Review: 'Lovecraft Country - The Complete First Season' is Visually Arresting and Instantly Addictive

With the success of "Game of Thrones" and "Watchmen" (an innovative appropriation of the hit DC Comics graphic novel), HBO has shrewdly been mining the fantasy "genre" audience. Their latest, "Lovecraft Country,The Complete First Season" (now available now on Blu-ray and Digital), checks of all the boxes on the genre's list.

Based on the 2016 novel by Matt Russ, the story centers on Atticus Freeman (Jonathan Majors), a military veteran during the early 1050s, one of the most divisively segregated times in our history. Atticus returns home to Chicago and learns that his father (played by Michael K. Williams of "The Wire" and "Boardwalk Empire" fame) has mysteriously disappeared. Atticus sets off with his Uncle George (Courtney B. Vance) and his friend Leti (Jurnee Smollett) on a journey to find him that takes them into the supernatural and the macabre.

Visually arresting and instantly addictive, "Lovecraft Country" is mind-bending in its narrative, which is set against the hauntingly vile prejudices of our history in which Black Americans weren't only relegated to the backs of buses, they also weren't welcome in many hotels or restaurants across the South. Uncle George has dedicated himself to mapping the nation for Black Americans to safely travel with his "Safe Negro Travel Guide," but our trio of intrepid travelers are completely unprepared for the pitfalls that await them.

With a darkly sinister legacy that may (or may not) connect him to a lineage of ancestors dating back to Adam and Eve, Atticus will learn that there are indeed monsters and demons in the world, and they aren't only wielding shot guns and pitchforks. Atticus, George, and Leti encounter a cult that has an agenda. When Atticus finds his father, it comes at a great price, and it raises many questions. Who is Atticus Freeman, and how is he connected to the human race's ultimate salvation?

The series, produced by J.J. Abrams and Jordan Peele, "Lovecraft Country - The Complete First Season" blends historical social unrest with horror and fantasy, and is populated with characters that audiences will easily resonate with.

The Blu-ray package includes all 10 one-hour episodes of the first season, along with spectacular bonus content that reveals the creatives' visionary take on the world inspired by the horrors of an H.P. Lovecraft novella.

"Lovecraft Country - The Complete First Season" is available now on Blu-ray and Digital for $39.99.