MixedFormula

Let me start by saying that this review is written from the perspective of someone interested in the remake rather than the horror. I don't like horrors, I don't watch horrors, I have nothing to say about how this film fits into the modern horror genre so I accept that for this reason it is a limited perspective on the film.

Having said that, I was surprised how little this film made me feel fear. It made me uncomfortable in many places and I failed to anticipate one jump scare but otherwise, for a person who is very sensitive to watching pain, suffering and gore, I was not being subjected to fear. I was watching other people's fear, dread and suffering and I was sitting there wondering if I believed it.

There is no question that this film is really well produced. It's not monochrome, it's silver. It's incredible how silver it looks. The casing is good. The acting is good. The effects are impressive. So it is really a shame that the story leaves you cold.

I think one of the problems is that it doesn't seem to have anything to say to a modern audience. After decades of popular psychology, after the horrors of modern history, in the midst of the current political dread, this film isn't connecting with me with anything urgent, relevant or cathartic to say about the experience of a personal, historical or political trauma that wasn't said in the original. Maybe there is a message but it's hiding too deep under the Victorian theme park costume and archaic language ("Untie this child!").

Theoretically there is one theme which should make me excited because it's right up my street, and that is the question of consent, its remits and its limits. I can see it, I can engage with it on a logical level, but I'm not excited to do that. I can't even figure out why that is the case. And that is where, in my view, lies the biggest weakness of this remake. What was its purpose? Why did it need to be made? People who have never seen the original, who are not interested in old black and white films or in history of the cinema are not going to appreciate its relationship to the original or to the period. If I wasn't scared, I doubt people who like horrors were scared. So who was this film for? New generation? To tell them what? Because the consent message is just too subtle for the demographic who analytically can't deal with antiheroes, even if it's Walter White, or with straight up villains even if it's Homelander.

Kudos for allowing cats to finally break onto the big Hollywood screen. Can't wait to see them on the red carpet :)

If you can live without the ultimate resolution, I would recommend stopping after Season 1. It asked all the important questions by then. It was intriguing and kept me hooked up to the point that I was drawing my own diagrams. It was nicely shot. It had variety in acting.

In terms of the mystery, Season 1 revealed everyone's identities pretty promptly so the only way to create intrigue in Season 2 was to throw in new characters. It was ok up to half way, when I started to suspect that there is no deeper meaning to complexity and moodiness. Also, the actors had nothing to act. The dialogue became repetitive and predictable.

This only became worse in Season 3 which was a real struggle.

In the end the last episode made sense of the story but that could have been achieved in 2 seasons. It wasn't the best episode ever, but it was solid.

The casting throughout the show in terms of likeness was exceptional.

If I were to try to justify why the show had to drag on for so long, I would guess that it was giving the viewers a taste of the hellish torture the characters found themselves experiencing. But I'm not sure you can achieve this with characters that have long stopped being likeable or relatable.

Season 1: 8/10 Season 2: 6/10 Season 3: 3/10 (saved only by the final episode)