Penny Dreadful (Showtime TV Series)

With reference to my post on Gothic Horror Movies from the 90s dated 11/5/2014, gothic horror is now scarce on tv/cinema so naturally I was curious about Penny Dreadful, a new series from Showtime. The first two episodes of the series, which is created by John Logan and produced by Sam Mendes, had initially been available on demand for some time before airing on Showtime and is a mash-up/loose remake of  famous classic horror stories namely, Dracula, Frankenstein and Dorian Gray. As with most Showtime series, production quality is high but content can be very adult (not recommended for kids/family viewing). The series borrows heavily from elements contained in the classic stories but the plot/story line differ greatly from the books. I have only watched the first two episodes and while watching them, is greatly reminded of another movie, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Actually, I was piqued by the series when I heard that Timothy Dalton, Eva Green and Josh Hartnett was involved in the series. I liked Eva Green's performance in the remake of Dark Shadows and I haven't seen Josh Hartnett for a while so it was worth a try. The story starts with Sir Malcolm Murray (Dalton) who enlists the help of  Vanessa Ives (Green), Ethan Chandler (Hartnett) & Victor Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway) to find his missing daughter, Mina Murray, who he suspects was abducted by a vampire like creature. After watching the first two episodes, I was left with mixed reactions. The series does show promise (there are six more episodes for Season 1) but was at times a little too slow paced  and messy (like it was trying too hard to combine all elements of Dracula, Frankenstein, Dorian Gray & Jack the Ripper!?) but I like to give some series time to develop and find its footing. Will I watch Episode 3? Yes, because most of my favourite series like Grimm and  The Following has ended their season run and I'm not A Game of Thrones fan :).  If you would like to watch the trailer and behind the scenes videos for Penny Dreadful, you could always check out the Penny Dreadful Production Blogs on YouTube (link below). 

Penny Dreadful Production Blogs

Addendum  (5th May 2024) : All 3 seasons of this high quality series from Showtime is available on dvd, blu-ray and Amazon Prime (links provided below). For those who are interested in what the (rather elusive) actor Josh Hartnett is up to these days, you can catch him in M. Night Shyamalan's upcoming psychological/mystery/thriller film 'Trap' in August 2024. 

Penny Dreadful (Amazon Prime) (paid link)

   

 Penny Dreadful Blu-Ray (Amazon US) (paid link)