Based on the novel of the same name by Caleb Carr, The Alienist: Angel of Darkness is the second season of The Alienist television series that takes place in the late 1800s, 1896 and 1897 respectively. The series is directed by David Caffrey and Claire Kilner and features the same core cast in Dakota Fanning, Daniel Bruhl and Luke Evans.
The second season has Sara Howard (Dakota Fanning, I am Sam, Ocean’s 8) now having her own private detective agency reunites with the alienist, Dr. Laszlo Kreizler (Daniel Brühl, Captain America: Civil War, The King’s Man), and John Moore (Luke Evans, The Fate and the Furious, Beauty and the Beast), who is now a New York Times reporter having been promoted from being the newspaper’s cartoonist in the first season. It starts when an innocent woman is given the electric chair for allegedly kidnapping a child. Knowing the woman is innocent of her crime, Sara decides to investigate the matter further and learns that there is a serial killer out there kidnapping and murdering children. The killer is clever enough to avoid being captured by Sara and Laszlo, murdering those who get in the way.
The series is eight episodes spread across two Blu-ray discs, with each episode lasting approximately 45 minutes. The titles of the episodes are as follows:
Disc one: Ex Ore Infantium, Something Wicked, Labyrinth, Gilded Cage
Disc two: Belly of the Beast, Memento Mori, Better Angels
The Alienist: Angel of Darkness is a great follow up the first series, with great production values, excellent acting, and cinematography. The film captures a lot of atmospheric conditions, with an aura of darkness throughout the series. The cliffhangers at the end of each episode were well done and suspenseful.
The Blu-ray from Warner Brothers is outstanding with satisfactory image and audio quality. The 1080p transfer is rich with deep textures to the interior and exterior shots, boasting a lot of fine details, and with strong dark colors throughout. The color palette tends to be dimly lit, as much of the series does take place in the evening, but the black levels are nearly perfect with nary a sign of black crush.
The English DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio is also pleasing with nice, crisp, and clear audio with the spoken dialogue and other action noises coming in flawlessly without any audio drop-offs or hissing. The music tends to be somewhat more aggressive but overall, the audio was balanced. English SDH subtitles are available for this release.
There are also a few extras included in this package.
The Hunt for the Killer which is a short three-minute featurette about the story.
Building a Better World focuses on the production of the show. Dressing a Modern Woman looks at the costumes that Dakota Fanning wears.
Walking the Set 2.0 with Luke Evans is another short feature displaying some scenery and landmarks.
The Alienist: Angel of Darkness was every bit as good as the first season. The Blu-ray’s audio and video are excellent and there’s a few cool extras to make this a recommended package!
The Alienist: Angel of Darkness
Director- David Caffrey and Claire Kilner
Cast- Daniel Bruhl, Dakota Fanning, Luke Evans
Country of Origin- US
Distributor –Warner Brothers
Number of Discs – 2
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date- 5/21/2022