Editorials
10 Genre Shows You Should Be Watching In 2016
vIn a world where directors are constantly fighting the MPAA, it’s so expensive to make a film independently that it’s nearly impossible, and once filmmakers do finish an indie feature, it doesn’t generate enough revenue because it can only reach a handful of theaters, it seems more and more that television shows are the way to go.
While obstacles may push a filmmaker into the world of the living room screen, once there, it becomes apparent that TV programming can be just as cinematic as stories that hit the local theaters, and push the envelope artistically in ways that benefit all forms of celluloid. Daredevil revealed superhero fans’ desire for darker content, while Penny Dreadful proved people will appreciate a more intelligent version of Frankenstein’s monster. Preacher sets out to explore the effect of tackling extreme violence with a sprinkle of humor, while Luke Cage stands firmly as evidence that caped crusaders of color can and should be just as in demand as their counterparts. Television is laying the groundwork for the future of cinema, and it all starts here, in 2016, with the continuation of some terrific shows, and the introduction of some very promising new projects.
Without further ado, and in no particular order, here are the top ten genre shows you should be watching in 2016.
“The Path”
There’s much comfort to be found in religion. Those seeking a purpose, or a guardian to look over them, or answers to life’s most daunting questions can find solace in the open arms of an old belief, or a new religious movement. But what if the feeling of relief is only temporary? What if, after dedicating oneself to the well of a particular following, the water runs dry? Such is the inner conflict that family man Eddie Cleary faces in the new controversial Hulu original The Path. Although he and his loved ones have grown accustomed to their current way of life as members of a controversial cult, Eddie begins to experience a crisis of faith, and questions whether if they all are being lead down the wrong path. Starring Breaking Bad‘s Aaron Paul, True Detective‘s Michelle Monaghan, and Hannibal‘s Hugh Dancy, The Path’s cast is just as intriguing as its bold premise. Look for it to hit Hulu on March 30th, 2016.
“Game of Thrones”
The last time we saw the Game of Thrones gang, Sanasa and Theon joined hands and jumped off of the side of Ramsay’s castle, Margery was locked away for her brother’s “crimes”, Cersei was publicly shamed, Arya was flipping faces, Jon Snow was left for dead (or, “for the watch”), Tyrion finally joined forces with Daenerys, and Bronn was still nowhere to be found. What lies ahead for our beloved familiars of Westerns remain uncertain — although HBO has hinted pretty hard that we haven’t seen the last of Jon Snow — but one thing’s for sure: winter is coming, and the dead are coming with it. Season six hits HBO on April 24th.
“Daredevil”
Season one of Marvel’s Daredevil was a revelation in more ways than one, as it proved both that people want and will accept a much darker angle on the superhero craze, and that Netflix is capable of delivering some truly impressive original content. Also, just as a horror fan, how cool is it that show runner Drew Goddard stems from Buffy the Vampire Slayer roots? Goddard also recently directed the wickedly clever horror comedy The Cabin in the Woods, one of the most original and profoundly funny love letters to ’80s slasher movies to come out in years. In the same way that Cabin put a new spin on an aged subgenera, Daredevil has set a new, much more mature standard of the representation of our caped crusaders. And it’s only getting better. In the upcoming second season, the DD team has made the excellent decision to cast Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle, a.k.a. The Punisher. With Bernthal’s background as an extremely intimidating and complex antagonist on The Walking Dead, it will be thrilling to watch him portray one of the most merciless antiheroes Marvel has to offer up. Season two lands on Netflix on March 18th.
“Penny Dreadful”
We, as an audience, believe we’ve seen the dreariest and most deranged moments that Penny Dreadful has up its sleeve, but we’re wrong. We watched in stupefied horror as Eva Green contorted her spine and delivered a chilling performance as a possessed woman being hunted by the devil, we sat mouths agape as Ethan revealed himself as a murderous werewolf, and we shed tears for Sir Malcolm when evil witches used their magics to trick his wife into taking her own life. Grief and mayhem has characterized the journey for this ragtag team of misfits thus far, but the road ahead looks to be the darkest passage yet for these fascinating fairy tale creatures, in this brilliant little Burton-esque gothic drama series. Make sure to see what lies in wait on May 1st, only on Showtime.
“The X-Files”
After thirteen long years, the cynic and the credulous are back. Searching for answers, and further seeking to define their complicated relationship, the two set out on a brand new expedition, while still hitting all the old beats. The suggestive partner dynamic, the monster of the week, and the general questioning of the government are all there, but now, Mulder and Scully are facing off against their biggest conspiracy yet: the end of the human race. Returning for a tenth season in the form of a six episode mini-series, Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny have proven thus far, just as always, that while the plot may occasionally veer off course, the chemistry between these two talented actors is always worth watching. Catch this exciting revival all throughout February, only on Fox.
“Luke Cage”
Making his first live action appearance in Marvel’s Jessica Jones, a gritty noir style TV show that debuted to overwhelmingly positive reactions, Luke Cage is one of the newer superheroes, hitting comic books for the first time in June of 1972. Since then, the man sporting unbreakable skin and superhuman strength has popped up in a few cartoons here and there, but didn’t make his mark in the flesh until Mike Colter provided a booming performance as the Power Man in the Netflix original, which has already been called upon for a second season. At the same time, a spin-off show, simply titled, Luke Cage, has been greenlit to also air on Netflix. It seems like the show will act as a prequel to the Jones legacy, which is interesting as it will portray Cage’s origin story as the man who is wrongfully incarcerated, experimented on, and eventually accidentally released out into the world again, cursed and gifted to fulfill his higher purpose — to stop evil and saves lives. Luke Cage is set to air on Netflix sometime in 2016.
“11.22.63”
November twenty-second, nineteen sixty-three: that fateful day when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated during his visit to Dallas, Texas. Not only was it one of the most tragic moments in American history, but it also prompted the swearing in of Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, which in turn, prolonged America’s involvement in the Vietnam War. Thousands of men fresh out of high school were drafted and dragged off into military combat; many only returning home in body bags. But what if someone was able to throw a wrench into the wheel of time? What if one man found a way to go back in time and derail the attack on the president, saving his life, and altering the world for the better? Such is the goal of high school teacher Jake Epping (James Franco), who stumbles upon a time portal, which allows him to travel back to September 9th, 1958, just a few years prior to the infamous incident. Jake decides to take action, but along his path to redemption, Jake encounters various obstacles, such as love, contentment, and the past’s own stubborn resistance to change. Will Jake succeed with his outlandish plans to the course of history forever? Find out when Stephen King’s latest adaptation lands on Hulu on February 15th, 2016.
“Preacher”
There have been many failed attempts to bring the Preacher comic book series to the screen, but the latest interpretation of the early ’90s DC comic looks like it actually contains quite a bit of potential. The show’s airing on AMC, which has been known to push the boundaries when it comes to what’s allowed on television, which means that it can probably get away with more graphic violence and language than if it were to air on such channels as the CW or CBS, thus allowing the show to stay more loyal to the source material. Also, Superbad/The Interview/Pineapple Express/This is the End comedic collaborators Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen are credited with being the head writer and directors of the series, which means that this portrayal of the conflicted man of faith will get the sarcastic edge it always needed. It will be thrilling to see how the show fares with new viewers, and old fans. Look for Preacher to hit AMC sometime in 2016.
“Westworld”
Based on the 1973 film by the same name, Westworld takes place in a Las Vegas-type of vacation setting, where people can act out their wildest fantasies without fear of repercussions or damage to their reputations. The Westworld amusement park is in many ways, exactly as it sounds — a western themed community filled with fun attractions, like horseback riding, cattle roping, and musket shooting. The only surprising aspect about this rustic utopia are the robots. Artificially intelligent cowboys roam the countryside, engineered to partake in shooting games with paying customers. However, when some of the robots malfunction, the hunters become the hunted, as the humans learn that the true price to pay wasn’t their admittance fee, but the cost that comes with playing God, and granting consciousness to machines. Pushed back for re-writes, Westworld will air sometime in 2016 on HBO.
“Outcast”
There are many reasons to get excited for the upcoming first season of Outcast, such as the fact that the show was created by The Walking Dead showrunner and comic book originator Robert Kirkman, or the fact that the comics that the show’s based on were picked up for a televised adaptation a mere week after they were released, but there’s one main draw that is sure to capture horror fans’ attention: both Adam Winged and Leigh Janiak direct their own episodes. Wingard has become a household name in the genre community, with several notable entries, including A Horrible Way to Die, V/H/S, and most recently, the pulse-pounding, action-packed ’80s themed gem The Guest. Janiak gained notoriety for her indie sci-fi thriller Honeymoon, which put eerie new parameters on extra-terrestrial territory by using the threat of an alien invasion as a metaphor for marital turbulence. More recently, Janiak directed one of the best episodes of Scream: The TV Series, “In the Trenches”, and became attached to the upcoming remake of the ’90s witch flick The Craft. In their new show, Outcast, Wingard and Janiak join forces with Kirkman to tell the story of a young man suffering from a series of ongoing possessions whose cause have yet to be explained. Tune in to all of the horror-charged madness on Cinemax, debuting sometime in 2016.
Twice a month Joe Lipsett will dissect a new Amityville Horror film to explore how the “franchise” has evolved in increasingly ludicrous directions. This is “The Amityville IP.”
A bizarre recurring issue with the Amityville “franchise” is that the films tend to be needlessly complicated. Back in the day, the first sequels moved away from the original film’s religious-themed haunted house storyline in favor of streamlined, easily digestible concepts such as “haunted lamp” or “haunted mirror.”
As the budgets plummeted and indie filmmakers capitalized on the brand’s notoriety, it seems the wrong lessons were learned. Runtimes have ballooned past the 90-minute mark and the narratives are often saggy and unfocused.
Both issues are clearly on display in Amityville Karen (2022), a film that starts off rough, but promising, and ends with a confused whimper.
The promise is embodied by the tinge of self-awareness in Julie Anne Prescott (The Amityville Harvest)’s screenplay, namely the nods to John Waters’ classic 1994 satire, Serial Mom. In that film, Beverly Sutphin (an iconic Kathleen Turner) is a bored, white suburban woman who punished individuals who didn’t adhere to her rigid definition of social norms. What is “Karen” but a contemporary equivalent?
In director/actor Shawn C. Phillips’ film, Karen (Lauren Francesca) is perpetually outraged. In her introductory scenes, she makes derogatory comments about immigrants, calls a female neighbor a whore, and nearly runs over a family blocking her driveway. She’s a broad, albeit familiar persona; in many ways, she’s less of a character than a caricature (the living embodiment of the name/meme).
These early scenes also establish a fairly straightforward plot. Karen is a code enforcement officer with plans to shut down a local winery she has deemed disgusting. They’re preparing for a big wine tasting event, which Karen plans to ruin, but when she steals a bottle of cursed Amityville wine, it activates her murderous rage and goes on a killing spree.
Simple enough, right?
Unfortunately, Amityville Karen spins out of control almost immediately. At nearly every opportunity, Prescott’s screenplay eschews narrative cohesion and simplicity in favour of overly complicated developments and extraneous characters.
Take, for example, the wine tasting event. The film spends an entire day at the winery: first during the day as a band plays, then at a beer tasting (???) that night. Neither of these events are the much touted wine-tasting, however; that is actually a private party happening later at server Troy (James Duval)’s house.
Weirdly though, following Troy’s death, the party’s location is inexplicably moved to Karen’s house for the climax of the film, but the whole event plays like an afterthought and features a litany of characters we have never met before.
This is a recurring issue throughout Amityville Karen, which frequently introduces random characters for a scene or two. Karen is typically absent from these scenes, which makes them feel superfluous and unimportant. When the actress is on screen, the film has an anchor and a narrative drive. The scenes without her, on the other hand, feel bloated and directionless (blame editor Will Collazo Jr., who allows these moments to play out interminably).
Compounding the issue is that the majority of the actors are non-professionals and these scenes play like poorly performed improv. The result is long, dull stretches that features bad actors talking over each other, repeating the same dialogue, and generally doing nothing to advance the narrative or develop the characters.
While Karen is one-note and histrionic throughout the film, at least there’s a game willingness to Francesca’s performance. It feels appropriately campy, though as the film progresses, it becomes less and less clear if Amityville Karen is actually in on the joke.
Like Amityville Cop before it, there are legit moments of self-awareness (the Serial Mom references), but it’s never certain how much of this is intentional. Take, for example, Karen’s glaringly obvious wig: it unconvincingly fails to conceal Francesca’s dark hair in the back, but is that on purpose or is it a technical error?
Ultimately there’s very little to recommend about Amityville Karen. Despite the game performance by its lead and the gentle homages to Serial Mom’s prank call and white shoes after Labor Day jokes, the never-ending improv scenes by non-professional actors, the bloated screenplay, and the jittery direction by Phillips doom the production.
Clocking in at an insufferable 100 minutes, Amityville Karen ranks among the worst of the “franchise,” coming in just above Phillips’ other entry, Amityville Hex.
The Amityville IP Awards go to…
- Favorite Subplot: In the afternoon event, there’s a self-proclaimed “hot boy summer” band consisting of burly, bare-chested men who play instruments that don’t make sound (for real, there’s no audio of their music). There’s also a scheming manager who is skimming money off the top, but that’s not as funny.
- Least Favorite Subplot: For reasons that don’t make any sense, the winery is also hosting a beer tasting which means there are multiple scenes of bartender Alex (Phillips) hoping to bring in women, mistakenly conflating a pint of beer with a “flight,” and goading never before seen characters to chug. One of them describes the beer as such: “It looks like a vampire menstruating in a cup” (it’s a gold-colored IPA for the record, so…no).
- Amityville Connection: The rationale for Karen’s killing spree is attributed to Amityville wine, whose crop was planted on cursed land. This is explained by vino groupie Annie (Jennifer Nangle) to band groupie Bianca (Lilith Stabs). It’s a lot of nonsense, but it is kind of fun when Annie claims to “taste the damnation in every sip.”
- Neverending Story: The film ends with an exhaustive FIVE MINUTE montage of Phillips’ friends posing as reporters in front of terrible green screen discussing the “killer Karen” story. My kingdom for Amityville’s regular reporter Peter Sommers (John R. Walker) to return!
- Best Line 1: Winery owner Dallas (Derek K. Long), describing Karen: “She’s like a walking constipation with a hemorrhoid”
- Best Line 2: Karen, when a half-naked, bleeding woman emerges from her closet: “Is this a dream? This dream is offensive! Stop being naked!”
- Best Line 3: Troy, upset that Karen may cancel the wine tasting at his house: “I sanded that deck for days. You don’t just sand a deck for days and then let someone shit on it!”
- Worst Death: Karen kills a Pool Boy (Dustin Clingan) after pushing his head under water for literally 1 second, then screeches “This is for putting leaves on my plants!”
- Least Clear Death(s): The bodies of a phone salesman and a barista are seen in Karen’s closet and bathroom, though how she killed them are completely unclear
- Best Death: Troy is stabbed in the back of the neck with a bottle opener, which Karen proceeds to crank
- Wannabe Lynch: After drinking the wine, Karen is confronted in her home by Barnaby (Carl Solomon) who makes her sign a crude, hand drawn blood contract and informs her that her belly is “pregnant from the juices of his grapes.” Phillips films Barnaby like a cross between the unhoused man in Mulholland Drive and the Mystery Man in Lost Highway. It’s interesting, even if the character makes absolutely no sense.
- Single Image Summary: At one point, a random man emerges from the shower in a towel and excitedly poops himself. This sequence perfectly encapsulates the experience of watching Amityville Karen.
- Pray for Joe: Many of these folks will be back in Amityville Shark House and Amityville Webcam, so we’re not out of the woods yet…
Next time: let’s hope Christmas comes early with 2022’s Amityville Christmas Vacation. It was the winner of Fangoria’s Best Amityville award, after all!
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