From (2022-?)

TV/Horror/Mystery
Rated 18
Sky Sci-Fi
Spoiler Free (even if I wanted to)

I’m often suspicious of a horror TV series, I’d say they tend to go either way, but even what is (probably) my favourite, The Walking Dead, was crap for a lot of its run-time. Hence, when I saw From advertised I thought, hmmm, looks OK I suppose. Then I read that some of the people behind Lost, which was a load of old codswallop I fortunately figured out two episodes in, were behind it my suspic-ometer swung towards hard no and I swerved it.

Swerved it until a day I was absolutely stuck for something to watch, and figured I could always turn it off if I get a whiff of it being nonsense. Spoiler alert, From is absolute nonsense, nonsense I binge watched both series of.

A cross between Lost, I Am Legend and The Mist, From stars Augustus Hill, Mercutio, Harold Perrineau, who is brilliant. Apart from Catalina Sandino Moreno, there wasn’t a single other actor I recognised in the cast. This does rear its head- not all of the acting is wonderfully convincing, though both of the aforementioned impress, as do Scott McCord and Elizabeth Saunders.

Perrineau plays Boyd Stevens, the nominal “Sheriff” of a town that, like Royston Vasey, you’ll never leave. You’ll never leave, but you might get brutally torn apart by the beasties which come out at night. The rag tag assembly of strangers, some who’ve been in this quietly terrifying living situation for a while and those who’ve turned up and are struggling to believe and adjust, try to survive and solve their cohabiting conundrum.

From is very creepy and I though I was worried I'd find the premise or inevitable drip feed of information frustrating, I didn’t. Even when the curtain is ever so slightly pulled and even more madness introduced I found myself looking forward to seeing what it was. Every episode is essentially a cliff-hanger with small reveals; some might find this annoying, I happened to love it.

There's some nice moments of conflict and sadness, From has a human element to its scares as well as some very effective horror of varying styles. It is gory, there’s plenty of grim shots of viscera though much of the actual violence happens in the dark, so like the survivors, all the viewers have to deal with is what remains.

Sounds a weird compliment, but what few songs From does introduce, its sparse soundtrack is eerily compelling. Yes it gets progressively more bonkers and supernatural, I accept not all of the acting is thoroughly convincing, but I've binged two seasons (series) and I'm hankering for From’s third outing of episodes.

Bedsit it?

Crackingly scary, mystery, TV, with tons of grisly moments and well constructed conflict, as well as some humour, I was really, really enjoying From when I came to its season two finale. 8/10

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