Black Lake

[Dave2002]

We've missed the first two episodes of Black Lake (BBC Four Saturdays). Is it worth trying to get into and catch up, or should we let that one go?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Pfff! I found it a bit slow and rather clichéd. Not utterly terrible, but not very good - watchable if you've nothing better to do, I'd say.

[Dave2002]

Probably give it a miss then. Tonight listened to Hipermestra instead.

[DracoM]

Sorry, really disappointing. I thought this very dull stuff. Nothing like the usual Scandi noir.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Sorry, really disappointing. I thought this very dull stuff. Nothing like the usual Scandi noir.

I agree - it's a horror/ghost story rather than a police procedural, but too many formulaic features: a group of friends (all with "issues") isolated from the outside world; the creepy locals; the written messages from the dead; something 'orrible in the woodshe ... err ... cellar; the principal character with mental health issues whose warnings nobody believes; dreams that might not be dreams; the group getting "possessed" and/or killed one-by-one; the seance; the building with the history of murder; the detective driven to drink by his obsession with the case; the murderer who went mad and killed himself - OR DID HE?! Well, by the long time we'd got to that point in the story, I frankly couldn't care less.

[Dave2002]

Sounds like a Scandi version of the Blair Witch Project. I actually knew someone (Swedish) who went to see Blair Witch 2. When I asked why, she answered effectively "to see if it was as bad as the first one." Unfortunately she then admitted that she thought it was worse.

Some experiences one can do without. Thanks for the inputs. Sorry to those of you who have wasted time on this.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Blair Witch was a lot scarier and more imaginative than this - AND had the further advantage of being shorter than each of these double episodes!

[DracoM]

Yeah, and when it gets duller than a dull thing, various couples divest and pant. Blimey, how predictable and impoverished is that?

[Braunschlag]

I agree - it's a horror/ghost story rather than a police procedural, but too many formulaic features: a group of friends (all with "issues") isolated from the outside world; the creepy locals; the written messages from the dead; something 'orrible in the woodshe ... err ... cellar; the principal character with mental health issues whose warnings nobody believes; dreams that might not be dreams; the group getting "possessed" and/or killed one-by-one; the seance; the building with the history of murder; the detective driven to drink by his obsession with the case; the murderer who went mad and killed himself - OR DID HE?! Well, by the long time we'd got to that point in the story, I frankly couldn't care less.

Tend to agree here FHG. It seems to crib a lot from The Shining (isolated hotel, cabin fever, weird caretaker, corridor shots of doors) and the 'characters' are like the inmates of an asylum, is there anyone who hasn't got 'issues'? I'll see it through but (possible plot-spoiler) it seems that this is series 1. All may not be revealed, rather like the Spanish cliffhanger.
GÄÄDEK JÄÄMIT!

[Dave2002]

Blair Witch was a lot scarier and more imaginative than this - AND had the further advantage of being shorter than each of these double episodes!

Except when we saw that film in a cinema we thought we'd been in for hours waiting for the end, and were surprised at how short it was when we came out. A really bad movie!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

GÄÄDEK JÄÄMIT!

Isn't that what Deputy Dawg used to say?

Very little "drama" on telly worth watching at the moment, I feel - I gave up on both Safe House and Liar before the end of the first episode, and the writers of Rellik seem to think that if you build a plot on a string of clichés, but show the story in reverse, they're no longer clichés. GNORW! And tonight we've got Sherlock losing his baby in the supermarket ... should cheer us all up ready for Monday.

[eighthobstruction]

Isn't that what Deputy Dawg used to say?

Very little "drama" on telly worth watching at the moment, I feel - I gave up on both Safe House and Liar before the end of the first episode, and the writers of Rellik seem to think that if you build a plot on a string of clichés, but show the story in reverse, they're no longer clichés. GNORW! And tonight we've got Sherlock losing his baby in the supermarket ... should cheer us all up ready for Monday.

....yes all is dreadful and codswallop....haven't watched any of those because i knew they would be....i can't even bare watching the trailers....

[vinteuil]

....i can't even bare watching the trailers....

... o, I never take my clothes off when watching the telly - I'm sure they can look back at us, y'know....


.

[eighthobstruction]

... o, I never take my clothes off when watching the telly - I'm sure they can look back at us, y'know....


.

....after all these years I'm down to the bare essentials....(thinking wise cough ahem)

[Nick Armstrong]

Very little "drama" on telly worth watching at the moment, I feel

Agreed. I also sampled the new Philip K. Dick series on 4, Electric Dreams - rather dour sci-fi (not really my thing) but I shall persevere.

Ozark on Netflix is the current name of the game; and The Man in the High Castle (also a Philip K. Dick adaptation, but not sci-fi) on Amazon is engaging, if flawed...