Channel Zero: Candle Cove surprised just about everyone when it aired on Syfy last year, and was actually pretty good. It’s no secret that the horror genre has a stigma attached to it, and it’s not completely unearned: horror films really do tend to be pretty bad (with the occasional gem sprinkled here and there). Hearing the pitch for a Syfy (known for their infamously bad original films) adapting a horror anthology series based on popular “Creepypastas” didn’t exactly sound like a winning idea. How wrong we were.
The Syfy Channel in general has had a resurgence of compelling programming in the past few years, and Channel Zero has clearly reflected that desire to rebrand. Season 1 gave us an intriguing small-town mystery, and Season 2 looks to be something else entirely. Series creator and Showrunner Nick Antosca recently chatted with Screen Rant about the inspiration for Channel Zero: No End House…
“So like Candle Cove, No-End House gave us a very basic, strong horror concept — Brian Russell’s story is a haunted house with a twist — and it gave us a lot of room to subvert expectations, to write a kind of nightmare fan fiction of the original story. And in terms of having a different flavor and tone every season — it’s very important to me that we have one director for the entire season each time. I want the show to be a showcase for an exciting new director every season. And we invite them to put their stamp on it. We conceive the seasons differently, and I kind of imagine the first season as a quieter, more pastoral, almost Stephen King, small-town story. No-End House is much more of a John Carpenter suburban nightmare, and Steven Piet came in and had a lot to do with shaping the cinematic elements of the season.”
No End House aired just yesterday, and the response has been positive. It seems like there is very little reason (especially you John Carpenter fans) not to tune in to Channel Zero once more to get Halloween started early this year.
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