(2) SF: FROM

(2022 – PRESENT: 3 SEASONS+)

An American SF horror series with labyrinthine twists – the closest comparison is usually with Lost, “as an improved second attempt at Lost” or “what if Lost got a healthy injection of horror”. I understand the comparison to Lost extends to Lost actor Harold Perrineau having a similar role in From, where he is the sheriff and de facto mayor of the town. Now that I think about it, the comparison extends to their titles as four letter words (with o as the vowel). Fortunately, I never saw Lost so I came in clean to this series with no such comparison.

The basic premise is introduced in the very first episode – while on a road trip, the Matthews family find themselves trapped in a “strange small town in middle America”. The town traps those who enter, as the Matthews family find that any attempt to drive away or back the way they came simply has them circling back to the town, in some sort of weird dimensional loop. It also is an eldritch location, drawing people in from different locations throughout the United States.

Worse, you don’t want to be outside – or inside without the protection of a mysterious amulet – at night. The town is literally nightmarish, stalked at night by mysterious shapeshifting but humanoid creatures that kill anyone they find and as gruesomely as possible, as we see in the very first opening scene.

And that’s just getting started…

FANTASY OR SF?

One of the hardest genre classifications in my Top 10 Fantasy or SF TV series – elements of it have a distinct fantasy or supernatural feel to it, but I ultimately leaned towards it having an extradimensional SF tone.

HORROR

Did you not see the SF horror reference in my opening line? It could readily be classified as SF horror – one of the clearest such entries in my top ten.

RATING: 5 STARS*****

S-TIER (GOD TIER)