Penny Dreadful

Well, I'm trying to write a completely spoiler-free review here, but I guess it's safe to announce that 'Penny Dreadful' looks positively gorgeous. Great production design and cinematography: by the time we get to see Victorian London as night descends upon the city and the fog starts creeping through those narrow cobblestone alleys, nearly every frame looks like a beautiful, Gothic painting (and not once did I spot a fake looking CG-background). As far as the actors are concerned, they portray their obscure, troubled characters with a certain kind of "theatre" intensity that fits the story and the turn-of-the-century setting very well.

Story-wise I don't want to give away anything – but of course, there are unholy things lurking in the shadows that need to be fought (and they look rather convincing: the make-up effects are another strong point of this show). Like the iconic "Hammer Horror" films of old (usually starring either Christopher Lee or Peter Cushing – or both), 'Penny Dreadful' draws its setting, characters and general inspiration mainly from some famously dark tales written by Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde (and to a lesser extent from sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories). And just like the Hammer films - who may seem rather tame now but were shockingly violent for their time - this show is neither for purists of said literary works nor for the faint of heart.

While some scenes are genuinely scary in a tension building, "old school" kind of way, we also get blood soaked action sequences that will probably put off some viewers, but seem entirely appropriate given the show's title (in the 19th century a "penny dreadful" used to be a booklet of cheap, sensational fiction printed on pulp paper which could be purchased for - wait for it: a penny).

My overall verdict: 'Penny Dreadful' dishes out a hefty mix of gory violence, classic horror creatures, sex and action, but it never forgets to build atmosphere. The B-movie elements are undeniably there, but they're deliberate (the title says it all), and this is by no means a cheap affair. Beautifully crafted and with a great cast, I strongly recommend this show to anyone who likes the old "Hammer Horror" movies as well as films in the vein of Tim Burton's 'Sweeney Todd' and 'Sleepy Hollow'.

But not just for the fans of "Goth Horror" is this well worth checking out; I would say that after 'True Detective' and perhaps 'Fargo' this is one of the most promising new TV-shows of 2014.

Favorite Films: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls054200841/

Lesser-known Masterpieces: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070242495/

Favorite Low-Budget and B-movies: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls054808375/

Favorite TV-Shows reviewed: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls075552387/

If heaven and hell are real I pray I'm forgiven for my fascination with such dark shows. Just by looking at the poster you know this is going to be something unholy. You got Frankenstein, demons, the Christian devil himself, God, vampires like Dracula and Dorian gray, werewolves, witches, and not the pretty kind, all put in a fiendish Victorian setting with a remarkable script and great cast lineup to go with it, how could you not love this show. It's heartbreaking that it only had 3 seasons but after Vanessa Ives character arc was completed it's hard imagining the show going forward despite the assemblage of characters they could have made center of the show. It just wouldn't be the same without her.

This is definitely one of my favorite shows ever, first show I ever binge watched too. I remember wanting to watch this after seeing how genius the poster is but didn't think a horror tv show could be interesting. I got S1 late afternoon on a Friday; that was when I learnt that horrors could be intellectual, not just jump scares and gory murders. By Sunday morning I was finished with the whole series, left me feeling void inside because I knew I wasn't going to find another series like it again. If you're a fan of the genre, here's a gem for you.

Penny Dreadful doesn't get enough credit. It is a perfect show. I'm obsessed with it. I didn't find it until a couple years ago and I have already watched every season twice. I have searched for another show like this but there are none. Especially not the series to follow in the Penny Dreadful family. It is written so poetically, like a book from the same time. The sets are beautiful and capture every detail from the 19th century. Every actor played their parts perfectly, especially Eva Green. It is a dark, gothic story that is profoundly unsettling. I hope the creators can find the same magic again and create a show that is as bewitching as this.

I actually enjoyed Penny Dreadful much more than I thought I would. I thought it would be just another another supernatural series that's worth watching but would end up forgetting after a while. It's not. I was hooked from the start. It has so many twists and turns that it will keep you entertained through the series. It's only three seasons long but they are 3 great seasons. All three seasons are equally good. Having three seasons this show never grows stale and goes out while still interesting. Eva Green and Josh Hartnett are both fantastic actors and this is some of their best work of their careers. If you're a fan of this genre then Penny Dreadful should be a must watch for you. I promise you won't be disappointed!

The first episode of Penny Dreadful does a number of things right, making me hopeful for the future of this series.

1. The atmosphere is perfect: dense, Gothic, surreal and unsettling. The camera work is fluid and imaginative, and the grimy London settings are really well designed, almost expressionist at times. I was particularly impressed by the scenes in the gentlemen's club, shot from a high angle, and laid out in a curious Victorian grid-pattern.

2. The characters range from predictable but very welcome, to genuinely unique. Timothy Dalton is the former: a generic British adventurer, about equally suggestive of Alan Quatermain, as seen in Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and Sir Richard Francis Burton, real-life explorer extraordinaire. But the pink-haired Egyptologist is a character I've never quite seen before. His dialog is colorful, erudite and truly off-beat.

3. The dialog, now that we're on the subject, is literate and dense. This alone would make the show worth watching. There's a Victorian flamboyance about it, but also some real intellectual content. When's the last time you heard the word "outré" spoken by a character in a TV series?

4. The pace, the steady evolution of the plot, are a refreshing change. Too many shows are forced to rush ahead because they're not really about anything. Moment-to-moment activity is all they've got. Penny Dreadful feels like it's building up something more than that. (Time will tell.)

5. Finally, a very welcome omission: the shortage of jump-scares. There's really just one, and it's placed in such a way that it's almost a spoof of itself. Several other situations, which most shows would have exploited for a cheap shock, are handled with admirable subtlety. There is some gore, but no more than needed to establish a seriously scary tone, a sense of danger.

Penny Dreadful isn't exactly going where no entertainment has gone before. It's clearly 'inspired by' two previous efforts. Most obviously, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, a comic that came off rather poorly on the big screen. But also the very under-rated film Van Helsing, which brilliantly re-imagined the classic horror movies of the 1930s, but failed to find an audience perhaps because of its highly energetic style.

Penny Dreadful seems to have learned from both of these sources. Where League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was lightweight and loose with logic, Penny Dreadful is atmospheric and well-plotted. Where Van Helsing was kinetic and flamboyant, Penny Dreadful is quietly creepy.

All in all, it's off to a great start. Let's hope the producers can continue 'in the same vein.'

UPDATE: Closing in on the end of the 2nd season, my admiration for this series continues to grow. The atmosphere of Victorian menace is denser than ever. The characters more flamboyant, the dialog more poetic. I'm not sure where the story is going, or, indeed, if it needs to be headed for any specific destination, when every moment of it is so enjoyable. Rating enthusiastically unchanged: a solid 9 out of 10.