SGM, I'm pretty certain, that one of the things we all have in common, is our love for the sight of blood in our viewing patterns! As long as it's red, and in heavy flow, we thrive on it! We also love to hear the sound of some poor sap being ground to death, and their ear-piercing scream coming out through the TV in glorious DTS! There's something special about that combination, that just makes us all very, very happy!

And, so, we come to "Happy Tree Friends": three DVD's of cute and cuddly cartoon characters being slaughtered, maimed, beaten-up; cracked-open, bitten, dismembered, chainsawed, torn-apart, devoured, tortured, chastised and generally every other kind of imaginable mistreatment! Do you dislike "Pokemon", with a vengeance? Ever felt that "Barbie" needed some extra-curricular guidance?! Was "He-Man" just a big pussy?! Well, these three volumes will please you no end!

Simply put, the Happy Tree Friends are the creations of Rhode Montijo and Kenn Navarro - two US animators, who simply wanted to get their revenge on cute animations they had seen. The idea of doing sick things to He-Man, My Little Pony, Sindy, and lots of other animations from their childhood, had an instant appeal. They came-up with the Mondo Mini-Shows website, and the idea of two extremes - cute, fluffy animals and unrepentant, hardcore violence - appealed to their dark and twisted minds, as well as the childhood sicko in all of us!

The shows are not too dissimilar to "South Park", except that there's no plot, none of the characters talk, and there's little point to any of what you see. These shorts, are created for adults who want no-holds-barred enjoyment of the most primal kind! Never has the tagline: "Cute, cuddly and horribly wrong" ever been more apt.

I won't try and detail the characters or the episodes, as there are too many to mention. Some of the numerous episodes have been on the Happy Tree Friends website, but many others have not. As such, it's nice to have the complete collection, all together! (Further volumes are expected.) The extras are bountiful on each volume, though some are more fun than others. The sound is basic stereo, but every gut-wrenching scene comes through your speakers crystal clear! With the DVD's being taken from digital media, there are no problems with the picture quality either. Every episode is 4:3 full-frame, which allows the scenes of imaginative death to fill every inch of your TV or PC system, and all in hi-definition, multi-coloured glory! Altogether, you get over 2 hours of entertainment per disc, which makes up for the steep retail price of £14-99 per disc. However, this is far cheaper than buying the identical discs off of the official Happy Tree Friends website. (The only difference there, being an NTSC disc and different cover artwork.)

If you always wondered what Tom or Jerry looked like, on the inside, these three discs will show you everything you ever wanted to know. Although each volume has a BBFC 12 certificate, these are not for the easily offended, or for youngsters! The gore is graphic and unrelenting, albeit very, very cartoony. Eyeballs are squashed. Faces are peeled off of heads. Brains sliced and diced. Limbs separate from their sockets. And a whole lot more! This is everything you feared, but everything you secretly desired as well! Highly recommended!

Review by "Pooch".