#harold perrineau
FROM (2022) —1x10Oh, the Places We’ll Go.
FROM (2022)—1x09Into the Woods.
Watched Romeo+Juliet for the 15789145600 time,and one more time my heart is destroyed for the deaths of Romeo,Juliet,Mercutio and Tybalt!
I’m going to watch Romeo+Juliet,sorry but this movie is my obsession!
Watch Romeo+Juliet in Christmas Eve could be magical…
OZ
A series chronicling the daily activities of an unusual prison facility and its criminal inhabitants. Six seasons, and 56 episodes in total.
Bedevilled by an SEO disaster of a title - and the inevitable comparisons with the retroactively disappointing Lost- recent EPIX release From defies lowered expectations.
With slasher-smile ghouls, a mysteriously inescapable town, hints of Viking myth (those runes!) and a mesmerising central performance from Harold Perrineau, this is the latest little cult show that could.
It’s surprising* how much coverage has zeroed in on Lost, when a more recent comparison would be Prime’s Yellowjackets. While the latter show has a more substantive cast, including a number of headline-friendly former child actors now playing middle-aged characters (saving some ‘where are they now’ features a click) and prestige glamour, FromandYellowjacketsare essentially both survival horror tales with hints of occult dread to a greater or lesser extent.
I think I’m throwing my lot in with Fromas it’s the scrappier contender, and bingeable in bitesize chunks. But oh - the biting in this show! Again I am reminded that fantasy horror - spectral revenants that tear unfortunate people caught outside at night to pieces - is more palatable to me, because it’s absurd, whereas a story about teenagers resorting to cannibalism to survive borders on realistic. And therefore more difficult for me to watch.
At any rate - Fromis concerned with the inhabitants of a small unnamed town that is in fact an existential trap. Travellers who happen upon it are unable to leave, with the road out looping back to return them. The terror and confusion of being caught so mysteriously, we learn some recent arrivals become violent as a response, is then compounded by an onslaught of viciously cruel ghouls who attack each night. The only protection is a runic charm residents attach to the entrances to their home, a charm discovered in the surrounding forest by the guilt-wracked Sheriff Boyd (Perrineau), who has reluctantly assumed the role of town authority figure.
The first episode opens with a family tragedy that introduces From’s audience to the brutal stakes of life in the town. Despite the strange conveniences on offer - food, electricity, and shelter are freely available to the townsfolk - monsters hunt at night and can compel people to open their doors and windows, inviting these bloodthirsty creatures inside.
What follows is the arrival of two cars to the town, something which apparently has not happened in some time. These new arrivals kick off an escalation of violence over the course of the first season, with plenty of mysterious hints as to the nature of this trap, the monsters that attack each night, and whether there is a purpose to the seeming collecting and sacrificing of people from across the United States to this magically contained location.
Think Brigadoon, but with monsters (or to tip the hat to the King, Jack Kirby - Brigadoom!).
At any rate, I quickly binged season one just in time for the announcement that season 2 will be filmed soon. Despite my reservations about mystery box storytelling - I’m in for the journey. Perrineau is great, the supporting cast is wonderful (shout out to Chloe Van Landschoot, Elizabeth Saunders and David Alpay in particular), and the supernatural hijinks are chewy enough that I am intrigued to see where creator John Griffin and his writers plan to take this.
*Well….not that unsurprising - they share producers/directors and a star
