Channel Zero

[cephalopod9]

SyFy channel made a season by season, anthology series based on creepy pasta stories,
and it's actually good.

First season is based on Candle Cove, and it's a little rough, as a whole. I liked it, but it also felt a little like everyone's first time making a t.v. show, starring That Guy who's been in commercials*

I knew the story before I watched it and the first episode

Spoiler:

is a pretty spot on adaptation.

but then the rest of the season

Spoiler:

the Candle Cove story was kind of incidental to the plot of the show. Which makes sense for a source material that's about 4 paragraphs long, and it does still use the content of the creepypasta to pretty good effect. It kind of goes off on it's own cosmic horror world building, that mostly works, but it's a little over ambitious

It has some good visuals, and some goods scenes and scary moments.


Season two is based on No-End House, which I haven't read yet,

and it's so creepy!
"Chills" are a real thing! watching this show makes me want to put on a jacket.

There's so much good nightmare-logic details, and stylized, abstract set pieces.
It's a little bit slow, and more than a little art-house, surreal art instillation weird.
I find it really refreshing, as far as horror content goes these days. It's a lot more lingering dread, and creeping, unsettling feelings rather than outright scares.

I'm still kind of wary it could go conventional horror directions, but it hasn't yet.


I'm really impressed with how

Spoiler:

the alien, mysterious eldritch horror is pretty well defined as a character. It's weird and creepy, but it also has a motivation and an emerging personality.
That's hard to do. Even really good horror movies tend to have villains just doing scary stuff because they are bad, and there's not a lot of coherence or reason.
This season, The Evil wants something, and you can follow what it's trying to do, and it's still really creepy.

And really good blood effects.


Edit: I spaced out on adding some content warning type stuff!
season 1

Spoiler:

has a fair bit of child murder, both "of" and "by" varieties
some gruesome bits, and nightmare logic.

Season 2 has a fair bit of rough stuff

Spoiler:

Suicide, self harm, a fair bit of body horror, grief,
there's a big theme of "this isn't real!" um, that I think people prone to delusional thinking want to avoid
as of the second to last episode, there hasn't been any rape or sexual assault,
but there are some thematic elements. (what is the orb?? what is the bathtub???)

and, uhhhhh John Carol Lynch looming over a girl's bed has kind of a ....
look to it
i mean, there was enough going on I worried this might be the kind of story AHS would tell a story about childhood trauma,
but it's been creepy and unsettling in almost completely new and refreshing ways.
there's sort of a pet death

*wait, no, he was in Parks and Recreation, and some actual movies and stuff. He's not bad, he just doesn't bring a whole lot to a kind of underwritten, basic cable role.