After a moderately successful novel, Mike returns to the small town he grew up in only to find that the locals are unhappy with him using them as the "inspiration" for said book. He joins the newspaper there, and stays around... you know, I'm not entirely certain why. Because this did manage more than one 40-ish minute episode, I suppose? Yes, a whopping nine total, and seven of them were released on DVD(together with with three trailers, one for this, the other two for Asian Vision and Shaun of the Dead) edited into three feature-length combos(in an utterly random order, leading to something being solved early on, only to suddenly be an issue later) under the titles of DemonTown I, II and III. The relative lack of continuity actually makes them run awkwardly together... more than once, I mistook the opening sequence of one bit for part of the ending of the previous one. Anyway, the young male journalist of course has a penchant for figuring things out, and he aids the sheriff(his child-hood friend) Rudy and the coroner/obvious love interest Ellie(pre-Without A Trace Poppy Montgomery) in determining the truth behind the seemingly supernatural murders and abductions. They encounter vampires, decapitating clowns(!), possession by the devil and The Silence of The Lambs(hey, they make that reference, as well). The conflict is too often soap-opera-ish, the mystery comes off as Scooby-Doo level(albeit they do keep you guessing(after a while, it gets annoying with all the red herrings), and mostly holds up, if one or two explanations don't make sense), and the quirky characters just aren't that compelling(not to mention that they seem to change drastically on occasion, when the writers got a new idea; they are easily forgotten about). The acting is fine. This can be funny, but it tends to have a goofy tone, and it's pretty paint-by-numbers. I'd say this could have been better, it had potential, it simply didn't get around to realizing it. Would it have, had it gotten more time to try? Meh. Maybe. I don't think the viewers would have stuck around to find out(as a matter of fact, I suppose that is exactly what did happen... too many of us gave up on it, understandably enough). The dialog can be clever. I enjoyed seeing Emily VanCamp of Everwood(evidently she likes being the charming hottie in a little, forgotten village) fame. The production values are decent. Kevin Williamson swung and missed, with this one(maybe he got too much credit from us for Scream). This can be tense and scary, if ultimately it feels unsatisfying and doesn't leave any kind of lasting impression on you. If you ask me what this was in a few weeks, it may take me a while to recall. There is some bloody, gory, violent and disturbing content in this. I recommend this to fans of crime-dramedy, who the "lightness" of this appeals to. 6/10
