Urban Gothic

I really like Urban Gothic in a number of ways.

It's wildly uneven and you never know what you're going to get. Half the episodes are boring, predictable or just plain funny (see the episode called 'pineapple chunks' and you'll understand.) The other half are brilliant, unusual and original.

It's violent and doesn't pretend it has a moral reason to be that way. The fact is that gut wrenching violence can sometimes shock and horrify. We're not talking 'video nasty' proportions here, but you'll wince at some of the scenes. Because of this capacity for violence and its cheapness, you're always on the edge, wondering if something horrible is about to happen. This is no sanitised hollywood production and it's all the better for it. It feels grubby - the title sequence really demonstrates what the show is about.

This is really cheap on DVD - I managed to get series one for about 9 quid.

I'm off to order series 2!

Having seen the 1st Season of this TV Horror anthology series on DVD, I wanted to comment on it - as there are not many postings relating to this little late night gem.

Best way to describe the 13 episodes is to imagine "Tales Of The Unexpected" meets "Hammer Horror" on a cable station budget. Due to this the quality is very uneven, but this could be to do with the direction and production on the individual episodes, assuming the same money is allocated across the board...

I found all the episodes watchable, and allowed for the budget restraints - but there are a few real gems that stand out, and make the DVD purchase all the worthwhile (but it was going cheap..) - Vampirology, Old Nick, Cry Wolf and Boy's Club all romp along, look fantastic and are pretty scary, with new (ish) spins on standard horror themes. The filming is pretty basic, and tends to be in one or two locations - depending on the warehouse, theatre or hospital that's available - but making the most of the location, lighting and mood. The creepy London council flats in Old Nick are a great example, and you could just imagine real life horrors played out in those lifts and balconies.

I read somewhere that the writer Tom De Ville, was only thirteen when he penned these - this could be an "urban myth", or he spent way too much time with old Hammer and Amicus Films, taking in large dollops of 70's psychological drama and 80's splatter flicks along the way. The retro 70's feel could come deliberately from the directors, but the lovely Ingrid Pitt gets a mention in Vampirology, so that's a direct Hammer Horror writing nod.

The 30 minute format (even less on DVD as you lose the advert break) puts a strain on making the stories clear and straight - in fact, most are a bit muddled with slightly rushed "wrap end" endings, but I think this adds to the charm. The acting is also hit and miss, with some performances really great, and others very wooden.

Overall - a real nice run of "Old School" inspired horror, with some great ideas - especially if Mr. De Ville was only 13....

It's almost impossible to describe the beauty of Urban Gothic to those strange individuals that are not attracted to the most wonderful genre we know as horror. Sure sometimes the desperate need to fit in a last twist before the final credits leaves an audience just a tad confused but its worth it for the rare feeling of freshness that the series in general delivers.

Some of the more note worthy episodes include Pineapple Chunks, Be Movie, Seratoin Wild, in fact all of them in one way or another manage to accomplish more than Hollywood has in the past 30 years.

Maybe I'm biased but if you ever get the chance WATCH THEM ALL. The naff ones are always balanced out so stick with it and i guarantee you'll be rewarded. Unless of course you're not into horror then i suggest you watch a nice Hugh Grant movie although to me that would be Terrifying.

it's all good Z

A hauntingly horrible, haemoglobin-heavy, toothsome bite of blood-thirsty Terror-telly, mayte! Jinkies!!!! There still be some sinisterly supernatural, sordidly shuddersome horrors herein!!! And if y'all are looking for lurid, late-night fright-filled delights, 'Urban Gothic' is the sensationally skewed cornucopia of small-screen creepiness that still can't be beat!

This long-buried, gorgeously grisly-looking, sublimely skin-crawling, corpuscle corrupting compendium is only worth digging up if your steely nerves can stake it! But don't slay I didn't warn you, as for the more timorous-minded fright-fans, these terminally toxic tales of stylishly sinful suburban terror might shatter their sanity, rudely rupture their reason, and bloodily burst their B-Movie hearts! As once trapped inside this evilly eviscerating, lividly licentious labyrinth of macabre madness they'll be nowhere to formaldehyde, as the blood-slick TV shocker 'Urban Gothic' is an ominous one-way shriek to the grave! Old school ghouls, voluptuously vulpine vamps, fearsomely funky fiends, and murder-mad millennials alike are sure to be equally transfixed by these trope-twistingly original, perversely penetrating, spiky stories of magnificently menacing metropolitan misanthropy!

Urban Gothic is a little rough round the edges but an entertaining show nonetheless. As with all shows of this format, the quality of acting and scripts vary, though in this show's favour it's usually above average. As the series goes on, the shows show marked improvement as the dialogue becomes more natural and far less stilted.

There are germs of good ideas here, though only a few are developed sufficiently enough to raise this beyond the level of 'Hammer House Of Horror' to something approaching the class of 'Ultraviolet'. In particular, episodes such as 'Old Nick' and the astonishing 'Boy's Club' break free of the usual formula to show us that horror and evil aren't just about blood and gore. True horror is corruption of the soul, of the heart, and in these two episodes we get to see a darker side of the City that will linger uncomfortably long after the TV set has been turned off.