crazyhead-headerDemons walk among us – and only a few can see them…

There’s a certain aptness in scheduling for this first season of E4’s new exorcism series, Crazyhead, since its first broadcast is going up against Syfy’s transmission of the Fox reworking of the classic movie The Exorcist. Both series deal with demons possessing people, and the lengths that those facing them have to go to in order to free them. But that’s pretty much where the comparisons have to stop, because where The Exorcist takes everything incredibly seriously – and four episodes in, is working very well because of it – Crazyhead… doesn’t. Watching the first episode, there was more than one occasion where I was laughing out loud, but moments later caught up in a very tensely shot chase sequence.

Crazyhead comes from Misfits’ Howard Overman with the Merlin/Atlantis team, and leans far more towards the superhero show than the myths and legends series. It’s not subtle in its titling – both the lead characters suffer from mental problems, but it’s because of these that they are able to see the demons that lurk within people. The first episode has to plough a familiar furrow, in terms of the revelation of what’s really going on to the Chosen One, the establishing of the demons themselves, and their leader (a truly psychotic turn from Tony Curran), and the setting up of the rules governing the supernatural. Overman achieves all that, and at the same time manages to give enough insight into the two leads, Susan Wokoma’s Raquel and Cara Theobald’s Amy, that you want to know more about them.

It’s crude and goes to places that Buffy (the show that this resembles far more than Class does!) wouldn’t dare – although the thought of Tony Head’s Giles telling Buffy to exorcise a demon in the way that Raquel instructs Amy is mind-boggling. There’s a very effective music score from Stuart Hancock, and Al Mackay’s direction brings out all the switches in tone and style that Overman’s script demands.

Verdict: Exorcism can be fun! 8/10

Paul Simpson