The Viewing

A billionaire Peter Weller invites four semi-famous guests over to his newly constructed mansion, all lured on the promise he'll show them the most 70's house ever made by mankind.

In this promise he delivers. However, greater horror awaits...

This episode suffers from the opposite problem of the other six up until now, which is that it's got more story than you should try to fit in an hour. This could have gone three hours.

What I really like about it, is that it invokes a somewhat Tarantino-esque feel, and one could easily imagine him having gone in this direction after Kill Bill (Robocop really channels David Carradine throughout this by the way). Watching the story shortly after they arrive at the house, one sort of wishes Tarantino could do a once over of the dialogue, or just you wish you could do a once over of the dialogue, it just needs a little sprucing up to get there.

Unfortunately the ending just doesn't match up. I was expecting a deeper story, I was expecting to see more of that house! It basically stops when they leave their initial couch party, you're practically watching the credits from there on out, nothing that happens really much matters because it's just a whatever, rushed horror story.

But it's still a good effort, I'm not going to fault somebody for trying to do horror Tarantino and managing to do 'pretty good.' That's pretty good!

A quirky installation in this series but I've not seen anyone mention that it's basically a love letter to early David Cronenberg. From the settings / sets, to heavy science jargon, to the deliberate pacing and build up its Cronenberg through and through. Explicit references to Scanners & Videodrome as well as the overall aesthetic. Really enjoyed.

Yes, it takes a while to get going. Yes some of the exposition is heavy handed. But the pay off and soundtrack more than make up for that. The composer scored Uncut Gems and is a master of the creepy, dirty synth sound. The DP went lens flare crazy. But as a total package it's there.

This episode had me excited the way "The Autopsy" did (that's the absolute BEST one, by the way). "The Viewing" gave me such hardcore Kubrickian vibes that I truly thought I was in for a real treat. And for the most part, I was-until the very end of the episode. Like every other episode in this freaking series, the ending was SO WEAK. It didn't add anything of value to the buildup the episode created. Even when you think upon things such as: "why did some turn out like this and others like that?" You do not come to any logical conclusion. Granted, I know it doesn't always have to make sense, but from the story and buildup, I expected SO much more. Even an ending that left me in total discomfort would've been better than the way this ended. The way I feel after just watching it is sadly disappointed. It had SO much potential and once again, it just failed in the last 5 minutes like all the rest (except "The Autopsy"). However, since I enjoyed 95% of the episode with all its nostalgic glory, I am giving this a 6/10.

Lionel Lassiter, a mysterious über-rich recluse (Peter Weller) invites a group of over-achievers to his other-worldly mansion to expand their minds before viewing an inexplicable object. The idea of inviting a disparate group of experts from the arts, para-normality, or theoretical physics to examine an object that is completely beyond the ability of the physical sciences to explain is interesting but this showy yet tedious story doesn't do much with the concept; instead we spend a lot of time watching disagreeable people getting stoned before the story toggles over to a derivative horror climax coupled with an pointlessly lengthy car ride. Set design and cinematography are imaginative and well-executed but largely wasted on an undeveloped story that seems to rely on mood and pretentious dialogue to fill three-quarters of the running time.

I 'm so into P. Cosmatos mythology and aesthetic, and so pleased for G.de Torro choosed him for this episode. I think Autopsy and The Viewing elevated the entire project, and added the pure and simple "horror" matter which others episodes just don't, unfortunately. Welles act is solid and charming, his mature period seems ideal for arthouse/gringe films. There is no horror without funny moments and here they are some. The gore is totally nostalgic, reminds me classic 80s/90s style fx and everything sinking visually into a deep deep red color on the screen, something P. Cosmatos seems to like a lot. Well, me too. Music also was fine. Analog synths rules!