CHANNEL ZERO: NO-END HOUSE - SEASON 2 (2016)
Label: Via Vision Entertainment
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: MA 15+
Duration: 270 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1
Director: Steven Piet
Cast: Amy Forsyth, Aisha Dee, Jeff Ward, Seamus Patterson, Sebastian Pigott, Jess Salgueiro, Melanie Nicholls-King,
John Carroll Lynch
I've been watching Channel Zero on Syfy since the first season arrived, the first run really got right under my skin, there was nothing else like it at the time. The show is tightly wound and unnerving, each season separate from the last, not unlike American Horror Story, but unlike AHS each season has a concise six episode story arc, which I think is very cool, making it east to take the plunge and binge it. The second season No-End House is based on a creepypastas story, an intriguing premise, wherein we have group of teens in search of a modern urban legend, the No-End House, a haunted house that mysteriously pops up in various towns, said to be so terrifying that it is rumored that no one has ever made it through all six of the terrifying rooms within, or at least those who do have never been seen again.
Our main character is Margot (Amy Forsyth, Hell Fest), a damaged young woman who is still grieving the loss of her beloved father John (John Carroll Lynch, American Horror Story) who died from an "accidental" overdose of his medication. Her best friend Jules (Aisha Dee) drags her away from her private grieving in search of the fabled No-End House, finding it, they discover an ominous black mansion that has seemingly popped-up from nowhere in a small neighborhood. Going inside they find room after room of strange and unnerving things, the imagery is surreal and nightmare inducing, but the terrors are little bit too personal, hitting close to home for Margot.
Emerging from the house things seem off, and never more so than when Margot returns home the next morning her formerly dead father has returned, cooking her breakfast! Not in a zombie way mind you, he's just there without explanation, which is weird of course, but Margot goes along with it. The father's a bit odd, despite being a bit overly friendly, he has a strange menace about him, and full credit to John Carroll Lynch, he turns in a multi-faceted and fine performance here, his rapport with Amy Forsyth is key to the success of the story. It turns out that this new version of dad can manifest Margot's memories of people, they appear out a dark pool of fluid emerging from the floor, lifeless, which the father then eats, erasing that memory from her mind. The insides of these memory-based effigies looking like a the dark, bloodied pomegranate seeds, strange indeed, and that's just the beginning of the strangeness in this one, with this branch of the series meditating on themes of grief and memory.
The second season is on par with the first one in my opinion, in that it is stylish and weird, it has a lot going for it, the visuals are terrific, and the tone is eerie and menacing, but it somehow it never all comes together for me by the end, not in a wholly satisfying way, but I think it's still worth a sit through for fans of TV horror who are down for something different and eerie.
All six episodes of Channel Zero: No-End House arrive on a single-disc, region-free Blu-ray from Via Vision Entertainment. I do believe this is the worldwide Blu-ray debut for this season, there's no domestic HD physical format. The episodes are presented in 1080p HD widescreen, but with only a lossy Dolby Digital surround option, though the Dolby Digital handles the dialogue and score just fine, with a few choice tracks from bands like electronic pioneers Suicide and Cat Power. Subtitles are advertised on the sleeve but are not on the disc. There are also no extras on this release, bare bones with only the option to select an episode of play all.
