The following: la secta

At this writing, The Following is rated 7.7, but most of the reviews are very negative. How can that be? Personally, I find many of the criticisms of this show undeserved.

The Following is not for everyone. It is a very dark and violent tale that takes gore to a new level.

This crime drama is a two-character dance between Joe Carroll, a college professor who turns his academic expertise about E. A. Poe into a cult-driven real life tale of murder, and Ryan Hardy, the object of Carroll's rampage. Both men are intelligent. Like Holmes and Moriarty, they duel in the darkness.

Both men are obsessed. Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon) is an alcoholic, plagued by guilt. In the end, he is addicted to Carroll, like Ahab to the white whale. Joe Carroll (James Purefoy) is obsessed with the story he has plotted and cast Hardy in as the tragic hero.

The Following is, really, a horror story. As such, one should recognize the basics of the genre and not disparage them. The surprises hidden in the darkness. The character who, against all good judgment, investigates the shadows. The actor who is compelled to go it alone when reinforcements are advisable.

As a horror story, The Following gives us a worthy villain who, via his army of minions who can be as scary as zombies, terrorizes with an uncanny ability to strike at will.

The Following plumbs the depths of insanity and obsession. Not everyone will want to go there, but the story is literate and the chills are frequent.

The Following really is a pretty underrated show. It stars Kevin Bacon and James Purefoy who are both really good actors and are fantastic in this. It's a great thriller from beginning to end. The first season is the best but the other two are still worth watching. I actually think it had another season left in it but I guess they wanted to end it before the quality dropped too much. Each episode ends with you wanting more so this is a show that's good to binge. Admittedly some of the story is ridiculous but if you can just turn off your brain and just enjoy it for what it is then I promise you'll have a good time watching this.

After watching the series premiere of "The Following", it left me with an impression that I simply couldn't find anywhere else as the story unfolded in such a terrifying way. Although some may complain that it moves by a little too fast(which I admit at times it did), that's only a small qualm as the performances and main plot make up for it with various twists and turns throughout the story. Kevin Bacon was simply incredible as the worn down FBI agent with a tragic past that has yet to be explored further as the show progresses, but James Purefoy is MARVELOUS as the twisted serial killer. With his manic stare and smile, you're not really sure as to his true motives. This makes him more dimensional yet at the same time diabolically and devilishly sinister; playing mind games with the protagonist with his schemes of mass murder and mayhem. Purefoy is a beast of a man that no one wants to mess with.

"The Following" is one to watch. I'll be tuning in to the next episode to see how twisted and horrifying the world will be in the eyes of the hero and villain in a battle against good and evil. If the quality of this show keeps up, I'd expect more seasons.

I'm going to make this special - 2 reviews in 1. The first will be about the actual series and the second about, well.. idiots.

First thing's first. It's certainly a great start - and I'm not talking just about the good, tragic, dramatic plot but the cast too. We all know that having Kevin Bacon in a movie is a great plus but having James Purefoy as the charismatic serial killer is absolutely amazing. The characters fit on Kevin and James like a glove and they, developing a "nemesis relation" really highlight one another.

The start of the series was off the charts, it was action filled, in a word - extraordinary! Half way through it, I immediately asked myself: How can they keep this up for at least a season?! The answer came in no time. Excellent! Now for the second part of the review. After delighting myself with this first take on "The Following", I jumped back here to see how many people felt just as excited about this new series as I was. Unfortunately, I immediately saw a great deal of idiotic, so-called reviews.

I feel I have the right to call them idiots for a simple reason. Through the magic of deduction, those who complained and rated this '1' read the description (at least the one here on IMDb). Now, I ask you this: You have to be an idiot to read "psychotic serial killer" in the plot and expect him to plant flowers and feed the children in Somalia, right? Damn right! I urge these people to go back either to "Lady and the Tramp" (which was good by the way).. or to those that paid for the disgusting reviews.

Final note: This review is posted after the 1st episode and my rating is 9/10. This will probably (hopefully not) drop as we advance into the story.

GREAT START!

After season 1 addition: Americans / Brits.. if you feel your cops are smarter than this, then.. you've been fooled by all the Sherlock Holmes movies. They are damn straight dumb, and they don't give a s*it about you.. just like in The Following.

Review of Season One:

I'll make it clear now that I'm not a fan of Kevin Williamson. I know the guy made his name writing SCREAM and I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, but I find his writing style immature and slapdash, relying on coincidence and contrivance. It rings hollow for me, so that people like Craven can make excellent films of his work is a surprise.

THE FOLLOWING is a serial killer thriller written and created by Williamson, but to my surprise I didn't hate it. It's heavily flawed, with many episodes featuring characters who do dumb things, but on the other hand it's well acted and fast-paced, so that you never have time to dwell on the shortcomings.

I know Kevin Bacon is an ubiquitous actor these days but he's very good as the flawed hero character here. The scene-stealer, of course, is James Purefoy, as the Messianic serial killer who inspires a cult following. As a lover of Gothic literature, I enjoyed all the Poe references, and there's so much incident that this is hard not to enjoy. THE FOLLOWING suffers from being a bit back-and-forth-ish in the narrative and having poorly written (and annoying) female characters, but I liked it enough to want to check out the second series.

Review of Season Two:

The good news is that Season 2 of THE FOLLOWING is a definite step up in quality from the first series. This is much faster paced, more involving, and has a lot more action and incident to keep it moving along quickly. The various sub-plots are also a lot more interesting and the annoying characters like Emma and Claire are either not as annoying or get far less screen time.

The plot kicks off from the get go with the addition of new, rival serial killers who pick up where Joe Carroll left off. The twins are great characters and bring the screen to life whenever they're around. This is one of the stabbiest shows I've ever seen, with multiple knifings seemingly every episode, although it's not excessively gory.

Bacon feels more assured in his performance here, more world-weary, and definitely more human. Jessica Stroup is a great addition to the cast, but best of all is the returning James Purefoy, who's given time to really flesh out his character and even make him likable on occasion. He's the best thing in this and the writers know it, giving him all of the finest moments. The last episode of the series is particularly well written, giving us an unexpected plot development, but overall it's the superior quality of the writing throughout the season that makes this so enjoyable.

Review of Season Three:

So, here we have the final season of the show. It's a step down from the last series and the reason for that is that James Purefoy's character takes a back seat here. Instead we get some returning killers and a whole bunch of new ones, none of whom have as much as impact as the ones depicted previously.

There's a definite sense of repetition in the show by now with lots of near-misses and the constant escape of characters being more than a little wearying. THE FOLLOWING still keeps you watching with some very dark elements in the script but I did feel it was going through the motions at other times.

Still, every scene involving Purefoy is very good, and the pacing is a lot faster than in the first series, which makes this superior to that. I have to say that it does feel like it finishes in the right place and anything more would probably have driven it into the ground.