Watched the pilot last night, so that's pretty much all my review is based on. Having sat through all the increasingly-rancid 'Sharknado' films (among others), being a SyFy production I hadn't much hope ... but am a HUGE Avan Jogia fan (think he's pretty underrated as an actor, actually), and I figured if Vincent D'Onofrio was on-board the script had to have something -
And was pleasantly surprised by a spooky, effective, restrained, well-acted, decently-written, and intriguing pilot with a WAY-cool cliffhanger ending that definitely left me hungry for episode two! Even the special effects, usually laughable on SyFy productions, are a step up here. Had SpikeTV put this kind of effort on quality with "The Mist' and given it a better cast, better writing, and better effects, it might have made it to season two.
Jogia is Roman Mercer, the social outcast of a small, remote Alaskan town mostly thanks to his mother (who's long-since took off) and her obsession with the paranormal. Roman sees ghosts, and wants to seriously see the back end of this town that hates him, and the pilot opens with him at a bus station and ready to leave it, even as he confides his plans (or lack thereof) to a friend who, herself, ends up being a ghost only he can see
A freak accident keeps Roman from leaving, however - and in fact gets him blamed for a few deaths of his fellow travelers via local weirdo Doug Rennie (Meat Loaf Aday himself, no less!) and a makeshift posse he starts putting together for revenge. There are residents - actual human ones - sympathetic to Roman's plight and the heavy burdens he bears (including D'Onofrio's Father Carpenter, who himself seems to be holding some demons - or secrets - within), and as the spirits Roman can see begin to take on a malevolent form, even attacking the town residents, more deaths are racked up and those left around realize not only are they up against a nasty gang of ghosts who are (for some reason) seriously ticked off ... but that Roman Mercer, the guy many of them have spent the kid's whole life torturing, may be their only hope of surviving.
I feel I need to watch the pilot again - it's so dark in spots (literally, as in the lighting), and there were a couple times I wasn't 100% sure of what I had just watched - but in terms of acting, writing, story, tone, atmosphere, effects, violence and retaining your interest, hopefully things will only get cooler and creepier from here.
