Bafflingly, this is still being pitched as "Season One" at the moment - when it seems unlikely that more will be forthcoming. This is not because of any inherent lack of quality, I enjoyed the series quite a bit, but it seems to have told its entire story in this one run. I'll move the review in the future when we're sure that no more is coming.
In the mid 1800's, recently widowed Sailor Charles Boone (Adrien Brody) inherits an estate in Maine and moves there with his three children. He receives an unusually hostile welcome from the locals, who hated his recently dead family, who are blamed for a curious illness that some residents are suffering from. Only local journalist Rebecca Morgan (Emily Hampshire) is willing to spend time with the family, taking a role as nanny to the younger children. Boone though has a secret of his own, a mental torment, that beset his father, is starting to take a hold on him.
Very loosely adapted from Stephen King's short story, itself a prequel to Salem's Lot, I didn't initially approach "Chapelwaite" with much enthusiasm. Indeed, it's taken a year to arrive in the UK, and even then, dropped onto Paramount Plus without much fanfare. That said, I felt it was a reasonably enjoyable time. It promises more scares than it truly delivers, with foreboding woods and a particularly horrific cellar never really being utilised to full effect. The visual effects though, when they start to occur are well done and with a decent level of gore. Despite varying away from King's story, I thought the plot was reasonably strong. They did a good job of explaining what everyone's motivations were and it all made sense. The two leads are good. Brody's delivery is mannered, but I enjoyed listening to him, if nothing else.
Could it have cut a couple of episodes to be a bit tighter? Absolutely. Could it have been a little clearer explaining the 'rules' of its supernatural entities, indeed it could. But to say how little buzz there was around "Chapelwaite" I thought it was pretty good.