Acorn

The Shudder anthology series based in the 1982 Stephen King and George A Romero movie returns.

There’s enough quality behind the camera here to ensure that this fourth outing of comic horror stories is worth a watch, even if the number of duds is higher than in previous years.

The nicest surprise is the guest appearance of Creepshow’s Tom Atkins, and the better tales are directed by steady pairs of hands in John Harrison and Greg Nicotero. There’s a nice nod to George Romero when a bookstore owner finds unpublished works by the director, and when a horror novelist’s agent offers him help to overcome writer’s block, it leans in to the whole Stephen King tales about troubled authors’ sub-genre.

If anything, this season feels more like the Romero executive-produced Tales from the Darkside (1983-1987) or more specifically Richard P Rubinstein’s Monsters (1988-1990) with its reliance on a monster of the week. The practical effects help root the show in its late 20th Century past, but it’s just that the stories are predictable and struggle to say anything new.

Verdict: A dozen short shocks across six episodes – just set your expectations lower than you’d like. 6/10

Nick Joy

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