First Impressions: American Horror Story Freakshow

Four episodes into a series I figure I can begin to make some comments.  So lets talk about American Horror Story: Freakshow - and yes, I'm fully aware that for most people the season has just one episode left, but I saved up my episodes on the good ol' DVR and only started watching last Friday - that way I'll be finishing with the rest of you.

Taking place in 1952 Florida, the series departs a little from the previous seasons (each of which told their own story, but with a largely overlapping cast of actors), in that it has very little to do with the Supernatural - no haunted house from season one, or demonic possession from season two, and definitely no witchcraft from season three.  

Nope, what this season has is the sideshow, the carnival freakshow in the twilight years, after the second world war and therefore after a time when people had seen enough of the strange and deformed.  Clearly borrowing a lot from Todd Brownings Freaks, and maybe a little from both the HBO series Carnivale and Katherine Dunn's novel Geek Love (which is in itself excellent and well worth a post here someday), AHS:Freakshow mixes together a love of the different with some pretty interesting twists.

First of all, I absolutely love the opening credits.  Next to the credits from season one (which told a lot of the story of the season, if the viewer knew what they were looking for), it is quite clever, working with old toys, a carnival theme and a genius use of stop-motion animation. 

The stories are a lot of fun; disturbing and lurid, but fun, and the evil clown introduced in the pilot may be one of the creepiest looking villains I've come across in a while.

The series uses modern songs for it's musical numbers, which take a little getting used to, but can be fun (not quite up to the level of the Stevie Nicks numbers in season three, or my personal favourite, the bizarre, out of nowhere version of Shirley Ellis' 1964 classic The Name Game, used in Season Two).

I'll definitely be sticking with the season through the end - the story is intriguing, the characters interesting, and as a long term fan of horror film and literature, this is something definitely right up my alley.

Series Review: Carnivale

Last week my wife and I finished watching the HBO series Carnivale, a dark fantasy series set in the midst of the Great Depression. We had seen season one a few years back, but even though we have owned the second season for two years, it was only during the last couple months that we've have had time to watch the second season.

I'm going to go fairly light on spoilers and simply explain what I felt about the series. For starters, yes - I really enjoyed the show, and I think that if you enjoy the fantasy genre, this show is definitely worth a look.

Set during one of the least magical times in history, the show follows two parallel story lines: a priest as he begins to build a ministry and a young man who joins a travelling carnival. Both men begin having strange dreams in the pilot that involve each other, as well as visions of the past and the future. Both men also develop certain abilities, the priest can see into the minds of others and the young man can heal people.

For me, the strength of the show lies in its strong story arcs, as well as the great acting of the entire cast. At first, both the carnival story line and the church story line seem to have too many characters and it's difficult to keep track, but as you work your way through the first season, it becomes simpler to understand what is happening, and you get to really see these characters develop.

The only bad part of the show for me is that it ends on a cliffhanger, as the original intent was to have a story that developed over six seasons and it ended after the second one, there are a lot of unanswered questions. Knowing about the cliffhanger going in, however, I was able to enjoy the show for what it was, an intriguing look at magic in a terrible time, with a focus on free will versus predestination.

Playing Genre Catch-up this summer

In just a few weeks most of my television viewing will be done for the 2009-10 season. I'll still have Breaking Bad for most of June and Mad Men will be back in July, but other than a few shows I watch with my kids, my night's are going to open pretty wide for the next few months.

Over the last few years I've spent the summer between seasons catching up on older shows I always meant to watch but never seem to get around to, and this summer will be no exception. At my public library I'll be checking out a number of BBC shows, both comedies and dramas, but for today's post I figured I would talk about the five top shows I'm hoping to catch up on in the next 12 weeks.

Carnivale

This HBO series pairs up two of the strangest story elements I could ever imagine - Magic and and the American Dustbowl during the Great Depression. I watched the first series of this show with a bunch of friends as a weekly event back when it was first released on DVD, but haven't got around to the second season yet. I know it ends on a frustrating cliff-hanger (no spoilers please), but I really enjoyed the first season and am looking forward to the second as a fun treat.

Millennium

I was really into this show when it first came out, a little darker than it's parent show; The X-Files, and with a lot more horror elements. Due to unfortunate timing however, my youngest became a toddler when the shows third season originally aired and we just never seemed to have time for it. I'm looking forward to seeing how everything ended up for Frank Black in the third season.

Northern Exposure

This show was a huge favourite of my wife Kayla when she was growing up and as it came out on DVD we've bought every season. All we have left now is the final season, where a new doctor arrives in the small town of Cicely, Alaska. I've heard this is one of the weaker seasons, but what the heck, I'm a completist.

United States of Tara

During a promo of Movie Central (Canada's answer to Showtime), my wife and I saw the first three episodes of this cool little series earlier this year. Basically it's a regular family drama, except the mom has multiple personality disorder, and she's trying to balance her life while attempting to wean herself off of her meds throughout the first season. I'm a big fan of Diablo Cody (if you haven't read her book Candy Girl - it is totally worth the effort!), so I'm really looking forward to this one.

The Wire

Finally, this summer we'll be checking out the HBO series The Wire - a cop drama set in Baltimore. This is some of the densest written drama I have ever seen and I just loved the first two seasons, This summer I'm really hoping we'll be able to see how it all ends.

So there you go, a look at some of what I'll be checking out this summer, not counting movies or other shows that we get handed to us by friends (like House, which my BFF Mike just lent us and swears is really, really good - even if it breaks his own rule that any show without flying cars must be crap).

Top Five Underrated Genre Gems pt. 2

Back in November I wrote about five genre films that may not have been box office smashes, but definitely deserved a second look. Today I'm going to continue the list into genre flicks you might not have got around to, but should seek out if you have the time or interest.

So here we go - Bookmonkey's next top five overlooked genre gems (including a couple TV shows):

1. Being Erica

This Canadian Fantasy series asks a very simple question, if you could go back in time and change any regrets in your own life - what would you change? The story follows a 32-year-old Canadian girl named Erica Strange who has in many ways hit a massive wall in her life, professionally, personally, emotionally, you name it. Then one day she meets a therapist called Dr. Tom who takes her on as a client and begins the process of changing her life, one regret at a time. This show hit all the marks for me as Erica is my age and from my country, so all of the music, hair styles and events from her past were things I could remember myself. The show is at turns funny and heart breaking, and if you haven't seen it yet, go check it out.

2. Carnivale

If, like me you've just spent the last few months watching Heroes vs. the Carnival, you may feel burned out on the idea of Carnival-folk with special powers. Let me say, however, that HBO's Carnivale is very different; set in the Great Depression, the show follows two men, a farm boy and a preacher who are destined to fight for the fate of the world's magic, both light and dark - the interesting thing is, the show does a great job of not exactly pinning down which guy is good, and which is evil.

3. The Faculty

I'm a big Robert Rodriguez fan, I love everything from the Desperado movies to the Spy Kids flicks, but I've always had a special spot for one of his earlier films. The Faculty mixes an Invasion of the Pod People story with high school, students vs. teachers and goes to some pretty freaky levels. It is definitely a horror film (so be wary if you thinking of showing it to kids), but is also incredibly fun.

4. The Librarian

As a Library Technician myself (I'm slowly but surely making my way to my Master's Degree), I would not be doing my job if I didn't point you towards this series of films. The concept is simple, what if there were a librarian whose job it was to house all the great mythological treasures of the world, and what would he do if something were stolen. Think a B-Grade Indiana Jones and you've got the idea. The characters are all very fun and if you've ever wonder what Bob Newhart would look like kicking butt, you might want to check this series of films out.

5. Sunshine

Last year, Director Danny Boyle got international acclaim with the film Slumdog Millionaire. The movie (if you havne't seen it) is really wonderful, but for genre fans, his big break was probably 28 Days Later; which in a lot of ways revitalized the Zombie and Post-apocalyptic sub-genres of Horror. In 2007 he directed the Science Fiction film Sunshine, about a crew of astronauts working to re-ignite a dying sun. The film is really fun, and it has some nice meetings between the SF and Horror genres.