TV
New Series “Ghost Nation” from Original “Ghost Hunters” Stars Gets October Premiere Date
The stars of the original “Ghost Hunters,” Jason Hawes, Dave Tango and Steve Gonsalves have been brought back together for a brand new paranormal investigation series for the Travel Channel, “Ghost Nation.” We’ve learned today that the new series will premiere on Friday, October 11 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
In “Ghost Nation,” the pioneers of the genre respond to urgent calls from local paranormal investigators nationwide who have reached a dead end with their vexing personal cases.
The trio is getting back to its roots, helping homeowners who are dealing with harrowing hauntings and people whose lives have been overtaken and threatened by unexplained phenomena. Each of the 10, hour-long episodes features a high-stakes case and a robust, multi-stage investigation that begins with a shocking paranormal story and a tantalizing piece of evidence. Stories featured this season include a couple who recently gained notoriety when their nanny-cam footage captured a ghostly shadow figure walking by their baby’s crib; a local team that captured possible shadow people moving throughout a notorious haunt; and an investigator who is actually scratched by an unseen phantom.
Armed with brand new state-of-the-art technology and their meticulous methodology, the team, under its new banner, United Paranormal Research Organization (UPRO), will face the most challenging and dangerous paranormal mysteries the country has to offer. In every investigation, collecting evidence is just the beginning. The team isn’t merely conducting a cursory review of the case. With the help of their local contacts, team members will embed themselves in the community, conducting multi-day investigations in an effort to track down the true source of these hauntings and restore peace to the living … and the dead.
“My local organization handles cases all across the East Coast,” said Hawes. “But in the last 20 years, because the paranormal movement has become so huge and spread all over the world, we formed an organization to connect all those involved in the field – fans, investigators or those just searching for answers to questions. Many organizations reach out to us for help with their best and toughest cases.”
In the series premiere, the paranormal pioneers announce the formation of UPRO at the Fanboy Expo Event in Knoxville, Tennessee. Amateur paranormal investigator Jessica Clevinger is in the audience and immediately asks for help with a local case that’s over her head. Single mom Brittany Totherow bought a White Pine, Tennessee, farmhouse because it was the perfect home in which to raise her young son. But soon after moving in, she experienced unnerving phenomena and witnessed a female apparition. Her future husband, Cory, eventually moved into the home with his own children, but it wasn’t long before he began experiencing events himself. Within days, Cory started hearing unexplained footsteps and captured video of an apparition standing behind Brittany. Now, their children are starting to have strange encounters. At a loss for what to do, Jessica, Cory and Brittany turn to the UPRO team for help.
Not even death can slow Chucky in “There Will Be Blood,” the penultimate episode of “Chucky” Season 3. With the killer receiving a mortal blow in the last episode, Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif) can now take full advantage of the White House’s bizarre supernatural purgatory, leaving him free to continue his current reign of terror as a ghost. While that spells trouble for Jake Wheeler (Zackary Arthur), Devon (Bjorgvin Arnarson), and Lexy (Alyvia Alyn Lind), it makes for an outrageously satisfying bloodbath heading into next week’s finale.
“There Will Be Blood” covers a lot of ground in short order, with Charles Lee Ray confronting his maker over his failures before he can continue his current path of destruction. Lexy, Jake, and Devon continue their desperate bid to find Lexy’s sister, which means seeking answers from the afterlife. They’re in luck, considering Warren Pryce (Gil Bellows) enlists the help of parapsychologists to solve the White House’s pesky paranormal problem. Of course, Warren also has unfinished business with the surviving First Family members, including the President’s assigned body double, Randall Jenkins (Devon Sawa). Then there’s Tiffany Valentine (Jennifer Tilly), who’s feeling the immense weight of her looming execution.
CHUCKY — “There Will Be Blood” Episode 307 — Pictured in this screengrab: (l-r) Brad Dourif as Charles Lee Ray, Chucky — (Photo by: SYFY)
Arguably, the most impressive aspect of “Chucky” is how series creator Don Mancini and his fantastic team of writers consistently swing for the fences. That constant “anything goes” spirit pervades the entire season, but especially this episode. Lexy’s new beau, Grant (Jackson Kelly), exemplifies this; he’s refreshingly quick to accept even the most outlandish concepts – namely, the White House as a paranormal hub and that his little brother’s doll happens to be inhabited by a serial killer.
But it’s also in the way that “There Will Be Blood” goes for broke in ensuring it’s the bloodiest episode of the series to date. Considering how over-the-top and grisly Chucky’s kills can be, that’s saying a lot. Mancini and crew pay tribute to The Shining in inspired ways, and that only hints at a fraction of the bloodletting in this week’s new episode.
CHUCKY — “There Will Be Blood” Episode 307 — Pictured in this screengrab: Brad Dourif as Charles Lee Ray — (Photo by: SYFY)
“Chucky” can get away with splattering an insane amount of blood on the small screen because it’s counterbalanced with a wry sense of humor and campy narrative turns that are just as endearing and fun as the SFX. Moreover, it’s the fantastic cast that sells it all. In an episode where Brad Dourif makes a rare appearance on screen, cutting loose and having a blast in Chucky’s incorporeal form, his mischievous turn is matched by Tiffany facing her own mortality and Nica Pierce’s (Fiona Dourif) emotionally charged confrontation with her former captor.
There’s also Devon Sawa, who amusingly continues to land in Chucky’s crosshairs no matter the character. Season 3 began with Sawa as the deeply haunted but kind President Collins, and Sawa upstages himself as the unflappably upbeat and eager-to-please doppelganger Randall Jenkins. That this episode gives Sawa plenty to do on the horror front while playing his most likable character yet on the series makes for one of the episode’s bigger surprises.
The penultimate episode of “Chucky” Season 3 unleashes an epic bloodbath. It delivers scares, gore, and franchise fan service in spades, anchored by an appropriate scene-chewing turn by Dourif. That alone makes this episode a series highlight. But the episode also neatly ties together its characters and plot threads to pave the way for the finale. No matter how this season wraps up, it’s been an absolute pleasure watching Chucky destroy the White House from the inside.
“Chucky” Season 3: Part 2 airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on USA & SYFY.
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