So this show came on last night. It seemed odd. Had kind of a steven king vibe to it, but with maybe some more modern creepiness like American Horror Story.
It was kind of confusing too. Had a lot of flashback parts, and it wasn’t super easy to figure out what was supposed to actually be happening. Anyone watch it and have any thoughts?
I just happened upon this on iTunes last night. First episode is free. I was really impressed by the genuinely dark vibe. Once a decade or so, ‘SyFy’ really impresses me.
Been a while since I’d seen Paul Schneider on screen. He was so good in David Gordon Green’s early films, I thought I’d be seeing a lot more of him.
Ya, I missed the next episode, but the first one was pretty dark.
Watched the second episode. It’s far less creepy than episode 1, but ups the darkness even further. I’d say more, but it’s all spoilers, basically. I’m definitely in for episode 3; curious to see how this plays out.
I thought the third episode was excellent. Went ahead an bought the season pass. I can’t imagine watching a show like this with commercials.
Finished the 6th and final episode last night. My favorite horror of 2016 alongside The Witch.
Season 2, “No End House,” premiered this week. Episode 1 didn’t quite reach the heights of last year’s premiere, but I’ll definitively keep up with it (especially as there’s basically nothing else on I’m interested in). I never heard much talk about Candle Cove, but I do hope it found its audience one way or another.
Yeah, this was pretty good.
Just binged through No End House. Damn that was intense. Once of the more terrifying shows I’ve watched in a while.Not because of shock or gore, but it really hits on some emotional horror. Really well acted and shot too. Very impressed. Never saw the first season, but it sounds like I’ll have to give it a watch. SyFy has been on a pretty good run last couple years
What did everyone else think?
Like the first Channel Zero, I thought this would’ve worked better with a couple fewer episodes. The pacing starts to reeeeeeaaaaaally drag out. I think something like 30% at least of the last few episodes is long panning shots that are attempting to build suspense, but are actually just tempting me to hit fast forward.
That being said, I think No End House was better than Candle Cove, so I hope the third series similarly improves. But man, either write more content, or cut out an episode or two. Don’t just give me dead air.
One of the best things I can say about No-End House is that I really liked the cast. Those kids were pretty good at carrying the morose weight of the script. You don’t often find good-looking young people with the gravitas to do existential horror, and you almost never find them on TV!
-Tom
Casting around for something new to watch on Shudder, I found this series. Where has this show been all my life? Weird, creepy, surreal, beautifully produced, and very dark subject matter for television. I’m currently a third of the way through Season Two.
Poking around the internet though it seems that Season Four was the end, which is really too bad. The ratings were anemic, apparently, even for SyFy. I’m gutted I didn’t get to contribute my little bit at the time.
If you need something to watch for scary season, you could do a whole lot worse.
You’re in for a treat. Season four is my favorite (E.L. Katz for the win!), but season two is a close second for the straight-up awesome John Carroll Lynch and some kid actors who could actually hold their own. A couple of really good performances in season three. Keep us posted on what you think. I can re-enjoy them vicariously through you.
-Tom
I just did the same thing I’ve watched the first 3 seasons over the last few weeks. Charmtrap’s description is right on “Weird, creepy, surreal, beautifully produced, and very dark”
Butchers Block has probably been my favorite by a little just because it seemed to stick with me more after the lights went out ;-) but they’ve all been really enjoyable.
I just always assumed there was nothing good on SyFy. Then Happy came along and now this. I guess I have to give them more credit , its not all Sharknados.
I enjoyed season one quite a bit. The story itself is a pretty traditional Bad Seed story, but a well-told one, with enough added lightly-surreal touches to make the puzzle worth solving. The addition of the collective memory angle adds an interesting internet-age twist.
If there’s a weak link in series one, it’s the quality of the acting. I’m sure the budget was small, and most of it seems to be on the screen, which is fine. But Paul Schneider is, frankly, an actor of limited gifts. This is a problem when he’s in 80% of your scenes. None of the rest of the cast is much better
Fortunately, series two improves this on all fronts. The cast is, with a couple of exceptions, above-average.
And I love the idea of a work of art that’s a gateway to this menacing pocket dimension, outwardly normal, but where nothing works as expected. It reminds me a bit of Thomas Ligotti’s excellent short story “The Bungalow House” (not in tone, but the basic idea):
The bungalow house was such a bleak environment in which to make a stand: the moonlight through the dusty blinds, the bodies on the carpet, the lamps without any lightbulbs. And the incredible silence. It was not the absence of sounds that I sensed, but the stifling of innumerable sounds and even voices, the muffling of all the noises one might expect to hear in an old bungalow house in the dead of night, as well as countless other sounds and voices. The forces required to accomplish this silence filled me with awe. The infinite terror and dreariness of an infested bungalow house, I whispered to myself. A bungalow universe, I then thought without speaking aloud. Suddenly I was overcome by a feeling of euphoric hopelessness which passed through my body like a powerful drug and held all my thoughts and all my movements in a dreamy, floating suspension. In the moonlight that shone through the blinds of that bungalow house I was now as still and as silent as everything else.
Can’t wait to finish this series. I plan to blast through as much as possible this weekend.
Black Summer is absolutely top-shelf zombie apocalypse horror. Uniquely written, shot, and acted. I cannot recommend it strongly enough.
-Tom
Finally finished Season 3. Easily my favorite of the first three. It was a game of Arkham Horror come to life.
RIP Rutger.
I really loved S3 too. Just wait though, I watched S4 and it was even better, if not quite as creepy. For whatever reason S3 had me watching the shadows when falling asleep. I don’t want to to spoil S4 but I will say it did have me watching over my shoulder when getting up in the middle of the night.
I’m watching s3 now, and it’s good. First season was great, second season was kind of meh, but still decent.
I am finished with E4 and I really like it so far. I thought the preview was promising but was then suirprised to find out it was connected to Znation, so I wasn’t sure what this was going to be like. I only saw a little bit of Z Nation. It wasn’t anything awful but this is different tonally (and more to my taste).
Ep 4 especially was incredible, although that dude is a total moron.
I keep meaning to check out Channel Zero, it looks promising.