'From' Review: EPIX's riveting horror drama dishes out the chills in copious measure
'From' is compelling. It's downright scary and hellish. The John Griffin-created horror drama for EPIX is hair-raising and doesn't let up on the horror quotient. It builds the levels slowly and drops it at one go, just like one of those contraptions at an amusement park, just that this one's a damn lot scarier. The storyline isn't complex: A mysterious town that doesn't allow strangers to escape, bloodthirsty monsters at night, and the residents fighting for survival.
The series opens in a town where everything just seems off. The people look mechanical but with an air of alertness. They seem resigned to their fate. They hurry home as dusk falls while Sheriff Boyd (Harold Perrineau) walks around the streets clanging a bell. Things go wrong almost immediately when a mother and a child waiting for their drunk father to come home are attacked by a monster. The episode cements the fact that it doesn't hold back the punches when it shows a grisly and gore-filled frame of the duo murdered and blood splattered all over.
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The second act sees the Matthews family of Tabitha (Catalina Sandino Moreno), father Jim (Eion Bailey), teen daughter Jessica (Hannah Cheramy), and presumably five-year-old Ethan (Simon Webster) walk into a trap of a town while on a road trip. And when they drive across town, they realize there is no way out before crashing due to an accident. The next couple of episodes that follow is a blend of horror and tight storytelling. However, the three episodes don't reveal a lot about the monsters.
What 'From' does is captivate right from the start. Perrineau easily commands attention while the Matthews family sort of gets caught up in their own act. As Boyd, Perrineau is the man whose tumult basically carries some parts of the episode that are a tad slow. The third episode ends with the new family settling in unfamiliar territory where tomorrow isn't a guarantee. Expect episode 4 to be a lot more action-packed and gritty. It does appear that the answers will fall into place only when the season reaches or crosses the halfway mark.
Executive Producers Jack Bender and Jeff Pinkner are relentless when it comes to churning out the horror and that would mean a similar template the series will follow for the rest of the season. For now, this horror drama is a must-watch.
'From' airs Sunday nights at 9 pm ET on EPIX.