starringajb

The positive reviews for this movie cannot possibly be genuine. I couldn't even stomach finishing it. It was like watching community theatre actors in a college (being generous!) film school project. Horrendous premise, horrendous script, horrendous direction, horrendous performances. Even before the pathetic "twist" (which is so out-of-left-field and poorly executed all I could do was roll my eyes and check to see how much torture it would be to finish the movie. Needless to say, I couldn't bear the torture and turned it off. And I sit through the entirety of some BAD movies!) Even if the execution had been tolerable, the subject matter is deeply disturbing (if you're paying attention and possess any sense of decency), and, as someone who is anti-censorship, even I feel like this should be removed from circulation. It's that bad and inappropriate, even for a "horror" movie, let alone the fact that it supposedly has a Christmas element to it? Yeah, not even close. Major bomb.

This was a disappointing use of an excellent cast and probably many other talented folks behind the scenes. My primary complaints are with the writing, editing, and/or directing, depending where certain choices were made. First, the overall vibe of the entire series is a frantic mess of cuts between multiple scenes at once and a constant soundtrack of suspenseful music as if every minute was a thrill ride. It was definitely not that. Which leads to point two: every opportunity for powerful dramatic impact was undermined by the style (and probably the writing), which deflated every actor's performance with gratuitous cuts between scenes and an utter lack of character development. No character's actions appear logical, sensible, or sympathetic because it's all rushed, and the opportunities to feel for the characters in their struggles are erased. In short, the whole thing felt like an extended movie trailer lacking the payoff of a complete story with a structure resembling anything like an arc. And that's all summed up in the final shot of the last episode. What high school graphic design intern threw that in?! Ridiculous.

This was different and compelling enough. It reminded me a little of Your Honor (with Brian Cranston), and I liked this somewhat more. In both cases the writing is very heavy-handed. Like packing too many plot elements into a limited series, resulting in an amplified level of drama that stretches the suspension of disbelief a bit too far. I know people are on a big Tucci kick these days, but this is not his best work. He's not BAD, but his performance of this role is nothing more than adequate. He leans into the melodrama, striving unsuccessfully to be as interesting as Anthony Hopkins playing Hannibal Lecter. But I expect he'll get nominations and wins because he's trendy right now. David Tenant is decent. The lesser-known cast is adequate though annoying at moments-that's probably more the writing than acting quality, though. I loved the score for the show, even though it probably contributed to the sense of melodrama, given how intense and persistent it is. I wouldn't NOT recommend the series, for whatever that's worth.