Here
comes Blumhouse bearing holiday gifts. They ought to be in a festive mood,
because Christmas came early for them when they released Ouija: Origin of Evil. It was probably the least anticipated pre/sequel
in the history of cinema, yet it has grossed over $80 million and generated
some of the company’s best reviews since Whiplash.
However, the horror specialists are not going to give us ten entitled twits
jumping about. The small town of Saturn, California is definitely in for a
macabre holiday season, but creators Chris Cullari & Jennifer Raite go for
laughs just as much as scares judging from the first three inter-connected episodes of 12 Deadly Days (trailer here), which releases
today on YouTube Red.
The
Cratchit Brothers moved their paranormal investigation service to Saturn based
on one of Miles Cratchit’s visions. He’s got a bit of the shine himself, but he
does not always get the full picture. Business has been slow, but Cratchit’s
vision might be vindicated when they get a call from the richest man in town.
His name happens to be Ebenezer and he is being haunted by three ghosts, but
you should have known that already.
Episodes
one and three definitely look for humor in their supernatural premises, but the
second half-hour-ish installment plays it relatively straight. (Will this
continue as a pattern? You tell me.) The scene shifts to the Russell Christmas
tree lot seen briefly at the end of the previous episode (presumably another
recurring pattern). It seems this is always the best lot in the country, but this
year the proprietor has had to journey much further north to find worthy firs.
Apparently, he brought something back with him, which promptly kills him, leaving
his semi-estranged tree-hugger daughter Willow to figure out nature is evil and
must be eradicated.
While
12 Deadly Days reportedly features
many “YouTube stars” in each episode’s cast, they wisely also brought in enough
professionals to carry the dramatic load. Betty Gabriel (co-star of The Purge: Election Year, which figures,
right?) is a good example, playing Willow Russell as a smart, cool and
collected genre protag.
There
is a bit of a switcheroo in episode three, when a nice girl vampire unknowingly
falls for nebbish young fellow born into a vampire hunter clan. You know the
hunters are bad guys, because they are led by Gregory Itzin, who played the
treasonous Pres. Charles Logan on 24.
Again, the humor is pretty goofy, but the blood helps it go down more smoothly.
