Hemlock Grove (series): I tried to like it, but don't

Hemlock Grove used a bit of tricky and somewhat misleading advertising to lure people into watching this series which may have been a factor back when it was originally released back in 2013 but these days, since most people already either have a subscription or are able to get entire seasons from "other means" I think people feel a bit duped.

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When I first watched the trailer it had one of those red backgrounds that the cinematic rating systems reserve only for the most gruesome of movies. You rarely will see this in an actual cinema unless you are already at that sort of film. I have to admit that the tactic worked on me as they claimed that this series was going to be absolutely horrifying and I went in expecting exactly that. Unfortunately the show quickly becomes a teenage high-school story with elements of horror, most of which aren't even terribly frightening let alone something that should be reserved for "Restricted audiences only" as the trailer would imply.

If you don't want to read the spoilers I'll give you my opinion right away: Mostly I feel if you are over 15 years old this series is going to bore you into stopping watching it as it lacks any real substance or even suspense and to me it seems to be aiming for the type of people that really liked Twilight but are now more grown up and don't mind (or are allowed) a bit more sexuality getting mixed into that very tired formula.

Mild Spoilers Ahead

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There are a lot of different, somewhat supernatural characters in the series but mostly it focuses on Peter Rumancek (a poor gypsy type person) and his friendship with Roman Godfrey (wealthy and unlikely to be friends with Peter but they still are.)

Both of these guys are the main characters and have supernatural powers of their own. Peter jokes about the suspicions that his classmates have of him being a werewolf but not surprisingly, he actually is one and when that "big reveal" happens it isn't even remotely interesting or even a little bit of a surprise. I suppose if I was going to give them kudos for anything I would say the transformation from human to wolf sequence was very nicely done in an original way.

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Despite the fact that both of these guys have power they don't actually use them for evil and instead team up to try to solve the gruesome murders that have been taking place in their town in Pennsylvania. It is a rather stupid concept and it is made worse by the fact that the episodes really drag on and could move at twice the pace that they do and get the same point across. Much of the dialogue is pointless and not at all related to the overall storyline and I always find this sort of filler to be rather annoying and is a fantastic method of getting me to tune out early.

By the time i was on episode 3 of season 1 was I was already skipping ahead with the remote and by the time the cliffhanger happened at the end of 4, I was done with the series altogether, never to return.

Apparently vampires, fairies, and angels end up getting introduced to the series later so basically this is True Blood only not good. I quite enjoyed True Blood, but even they ran that series for far longer than they should have.

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The first season got mixed reviews and season 2 was universally panned citing poor acting (yep!), a convoluted story that takes too long to develop (indeed!), and unusual attempt at a "new style." One particular critic really went after this series calling it " one of the worst ten things on television in 2013."

I don't know if I would go that far, but honestly, despite my interest in things like vampires and werewolves they really missed the mark in this one... whatever that mark might have been.

Should I watch it?

I think it should be abundantly clear from what I have written above that this is NOT a good show and no, I don't think you should watch it except to confirm that what I am saying is true or not. I can't really imagine too many people staying interested in this and with the almost universal panning of it, very limited audience, and what is bound to be high production costs, I can't believe that they are actually planning on making another season of this hot mess.

If you disagree with me I would be very surprised because this was such a massive letdown for horror fans like me.