Hemlock Grove

Teenagers in the small Pennsylvania town of Hemlock Grove are being murdered by a strange beast. The townsfolk believe it is a werewolf. To them, this makes the prime suspects the local gypsies, and Peter Rumancek in particular. He steadfastly denies that he is the murderer but he harbours a dark secret...he is a werewolf.

Mediocre. Had some potential to be a edgy supernatural thriller, Stranger Things or True Blood-like (the fact that Alexander Skarsgard's brother, Bill, has a leading role in Hemlock Grove helps the True Blood comparison). The murders provide for intrigue but this is substantially diluted by the fact that very little happens in the way of solving the mystery for the first 10 episodes. During that time the series is really just a teen soap-opera, with very limited character engagement.

Things do kick up several notches in the final three episodes of Season 1, making the Season worthwhile in the end. With a bit more closure on that season it would have been a decent mini-series.

After Season 1 there was nothing new to do, except invent other nasties to terrorise the town, and that's what happens. Add in more soap-opera like sub-plots and it's pretty boring stuff.

I lasted until Episode 4 of Season 2 before giving up.

I'm not really in to making comparisons but this show sort of feels like Carnivale the way it's unfolding and telling you it's visual tale. There is some carnage, but it isn't as brutal as you would expect coming from Roth. Mostly it feels wonderfully strange, like a world you can't help but feel drawn in to. I've only watched the pilot so far, but I love that all the episodes are right there, one right after the next for immediate consumption! That is awesome. There is much going on below the surface and I can't wait to see how it unfolds. It's definitely a show worth watching. I'm looking forward to hopefully a second season, and more Netflix originals!

For once they make a series without milking it till the last drop. Three seasons was perfect for Hemlock Grove. Never in the three seasons you get that milking feeling like with so many other series. This one keeps you interested from the beginning till the end. And even though it's again about vampires and lycanthropes you can't compare it with that garbage that is Twilight. This one is so much better, without having a lot of vampire and werewolf shots. The absolute star to me is Famke Janssen. Besides her natural beauty and elegance she shows us that she is also an excellent actress. The other star to me is her fictional son Bill Skarsgård that also gave an excellent performance. The other actors are good as well but to me the whole show turns around Olivia and Roman Godfrey. I truly enjoyed every single second of Hemlock Grove. Once you start watching this show it becomes immediately highly addictive.

The graphics are epic and the characters are perfect, but the story line doesn't fit together very well. When I watched it I felt like they were trying too hard to make it look good and be plausible which is great but, the plot slipped through the cracks. It's a nice try but it could have been better. Also they had to many mysteries going on at the same time. It was hard to remember who knew what and how it all came together. They rushed things that needed time and dragged things out that needed rushed. It's a perplexing show and I don't regret watching it, I just wish things had turned out differently. It's a bit gory but interesting too, if you put up with it long enough to find out.

** May contain mild spoilers **

'Hemlock Grove' is a rare and strange beast among the many current fantasy/horror shows on TV. This new series is refreshingly original; although vampirism and werewolves haven't exactly been underrepresented in movies and TV-shows over the last couple of years, 'Hemlock Grove' manages to find a very interesting new approach and uses old European myths and legends - and even a bit of Sci-Fi - to inject some fresh blood into a genre that started to feel a bit stale. The mix is strangely compelling – and highly addictive.

The cast is very strong, especially the two leads Bill Skarsgård and Landon Liboiron – and of course, the always great Famke Janssen. The production values are also worth mentioning: the music, the cinematography and the set-designs in this show are absolutely beautiful, the gory make-up effects look realistic and CGI is thankfully kept to a minimum. I'm a bit surprised this show hasn't found a bigger audience yet, given how well it is produced (and this wasn't exactly a cheap affair either: season 2 had a budget of 52 million dollars for 10 episodes), but maybe it's just a bit too original for that. As far as I'm concerned, 'Hemlock Grove' certainly deserves to be seen; offering unique 'Horror' with a fantastic, slightly surreal atmosphere and amazing images, this highly original series is a prime candidate for binge-watching. 8 stars out of 10.

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