Movies
[TV Review] “Penny Dreadful” Episode 1.1, ‘Night Work’
“Penny Dreadful” seemed to come and go without much fanfare. And for those of us without Showtime, it was reduced to nothing more than sexy trailers and portrait-style character posters. Simply put: it was a brilliant concept bulked up with extreme talent facing the harsh storm of premium cable and lackluster summertime audiences. But now that it’s been picked up for a second season, Bloody Disgusting wants our readers to know whether or not they should give a shit. Luckily for all of us, season one became available on iTunes this week, so for the next 8 days I’ll be binge reviewing season one of “Penny Dreadful” and I hope that you’ll watch along with me and weigh in with your thoughts on this fearlessly stitched, literarily-steeped psychosexual horror.
Shockingly, for a show touted as a ‘literary mash-up,’ the first three main characters we’re acquainted with have yet to appear in literature: Vanessa Ives (Eva Green), Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett), and Sir Malcolm Murray (Timothy Dalton), whose daughter, Mina Murray appears in loads of literature, most famously: Dracula.
We first lay eyes on Ives in the middle of some insane possessed prayer (spiders included!). She’s a stunning clairvoyant medium and a powerful force—all trussed up in the most proper of appearances. Miss Ives seems to create fear, chaos, sensuality, and tension wherever she goes (or on whomever she sets her glare). As the episode progresses, the darkness of her soul is constantly called into question.
Chandler, an American sharp shooter touring with a carnival, initially feels like cheap plastic compared to Ives’ fine china, but as Ives later describes, he is much deeper than he cares to show. When Ives approaches Chandler with a proposition of some “night work,” we are treated to one of the most intensely sizzling, non-overtly sexual back-and-forths I’ve seen on television in quite some time. As expected, wherever Green goes, raw sexuality is sure to follow.
“Penny Dreadful” runs on juxtaposition, both in tone and character. The dichotomy of scenes from Ives’ spider-invested medium moment to Chandler’s phony American carnival show should be jarring but instead create a sense of discord that perfectly represents the rest of the episode. Not all of the stark juxtapositions work, but the ones that do serve up an apropos unsettling tenor.
There’s a reason “Penny Dreadful” is billed as “psychosexual horror,” it moves seamlessly from haute sexual tension to horrific visuals. The themes of Stoker’s Dracula run deep. Mina has been taken by a “creature” (read: vampire) and her father, Sir Malcolm, is on a violent, determined quest to retrieve her. When the “night work” commissioned by Ives and Murray turns extremely supernatural, Chandler’s sharp shooting is worth shit and only the combined skills of Ives and Murray can stop the chaos.
During the mission, they kill and harvest one of the vampires (something very akin to Nosferatu). And it’s a good thing they need a doctor to help dissect the creature because this brings us to the filthy little lair of Dr. Victor Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway). He’s a hostile, self-righteous prick, but he’s the first real literary character we come across. It’s this precise moment where two of literature’s most iconic horror characters meet: Frankenstein and Vampire. The gravity of this moment is neither overlooked nor overdone. The stylized cinematography, Treadaway’s intense portrayal, and the deep, rumbling score scream to the viewer: “Hey, this is a big moment for television, so watch up.”
I’ll admit, upon first watch, what’s revealed during the autopsy of the vampire feels completely out of left field, as if the show jumped the shark twenty minutes into its first episode. But upon further personal research, the findings are deeply rooted in ancient mythology and give this first episode a depth I wasn’t prepared for. What’s even more impressive is the immediate comic relief that follows the harrowing scene, which again, should feel deeply out of place but instead works only to the show’s advantage. Because while yes, we’re watching an intensely dark portrayal of grisly Victorian London, we’re also dealing with a ‘closed world,’ a world in which the average inhabitant is unaware of the supernatural goings-on.
The ultimate plot revelation comes with Green’s perfect delivery of a succulent monologue about the ‘demimonde.’ The world between what we know and what we fear. This is the world we’ll be living in for the majority of “Penny Dreadful.” A world full of supernatural horrors unimaginable, where science and superstition meet.
The episode isn’t perfect. There are a lot of slow scenes that serve no greater purpose than to arouse us and heighten our senses. The episode starts to drag about two thirds of the way through and the overall set up is tedious. It’s clear that “Penny Dreadful” wants us to be immersed in the blended world of television fiction, classic fiction, and straight reality, but the immersion is painstakingly slow and uses dialogue more than any horror show should.
Though tedious it is, the development of Frankenstein’s character is viciously daring. The liberties taken with his personality traits feel surprisingly accurate. I applaud the writers for adding on to an existing character—such a well known one, at that—and doing it so boldly without losing the essence that Mary Shelley created almost 200 years ago. The fresh look into Frankenstein fits the essence of the show and its audacious creative vision.
What did you think of “Penny Dreadful”: ‘Night Work’?
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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