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[pixxxie]

I love your post-viewing posts, but I'll be buggered if I understand how you can watch so many shows in such short timespans. Still, keep it up, Vultural!

[Vultural]

On 2/1/2022 at 2:00 AM, pixxxie said:

I love your post-viewing posts, but I'll be buggered if I understand how you can watch so many shows in such short timespans. Still, keep it up, Vultural!

Backlog of reviews.  I was annoyed when a dubious member exploited this site for personal gain, and I kept away for a year.

[Vultural]

Hausen - 2020 - 6/10

Father and son, still grieving after the death of wife/mother, arrive at a run down tower block.
Dad, the new building superintendent, is a tireless worker, a hardy soldier, but he is soon out of his depth.



Time and time again, the building resists.  Mold swells into sticky pustules, opens into festering tunnels.
Black ooze clogs pipes, the electricity is sporadic, and cleaning crews are nonexistent.
Residents are a mix of addicts, prostitutes, dealers, thugs, decaying elders.
Corruption and despair predominate.  One might view the building as a coffin.
Relentlessly grim throughout, and highly enjoyable if one is comfortable with that ride.
I imagine this will appeal to the cult of Ligotti, and one can read cultural allegories, if one is so inclined.

[Vultural]

The Wall - 2019 - 7/10
AKA - La Faille



Modern variant of the “locked room” mystery.
After a stripper is found murdered, and carefully posed, a top investigator is sent from Quebec.
The locale is a “closed” mining community, meaning one huge complex.
(At times, to me, this resembles a vacant shopping mall.)
Anyway, the inspector is a hard-nosed boat rocker, who quickly commands the local cops.
Just as well, as there are other staged killings, and no shortage of suspects.
The actual mine is under financial distress and suffers saboteurs.
Tightly constructed series, and for snow bunnies, enough white to make you giddy!

[Vultural]

Black Widows:  S01 - 2014 - 6/10
AKA - Mustat Lesket



Above.  Happy husbands with unhappy wives.
Would the males be so jovial if they knew their boat would soon explode, with them on it?
Because those unhappy wives planted a bomb.
Afterward, the widows deal with investigators, shady business partners, studs sniffing their single status.
Good mystery angles, lightened with laugh out loud humor.
Again and again, the women deal with the unexpected.
That, and they can’t always rely on each other.  Indeed, I found two to be weak links.
Wildly popular, dark series from Finland spawned copycats in Ukraine, Estonia, Lithuania, the Middle East, India, Mexico, Scandinavia and the Czech Republic.  (For English speakers, subbed not dubbed.)

Two years later, there is S02.  Several loose threads are taken up, but not necessarily stitched.
New characters enter, fresh narrative track is laid down.  Nothing essential, however.
Midway, the tempo and energy begins to flag, as if the creative crew is padding, hoping for a S03.
Which never transpired, leaving this series with multiple unresolved storylines.

[pixxxie]

Yeah, I really liked the first season of Black Widows, but agree that season 2 was not nearly as inventive and seemed to just rehash story lines.

There's also a second season of The Wall, if you're interested. Haven't got to either season yet, but it's getting closer to the top of my list.

Hausen sounds like a nightmarish show. Might keep an eye out for it  

[Vultural]

White Wall - 2020 - 5/10



The abandoned mining facility seems a perfect site for long term nuclear waste storage.
Deep underground, the waste should stay safe for 100,000 years.
Of course there are protestors and eco-terrorists, but Security is robust.
As the grand opening nears, workers strike a towering white wall.
Impenetrable, composition unknown.  Archeologists date it over a billion years old.
While this series is classified as SciFi, this is what Harlan Ellison termed Speculative Fiction.
It is also slow and padded with purposeless characters and empty sideplots.
This ought to have been a two hour movie, period.
You could probably skip half the episodes and miss little.

[Vultural]

Bloodride - 2020 - 6/10



Six part horror omnibus from Norway.  Each episode thirty minutes.
A family, new to the hamlet, discovers prosperity can be bartered for.
One’s perfect life, a girl realizes, can be ruined by a petty scribbler.



As with most anthologies, quality varies, with the bookends being the strongest.
The new teacher, open and enthusiastic, starts digging into a buried mystery.
Then there’s the office party.  My God! in any country, these are insufferable.
Bad enough we have to work with these people, but get drunk with them?  Please.
Oh, did I say office party from Hell?

[Vultural]

Secret Forest - 2017 - 8/10
AKA - Stranger  //  비밀의



Exemplary K-drama, well-deserving of critical acclaim, of viewer praise.
On surface, a murder mystery of a once powerful influence peddler, now fallen.
He still “knows” valuable secrets, and his willingness to barter proves his undoing.
The prosecutor starts digging, as does a keen eyed police detective.
Insular cortex surgery as a child, means prosecutor Hwang Shi Mok has limited emotions but sharper analytical prowess.  Which he will need as the plot unfolds a thicket of villains, smiling, powerful, duplicitous.
Each episode boasts fresh narrative, with every character uncertain of those around them.



The detail to plotting is matched by strong, understated performances.
Best of all, the series (and writer) shows respect for viewer intelligence.
The heart of this is corruption, as it seeps from individual to group to organization.
Corruption in practice, or corruption observed and tolerated.  Decadence.
Memorable series that builds to a rich and poignant conclusion.

[Vultural]

The Boarding School - 2021 - 6/10
AKA - El Internado: Las Cumbres



Good opening episode, hard charging, if exasperating, final episode.
In between, this series is more padded than a Vegas showgirl’s bustier.
Affluent delinquents endure rigorous discipline inside an exclusive school.
How do I know they are rich?  Because that school ain’t cheap.
And delinquents?  Adults in charge keep reminding them.
Mystery abounds of a sinister order and ravens, never remotely explained.
Other mysteries are revealed then abandoned.  The abrupt ending leaves numerous loose ends.
Students roam the halls nightly.  Motions detectors?  Security cameras?  Nope.
Likewise, any time any character accesses a computer, is that password protected?  Ha ha.
This seems targeted toward teens as each episode is padded with 3-4 “sex” (no nudity) scenes.
Producers may have been aiming for more seasons.  Good luck there, Barney.
With an ongoing global pandemic, no telling when or if this will ever resume.
The longer the delay, the more our “students” will solidify into twenty year olds.

[Vultural]

Tehran - 2020 - 6/10



Mossad agent Tamar’s first mission goes wrong, badly wrong.
She is now running through the Iranian capital, intelligence teams in pursuit.
Iranian Intelligence wants her caught, while the Israelis want her rescued.  Maybe.  If not, perhaps silenced.
Tamar is resourceful enough to use and exploit others.
This series is a good cat and mouse thriller, tautly written, with neat twists.
And, not to be forgotten, that original mission, with or without Tamar, continues to spin.

[Vultural]

Spy City:  S01 - 2020 - 7/10



Anyone who enjoyed Dominic Cooper in Fleming (2014) will revel in this.
Berlin, 1961, MI6 agent Fielding Scott is sent to still-partitioned Berlin to root out a traitor.
The CIA, KGB, MI6, Stasi, French snoop and circle warily around each other.
Informants, betrayers, and onlookers meddle, get in the way, or turn face.
Fielding, disliked by pretty much all parties, is the fox in the henhouse, ruffling everyone’s feathers.
Series gives an accurate nod to history, for in 1961 the Soviets would tire of East Germans fleeing West.
Characters are sharply drawn and recognizable, though loyalties are cloaked.
Exceptional espionage series builds tension throughout until the breaking point.

[Vultural]

Fatma - 2021 - 7/10

Fatma has become a nuisance, repeatedly asking his friends and associates, where is my husband?
“You’re so curious, go ask the local loan shark.”
She goes, the crook turns violent.  And Fatma kills him.
Police arrive, and Fatma walks away unnoticed.  Invisible.  After all, she’s only the cleaning lady.



Brilliant six episode series of the forgotten soul, the menial worker, who, when pushed, is lethal.
Beauty dish Burcu Biricik is terrific in this, underplaying her role, acting with her hands and those eyes.
Her eyes dart and shift nervously, taking in situations at a glance, before acting.



The plotting is concise, with coarse villains and haunting backstories.
Delicious, hard edged series with a number of surprising deaths.

[Vultural]

Strangers From Hell - 2019 - 7/10
AKA - Hell Is Other People  // Taineun Jiokida  // 타인은 지옥이다

“At what point did everything go wrong?
“If I hadn't come to this horrible place ...”



Jong Woo moves from Buson to Seoul.
Everything is terribly expensive:  meals, repairs, taxis, accommodations.
Especially accommodations.
Eventually he moves far out, to a run-down place called Eden Studio.
Empty, save for a gregarious manager, and a group of disreputable types.
Except ... it's worse, far worse.
Warning!!  Subplot involves a serial cat killer.



This will especially resonate with anyone who has / had the ghastly apartment. *
Cramped rooms, little to no maintenance, intrusive, creepy neighbors.
The home environment mirrors / bleeds into the workplace.
Yes, this takes a toll.  Jong Woo grows angrier, stymied, and resentment simmers.
How much does the environment poison you?  How much is innate?

[Vultural]

The Barrier - 2020 - 6/10
AKA  La Valla

After World War III, a new virus emerges.  Contagious and deadly.
There is no cure, and as scientists hurry to find a cure, society begins to break down.
In an unprecedented move, Spain turns to fascism.



After three episodes, this became a series I watched to hate.
Who are the scientists using as guinea pigs?  Innocent, wide-eyed children.
Our heroic core are stupid beyond belief.  Yelling at authority figures, disdaining rules.
While I hated the medical types, I started rooting for the military.
They seemed to be the lone civil authority in a city sliding into dystopia.
Series is one-dimensional, acting (from our heroes) is over the top.
For all that, this does conclude, with an ending I am comfortable with.

[Vultural]

Tribes Of Europa: S01 - 2021 - 5/10



After the Cyber-War and subsequent breakdown of technology, Europe is ruled by tribes.
Behold, our young heroes, two brothers and a sister, of the Origine clan, living secretly in the woods.
An unforeseen accident brings the brutal Crows, who destroy the Origine and enslave the survivors.
Our heroic trio are separated.
One is captured by the Crows (Mad Max), one joins the Crimsons (Rebel Alliance), one hooks up with a bandit-con man-smuggler (no wookie buddy).
To be kind, I gather this is aimed at the Young Adult market, those who have not yet seen thousands of films.
The plot is breathtakingly unoriginal.  I’d watch a scene, thinking, ‘This will happen next,” and sure enough.
Or,  ‘This person will …”   Yeah, yeah, yeah.  It is embarrassing, how totally lame the writing is.
(For a world sans tech, there is fuel for vehicles, bullets for firearms.)
Worse, by E03, I knew this series would not conclude.  Six, 47” episodes (of which 7” are credits).
Will there be a S02?  Do you feel lucky?

[Vultural]

Kingdom:  Ashin Of The North - 2021 - 7/10
AKA - Kingdom: Ashinjeon  //  킹덤: 아신전

Well now, this was unexpected!
A side story to the K-drama,  The Kingdom.
In the far north of Joseon, a young girl comes across the Resurrection Plant.



What follows is her story, and that of her village, caught between the struggling Joseon empire and the rising Pajeowi.
Excellent horror thriller, but viewers familiar with the series proper will better appreciate.
The writing shines, as this stitches and links the first season and the second.
Really well done.
If curious, I suggest you shun over-sharing reviews.

[Vultural]

Invisible City:  S01 - 2021 - 6/10
AKA - Cidade Invisível

First the mysterious death of his wife, followed by a body washing up on shore.
A body that seems human, but might also be a dolphin.
Eric, detective for the Environmental Police, investigates a small tavern and delves into a subculture of entities.
Episodes are steeped in Brazilian folklore, characters are differentiated, the pace percolates.



At the core, as so often. lies money.  In this case, land, owned by the poor.  Coveted by developers.
Seven episodes, roughly 35” each, meaning this could have been a fuller, richer experience.
The conclusion of S01, slightly unresolved, should satisfy commitment avoiders.
A second season is underway, though I suspect I won’t watch.

[Vultural]

Inspector De Luca - 2008 - 7/10
AKA - Il Commissario De Luca



Four part cop series plays out like four movies.
Set in Bologna from 1938-1948, from the apex of Mussolini’s fascism to the troublesome post war period.
De Luca, refusing to choose sides (partisan v fascist) irritates both while sticking with police work.
He is generally out-numbered and outgunned.
Each episode is a one-off, usually something seedy, sloppily covered up, with the influential in the shadows.
Impeccable production values, from uniformed blackshirts to squalor to opulence.
My knowledge of Italian history is sketchy, and several personages and references escaped me.

[Vultural]

The Witnesses - 2021 - 6/10
AKA - 8 Zeugen



A 10 year old child is kidnapped in a busy museum, in front of eight witnesses.
Trouble is, each remembers events, and more importantly, descriptions, differently.
A “memory specialist” is brought in.  Whereupon, conflicting versions unspool.
Blend in individuals who conceal, data important or damning to themselves.
Promising concept relies on the crutch of the flawed investigator.
A manic depressive, one with Tourette syndrome, or Alzheimers, or divorcing, or dead!
The list goes to infinity, and I wish writers could discard this overused cliché.
Eight, half-hour episodes trot along, each layering a new clue or revelation.
The finale telegraphed the ending, at least for me, and I am not good at guessing.