Ah. Spring is finally here. After a long winter not dissimilar to 30 Days of Night, the UK is… erm, blanketed in more snow, being pummelled by Arctic winds and bored by the traditional British weather chat. It’s timely then, that we have a quartet of home-grown horrors to prove that there are some things our country is actually good at; namely, violence, misery and a dash of allegory for good measure.
Last week’s zombie lynching? What zombie lynching?
The final shocking events of Episode 1 may still haunt many of you, but as we open on Episode 2 of Dominic Mitchell’s undead drama, the killing of Ken Burton’s rehabilitated wife is scrubbed clean; washed from the tarmac and covered over with idle chit-chat. An act of un-remembrance at a time when the those killed during the uprising are being honoured by the massed ranks of the Human Volunteer Force.
Dragon is one of those rare breeds; a great martial arts epic with a cracking storyline.
While the title may sound like a Jazzy Jeff album, In the House is one of those sophisticated French films that makes you wonder why more people don’t gargle their Rs and hang up Klee watercolours in their corridors.
A tongue-in-cheek approach and some genuinely scary moments just about save Bryan Singer’s new fantasy adventure from the realms of the half-hearted TV movie.
This is pretty gruesome stuff in places and certainly the kind of broader territory that Doctor Who could only tackle in expanded media.
Whether the show’s hero will survive War of the Damned remains very unclear.
Each first meeting with Jenna-Louise Coleman has been wrapped in just enough mystery and thrills to make something familiar seem brand new.
There is so much heart and warmth here that the more syrupy and predictable tropes are ignored.
Shetland has a high bar to leap given the TV crime competition lately, especially the previous week’s Mayday and of course ITV’s epic Broadchurch.