Series trailer: https://youtu.be/gDPAVk_XQZI
1: Lot 36:
this first episode started with superb atmosphere and visuals. The pacing was excellent, slow and grimly steady and not at all rushed. The main character was effectively unpleasant and unsympathetic. BUT the resolution was VERY predictable and disappointing. There were also a number of loose ends: for example the significance and reason for the lot owner’s dance, an element that was emphasized. And what was the connection of Spanish woman and why were her pictures so important to her (and the story)? A disappointing start
2; Graveyard Rats:
there was amazing chiaroscuro in this episode. It was very glowingly intense and almost all monochromatic except for occasional gleams of light and splashes of (blood) red. I much liked manner and verbal style it was written with the old-fashioned formal articulacy that added to sinister mood
It was horribly claustrophobic and while the ending was not a surprise, tension was excellently maintained and there was a satisfying resolution. It was a traditionally well-structured piece too.
3: The Autopsy:
This was the best so far. I learnt far too much about exactly what an autopsy involves from the start however. A marvelously steady and sustained pace was maintained along with a gradual revelation of the full horrors of the alien’s mode of operation. Once again, there was aa satisfying and convincing resolution. The cruel intelligence of the alien recalled the film Alien too.
4: The Outside:
This was very enjoyable with a very different tone from all the ones before. It was a very blackly funny, grotesquely exaggerated satire about beauty and popularity.
5: Pickman’s Model:
This was a superb H P Lovecraft convincing period piece. The use and appearance of the monster and its summoning worked better and more convincingly than in earlier episodes and the use of the monster trope seemed more thoughtful and integrated than in use of the same trope in earlier episodes where it was too often perhaps too easy solution/explanation. I am not sure all the centrally important painted images truly matched the effect and ideas that they were meant to. This is always a difficult issue (think of the images of Dorian Gray in any film or stage version) but there were clear Goya influence such as Saturn Devouring his Children, the ‘black’ paintings etc. However the soundtrack which was an integral and crucial part of the effect of the images was very successful and effective though.
6: Dreams in the Witch House:
This was rather a mixed bag. The first part was very slow and rather plodding with many predictable elements. Towards the end it looked as if it might end up rather touching/sentimental with a warm and fuzzy ending but then it got a lot more lurid until the conclusion. This was quite surprisingly effective. The (irregularly used) voiceover narrator did not really work however.
7: The Viewing:
This was one of the best so far ones I thought - intially. An apparently random group of four strangers are invited to a house for a special viewing by a mysterious, mega-wealthy collector. The majority of the episode is very dialogue-driven, taking place in one location and with the various character aspects of the guests slowly revealed, some sympathetic, some not so. There was a very impressive and slow build-up of tension so it was perhaps almost inevitable that when the object/creature was revealed, it was slightly anti-climactic and with an ending that was considerably less interesting and unusual than the bulk of the episode suggested it would be.
8: The Murmuring:
This was by far the most subtle and emotional of all the stories. It was beautifully understated throughout with an effective cast of only two. He setting, mood and atmosphere was beautifully sustained and the climax was powerful and both emotionally and dramatically satisfying. The filming, in particular the framing of shots and steady editing was very finely done. Essentially at the end it was as much a story about communication or the lack of it rather than a ghost or horror story. A very fine ending to the series.