‘Strangers From Hell’ is the perfect place for still grieving Fannibals to embrace a new serial killer
While Netflix is busy promoting more orthodox material that people already know and watch thanks to heavy marketing, they’ve been keeping us in the dark about a beautifully demented, blood-soaked, series that’s been sitting quietly in the corner this whole time. Why isn’t this show under those “Since you watched Hannibal” sections they love to push on you? This show is Hannibal meets a more cohesive version of American Horror Story: Hotel, and it’s exactly as crazy as that combination sounds.
It’s actually unfair to compare Strangers From Hell to any other series because it’s so incredibly unique. A matchless gem hiding amongst many other odd stones. Directed and adapted for television by Jung Yi-do and Lee Chang-hee, Strangers From Hell, originally titled Hell Is Other People, is a psychological horror miniseries (It’s not defined as a miniseries but I’m calling it such because there are only 10 episodes without any news of a second season and it ended on a very conclusion note) from South Korea released in 2019, that’s based on the webtoon of the same name by Kim Yong-ki. The series revolves around a young man who struggles to survive a group of deranged people he encounters while living in a residential building in Seoul, but the focal point of the story is the developing relationship between him and the creepy, yet charming, serial killer who becomes obsessed with him.
(spoilers below)
From the very beginning, Yoon Jong Woo (Im Si-wan) is a mystery. He is our protagonist but we know almost nothing about him. All we know is that he’s an aspiring novelist with deeply repressed anger issues and is seemingly haunted by an event that occurred in the army, for which he was discharged. He’s just moved to Seoul from his rural hometown thanks to a job offer in the city, and already, he’s starting to struggle.
Barely able to afford even an expensive meal, Jong Woo picks the only apartment he can afford, a.k.a. the one place no one would ever want to live: The Eden Residence. A grimy hellhole in the most obscure part of town run by the creepy Dolores Umbridge-like Eom Bok-soon “Mrs. Um” (Lee Jung-eun). Eden isn’t just a bad place to live but a fraction of Hell that Dante missed during his tour of the place. Remember that crappy apartment they had in Fight Club? Well, it was the Ritz compared to this place.
In addition to Mrs. Um, the other residents include a porn addict, a couple of giggling twins living down the hall, and the strange man in room 304, a serial killer who could outcharm Bundy, Ramirez, and Shobhraj all at once.
Lee Dong-wook shines, and terrifies, as Seo Moon-jo, a respected dentist who moonlights as a merciless serial killer, or as he prefers to call himself, an “artist.” Let’s just say that his denial experience comes in handy while he’s got his victims strapped down and screaming.
He develops a dangerous infatuation for poor Jong Woo, seeing him as a special project he hopes to take apart and put back together. Jong Woo isn’t the first young man to capture his attention but there’s something inside him, something reportedly “special”, that makes Moon-jo believe them to be two of a kind. He believes Jong Woo is like him, a killer, and just needs a little push in the right direction. A push that involves lots of stalking, snooping, more stalking, and murder.
Out of all the serial killer portrays that I’ve seen, Lee’s is definitely in my top five. One of the few where I could almost feel the evil coming off of them in a way that was unsettlingly real. Not evil for evil’s sake, a villain created solely for the hero to face off against but someone you can really believe existed in the world and was a force to fear. He’s not some hideous masked figure hiding in the shadows. He’s the Devil and hell personified in a human form. Lee Dong-wook should get all the awards for this performance. I f***ing loved every second that he was on screen.
Strangers From Hell is a masterpiece of a series that I’m hoping I can convince more people to watch. If not for the actual story, for one of the best TV finales ever written. Showrunners take notes, this is how you end a series! Fannibals? If you’re listening, I promise that this show is right up your alley but don’t expect deep meaningful conversations in front of a fireplace because Strangers From Hell is not murder husbands running off to commit cannibal crimes in Florence together. It’s not a love story, but a dark tale about the dual nature of human beings.
Nothing I can say will give this series justice, nor can I find the proper words to describe my love for it. It’s almost flawless. Made as a “Dramatic Cinema” project which attempts to blend film and drama formats into a series, it’s not formatted as a regular series but more aligned with an ultra-long film. It flows effortlessly without the usual type of breaks that occur in episodic formats.
*Heads up if you’ve never watched a TV show made in Korea. The Korea Communications Standards Commission will blur out things in TV dramas they believe may cause damage to children, among other reasons, so knives and other bladed weapons are usually fuzzed out. It doesn’t affect the gore though. They’ll still show someone getting maimed and tortured but they’ll just blur out the knife that’s doing it.
(5 / 5)
Episode two of Wheel of Time felt like the beginning of a long journey. Stories are unfolding, lives are changing, and blood is spilling.
Let’s discuss.
The story
We begin this episode in the past with Elayne’s mother, Queen Morgase. It turns out her rise to the throne was a bit, shall we say, cutthroat. So when she shows up at the White Tower, Siuan is concerned.
She might have reason to be, too.
Meanwhile, Rand, Egwene, Moiraine, Lan and Aviendha are in the Spine of The World. As they travel through some of the most breathtaking lands I have ever seen on a TV show, Egwene is plagued with nightmares. We think at first that’s just her trauma working itself through her system. But we soon find out that it might not be that straightforward.
Finally, Perrin returns home to heal after his hand is almost cut in half. But when he gets there he finds the town has been infested by Children of The Light. And they’re looking for him.
What worked
There was something heartwarming in this episode about political espionage and choking religious persecution. And that is Elayne’s relationship with her family.
I have consumed a lot of fantasy content with royal families. And I have never once heard a princess call her mother ‘Mum’. I’ve never seen royal siblings get along. And I have sure as hell never seen a princess have a good relationship with her step-parent.
This was refreshing. Even though Queen Morgase is kind of a horrible person she seems like a good mother. And that’s an unexpected delight.
Of course, this is just one storyline among many. And while this can sometimes be overwhelming, in this case it wasn’t.
I’ll be honest, some of these storylines are going to drag for me. I know this because I’ve read some of the Wheel of Time books and I have an idea that not all the characters exactly pique my interest.
No one likes all the characters. No one likes all the storylines. While I am here for the political espionage between Queen Morgase and Siuan, not everyone likes it. While others might be fascinated with Selene trying to win Rand back, I couldn’t care less.
Having multiple storylines keeps everyone’s attention better. So long as things don’t get out of hand. Things can easily get out of hand. But this seems to be managed well.
So far.
What didn’t work
As I mentioned above, I’m not thrilled with Rand’s story at this point. And while it’s fine to not like a storyline when there are this many to choose from, it’s not fantastic that the one I like the least is the one involving our two main characters. And anytime we were with the team at the Spine of The World, the only thing that brought me joy was Moirain’s hat. It reminded me of Stockard Channing’s hat in Practical Magic.
The problem is that Rand is Charlie Brown with controversial magical powers. He is boring, serious, and pessimistic.
And yes, I understand that he has a heavy emotional burden and he’s the Dragon Reborn and that’s quite taxing and all. But let’s be fair, there isn’t a single person in this show that doesn’t have a heavy burden. And most of them manage to be fun occasionally.
All that being said, this episode of Wheel of Time did exactly what it needed to do. It set up conflicts at each of the three locations. It established emotional ties between the characters and the events. And it established goals for everyone.
This was, in short, a solid episode. Not groundbreaking, not mind-blowing or life changing. It was simply good. It was entertaining and moved the plot forward.
Well done.
(3.5 / 5)
Wheel of Time is back for season three. There are mixed feelings regarding this. Last season, there were some serious pacing issues. And some serious sticking to the book’s storyline issues. But we’re two seasons in, and we don’t give up so easily. So let’s dive into episode one, To Race the Shadow.
By the way, I highly recommend watching this episode with the subtitles on. You’ll see why.
The story
We begin this episode with Liandrin facing a trial of sorts for her rampant betrayal. She does her best to gaslight her Aes Sedai sisters into thinking that Siuan Sanche is the real traitor.
When that doesn’t work, she reveals how many Black Aes Sedai have actually infiltrated the tower.
Spoiler, it’s a lot.
In the aftermath, our whole team gathers to drink and enjoy one night of relaxation before they head out to the Tear to form an army for Rand. All is going well until they’re attacked by myriad creatures and a sentient axe.
What worked
This episode was long. It had a run time of an hour and eleven minutes. And a lot of that run time was spent in heavy dialog scenes.
Fortunately, these were well-done scenes.
If you’re going to have a lot of talking scenes, there are good ways and bad ways to do it. Last season, we saw lots of examples of the bad way to do it. But this episode did it well. For one thing, other things were going on while conversations were taking place. The characters are drinking, playing games, walking through an interesting city. And the scenes themselves didn’t stretch out. They weren’t repetitive. We heard what the character had to say, then we moved on.
It was also nice that the point of these scenes wasn’t just info dumps. We had character development. We had romantic interactions. We had plot development and foreshadowing.
Overall, this episode felt like what it was. A moment of calm before a storm.
Taking a step back, I’d be remiss if I didn’t address the fight scene at the start of the episode. Because it was epic.
The magic looked amazing. The martial arts that went along with it looked fantastic. The costumes were beautiful. It was just incredibly fun to watch.
More than that, it was emotional. We lost some characters in that fight that were important. And it was clearly emotionally shattering for many of our characters, who found themselves betrayed by people they trusted.
So many of them.
It was a great way to open the season.
What didn’t work
Despite that, this episode wasn’t without its flaws.
First off, there were a lot of dialog scenes. And they were good scenes, as I’ve already discussed. But it was one after another after another. And when your episode is, again, an hour and eleven minutes, it’s maybe a little much to have so much chit-chat. Couldn’t some of these conversations, important as they were, have been moved to maybe another episode?
Finally, I want to talk about Egwene’s travel through the arches.
I feel like maybe there were some deleted scenes here. Because there must have been more to that visit than what we saw, right?
We could have seen Egwene battle Rand. That would have been badass and emotionally devastating. We could have seen her with a quiet life with Rand back home at the Two Rivers. We could have seen anything except for the quick clip of Rand in a bloody river, followed by Egwene being shoved back out in a bloody shift.
Bad job. But at least it wasn’t an extended scene of Moiraine collecting bathwater, and then taking a bath while looking sad. If we’d started this season with another scene like that, it might have broken my brain.
Amazon dropped the first three episodes at once. So we’ll be back soon to talk about episode two. See you then.
(4 / 5)
Early 2000s is a special era for the industry. It accepts the cheesiness and corniness of movie making, in turn producing some gems in their own right. Eight Legged Freaks starring David Arquette and young Scarlet Johanson is a horror comedy about giant spiders who overtake a small town. As crazy as that premise sounds, the movie surprisingly has a ton of heart and is super entertaining. Let’s review, shall we?
Plot
We start Eight Legged Freaks with a shot of toxic waste spilling into the water supply of Joshua, a spider farm owner. He is friends with Mike, one of our protagonists, who is a science geek and a spider enthusiast. Mike notices something quite right upon visiting Joshua, but no one takes him seriously. We are then introduced to the rest of the crew. Mike’s mother Samantha, the town sheriff, is too busy chasing Ashley, his sister, who is dating the town mayor’s son Bret (something Samantha does not approve of). We also have Chris, who returns to the town to save his father’s legacy in the town mines. He has opposition from Wade, Bret’s father, who wants to use the mines for his business ventures. Lots of drama going on that will only get juicier once the spiders get loose.
The creepy crawlies quickly dispose of Joshua and make their grand appearance after Ashley rejects Bret’s advances, abandoning him in the middle of a desert. A glorious chase sequence ensues as the spiders make their way towards the town, wreaking havoc on its residents. In a true horror fashion (which the movie acknowledges), it takes some convincing from Mike and then from Samantha for the town to take the threat seriously. The tongue-in-cheek style of narrative adds the comedy aspect to a movie that would otherwise burn out fairly quickly.
The remaining characters hide out in a shopping mall as it’s the only somewhat sturdy building in the area. This doesn’t last long as the spiders break in, forcing them to run through the mines. Their resources to fight the creepy crawlies off are limited as the methane gas doesn’t allow them to use firearms. Such conditions require resourceful thinking from Chris, who uses perfume to fend off the leader of the spider group and save himself during the climax of the movie.
Character dynamics are not forgotten once the action kicks in. We have Chris confessing his long-term feelings for Samantha which she knew all along, which provided some comedic relief. Bret also reunites with Ashley and apologises for being an asshole. Mike finally gets the appreciation he deserves as his knowledge saves the townsfolk more than once during the whole ordeal.
We end the movie with the town’s radio show person telling the story as an urban legend during his segment. This brings it into question – how much of it happened the way he said it did? We can only guess…
Overall thoughts
Eight Legged Freaks is a fun creature feature with some self-aware commentary on genre tropes that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The acting is good, the pacing fitting and the characters are likeable enough for you to want them to make it through. Definitely a must watch, if you don’t suffer from arachnophobia, that is.
(5 / 5)