In November, Netflix elaborated on its already strong case for original programming legitimacy (see: Arrested Development) with the trailer for House Of Cards, a political thriller starring Kevin Spacey and executive produced by David Fincher. Now, it looks like the movie-rental-service-cum-cable-competitor is brandishing another heavy hitter in the form of Hemlock Grove, a series backed by executive producer/horror director/Bear Jew Eli Roth.
On paper, the show sounds like a supernatural thriller akin to Twin Peaks. According to a press release, after “the murder of 17-year-old Brooke Bluebell” in a “dilapidated former Pennsylvania steel town,” “the town’s seamier side is exposed, revealing that nothing is what it seems.” Okay, so if you substitute “lumber” for “steel,” it actually sounds exactly like Twin Peaks. But considering that this is Eli Roth and not David Lynch, it will presumably be less surreal. Plus, Twin Peaks didn’t feature women pulling their hair off, or Gypsies, or Famke Janssen seductively eating olives—a factor that must be really important, seeing as it’s featured in the trailer twice. Aside from those disjointed images and a few unhelpful dialogue fragments (“Something’s goin’ on here.” “What are you?” “Run before it’s too late for you.”), it looks like the nature of how, precisely, nothing is what it seems will remain a mystery until the show is made available in its entirety on April 19.