This horror mini-series feels like a love letter to the works of Stephen King, starting with the "evil comes to a small town" premise.
A poor island community, once a thriving fishing center, starts to change with the arrival of a new charismatic priest, Father Paul. While the Father is initially a force for good in the dispirited community, another mysterious guest has arrived, and it is both malevolent and very hungry.
Atmosphere is phenomenal and the rich cast of characters well-developed, from a failed yuppie riddled with guilt to his crusty father, from the town's self-destructive drunkard to the perceptive sheriff. The cast is fine: the stand-out is Hamish Linklater as the priest. The Father gets a strangely sympathetic portrayal, and it works. It would have been so easy to make him a boring, one-dimensional bigot, and he comes across as multi-layered instead: you *want* to believe he is a good man who will save the island, even when it becomes obvious he has a dark secret, and that's the mark of a great character.
Unfortunately, we also do get the boring, one-dimensional bigot in the person of the town's sanctimonious old maid, an unwelcome echo of Marcia Gay Harden's obnoxious character in The Mist - the only part of that movie I found annoying rather than compelling.
Other flaws? While overall the writing is strong - the script takes its time to build characters and relationships - a few monologues are overwritten. On the other hand, the very ending is too abrupt. The final *episode* is fine, but the last minute feels like they were suddenly running out of time, and it just kind of stops. It's jarring compared to the deliberate pacing of what came before.
Still, this is a creepy, effective horror series tackling some interesting themes.
8,5/10.
A poor island community, once a thriving fishing center, starts to change with the arrival of a new charismatic priest, Father Paul. While the Father is initially a force for good in the dispirited community, another mysterious guest has arrived, and it is both malevolent and very hungry.
Atmosphere is phenomenal and the rich cast of characters well-developed, from a failed yuppie riddled with guilt to his crusty father, from the town's self-destructive drunkard to the perceptive sheriff. The cast is fine: the stand-out is Hamish Linklater as the priest. The Father gets a strangely sympathetic portrayal, and it works. It would have been so easy to make him a boring, one-dimensional bigot, and he comes across as multi-layered instead: you *want* to believe he is a good man who will save the island, even when it becomes obvious he has a dark secret, and that's the mark of a great character.
Unfortunately, we also do get the boring, one-dimensional bigot in the person of the town's sanctimonious old maid, an unwelcome echo of Marcia Gay Harden's obnoxious character in The Mist - the only part of that movie I found annoying rather than compelling.
Other flaws? While overall the writing is strong - the script takes its time to build characters and relationships - a few monologues are overwritten. On the other hand, the very ending is too abrupt. The final *episode* is fine, but the last minute feels like they were suddenly running out of time, and it just kind of stops. It's jarring compared to the deliberate pacing of what came before.
Still, this is a creepy, effective horror series tackling some interesting themes.
8,5/10.