Host Linda Blair, in a black Spandex catsuit, strolls through a faux-Giger industrial set making spooky faces and trying to introduce paranormal pieces with an occultic solemnity. Narrator Zelda Rubinstein peppers the stories with melodramatic soundbites in an insistently insinuating tone. Cue Halloween music, and throw in some demonic intimations. Don't forget the grain filters, EMF meters, graveyard lighting and shaky body cams.
There are a lot of good family freak-outs on offer. At Charleville Castle, after enduring innumerable noises, chills, dark passages, doors slamming, "pictures dropping", etc., Susan Ulrich has a complete meltdown and refuses to go on. Ditto Jen Ordonez at Lucedio Monastery - it all ended in tears, and Mom spazzed out at one point as well. I can't count the number of times throughout the series that a story ends with "(So-and-so) refuses to talk about it", as though everyone's permanently psychically scarred. And I laughed out loud when psychic Joyce Morgan told a traumatized girl to go and sit with her husband because "He's a grounding rod." At the Goldfield Hotel, a woman simply walked into an empty room, then walked back out, crying and saying, "That was so bad." Geez.
Not saying that the show is predominantly phony - in fact, I think some of it is probably quite real. But even if it were 100% contrived, I would still like the way it's put together. It has the feel of a dark, gritty 70s exploitation chiller. Also, the dire gravity with which everything is treated is endearing.
There are a lot of good family freak-outs on offer. At Charleville Castle, after enduring innumerable noises, chills, dark passages, doors slamming, "pictures dropping", etc., Susan Ulrich has a complete meltdown and refuses to go on. Ditto Jen Ordonez at Lucedio Monastery - it all ended in tears, and Mom spazzed out at one point as well. I can't count the number of times throughout the series that a story ends with "(So-and-so) refuses to talk about it", as though everyone's permanently psychically scarred. And I laughed out loud when psychic Joyce Morgan told a traumatized girl to go and sit with her husband because "He's a grounding rod." At the Goldfield Hotel, a woman simply walked into an empty room, then walked back out, crying and saying, "That was so bad." Geez.
Not saying that the show is predominantly phony - in fact, I think some of it is probably quite real. But even if it were 100% contrived, I would still like the way it's put together. It has the feel of a dark, gritty 70s exploitation chiller. Also, the dire gravity with which everything is treated is endearing.