Creators:
John LoganComposer:
Abel KorzeniowskiCast:
Eva Green, Josh Hartnett, Timothy Dalton, Rory Kinnear, Billie Piper, Harry Treadaway, Reeve Carney, Helen McCrory, Danny Sapani, Alun Armstrong, Stephen Lord (more)VOD (3)
Seasons(3) / Episodes(27)
Plots(1)
Some of literature's most famously terrifying characters, including Dr. Frankenstein and his creature, Dorian Gray and iconic figures from the novel Dracula. become embroiled in Victorian London. (official distributor synopsis)
Videos (7)
Reviews (8)
I’m giving up halfway through the series. It’s boring, disjointed, full of mumbo-jumbo about nothing, and it doesn’t have a single character that would attract me in any way. The average rating is mainly due to the excellent execution, the solid performances and the exciting pilot episode, but the feeling was lower.
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We've seen the familiar characters from Victorian literature together before in the “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” comics (I'm ignoring that awful movie), where they formed a strange but workable team. In Penny Dreadful, unfortunately, their union is a bit ham-fisted. In fact, the series suffers from the same problem as True Blood: overstuffing and disjointedness, in short, they try to cram as many horror icons into the story as possible without regard for coherence (and I'm a little worried that it's going to get worse with each successive season). But what works brilliantly here is the combination of the atmosphere of old-fashioned horror stories with the dirty realism we're used to in, for example, HBO's historical series (here too, the precise production design plays a big role, successfully drawing us into the world of the time). Moreover, I admit that I haven't seen such a gloomy and, on the whole, scary horror series on TV for a long time.
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The topic, the cast, the creators, the production design and the chosen style promise great things. But this sham nickel-and-dime, Hammer-style League of Extraordinary Gentlemen which could feel at home in the company of the Victorian episodes of Doctor Who, despite its many undeniable qualities, does little more than promise; however much it is pleasantly peculiar in all circumstances and almost unprecedentedly true to its literary source. It can never permanently move up from the “promises on paper" box to the “fulfilled promises" box, even though it peeks into it at times. But it’s these passages that do more of a disservice than anything else to the series because while you are watching you can see how damn good it could have been. Which of course doesn’t mean that it isn’t good enough.
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A series that made me overjoyed considering the poor quality of a lot of horror films. No disappointment here. The whole thing is permeated by the grim atmosphere of Victorian London full of fog, rain, and gas lamps among which all the fearful creatures roam. The series has a decent script and cast at its disposal. Eva Green in particular gives a really great performance. At last, an enjoyable horror series without a lot of pointless filler. I can't rate it other than five stars. Edit: I have to say I was slightly underwhelmed by Season 3. The ending wasn’t very convincing, but it wasn’t enough for me to change my final rating.
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Pilot: A pleasingly chilling start, excellently cast characters and Logan’s tight screenplay inspires great expectations for the next episodes. Season one: A bit reminiscent of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, just with more sophisticated character profiles and psychology that not even hmm... Sam Mendes would be ashamed of. I liked the work with the myths of old London and the repeated taste of Egypt, just like old times. Eva Green again dominates (the recollection episode is definitely the high point of the season) and it’s pleasant to see Timothy Dalton in a proper role. Not so much a horror as a reminder of family values, respect/disrespect for life and faith in emotions and love.
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