Some time later…

If, like me, you were a gobsmacked super-fan of the flawless, stripped-down Zombie series Black Summer, and if, like me, you were maybe a little bit nervous of whether its ultra-minimalist need-to-know narrative style could be maintained, or whether a bigger budget would ruin the simplicity and invention established in Season 1, then fear not. If the eye popping 7 minute and 30 second ‘single shot’ opening sequence is anything to go by, we’re in very safe hands, precisely because it is chock full of ‘fear’, and I have rarely felt less ‘safe’.

Yes, there is clearly more cash to splash, but co-creator, writer and director John Hyams is spending it wisely. There may be a good deal more digital stitching going on, but it’s not so ostentatious as to get in the way.

The story? Well, you might want to remind yourself of where we left the key players at the end of Season 1… or you could not bother. The joy of Black Summer is that it isn’t really about story… or rather it is very much about story, but it’s an immersive, in-the-moment story telling technique that is bold and pretty much unique in how much it doesn’t tell you, in how much it expects you to keep up, in how much it treats the viewer as having a brain, and in how much it invites you to be an extremely disorientated participant.

Expect bloody vignettes, expect characters to be disposable, expect chronology to be shaken, stirred and put through the wood chipper. Basically… pay attention! Your life depends on it.

Verdict: Fingers crossed that the rest of the series lives up to the manifesto laid down by the season opener, but this reviewer is buckling in for the ride, and fighting the urge to binge it all in one go. 10/10

Martin Jameson