Reviews

I'm a big fan of Flanagan's work and enjoy basically everything that he's done; this show is no different! Beautiful colour palette and visually stunning. I love his take on the classic characters and creating an estranged family out of those characters arguably increases the drama and tension between them.

Every character has their own arch and their own challenges created by an initial traumatic event which occurred in the family's past. The house stands as a metaphor for familial trauma which each character endures and then has to cope with the ghosts of their pasts.

The only reason I rated this an 8 and not a 9 is due to the disappointing ending (in my opinion) which destroyed the overall themes of fate and cycles of familial melancholy by creating a cheap emotional resolution.

Despite the end, I enjoyed episodes 1 - 9 very much!

An interesting attempt at modernizing the classic characters that ultimately ends up going too far with some strange stylistic choices; yet, overall cinematography was more inspired than an average television show, which I did appreciate. The writing worked, once again, very well in sections of episodes leaving me interested and entertained without being spoonfed by the writer until it suddenly would lose track of itself and become almost childish or lack the appropriate payoff with the amount of buildup it had created. Characters were inconsistent too; in motivation and in their actions. Sometimes they were brilliant and sometimes they would make extremely foolish choices occasionally even in the same scene!! Could have been so much more but, for what it was, I enjoyed myself.

This movie could have been so much more... Its vibrant cinematography style, decent practical effects, and lovely score cannot make up for the film's atrocious casting decisions, strange acting, hilarious direction, and goofy dialogue.

What a shame as, with some terrible choices amended, it could have been a dark and violent love story.