OCS - Lovecraft Country : One of the great series of this year..

By Mulder, 15 august 2020

"Howard Phillips Lovecraft is the greatest craftsman of the classic horror story of the twentieth century" - Stephen King

Inspired by Matt Ruff's eponymous novel, the new HBO drama series Lovecraft Country will debut tomorrow exclusively on OCS in US+24. The series follows Atticus Freeman (Jonathan Majors) who, accompanied by his friend Letitia (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) and his Uncle George (Courtney B. Vance), embarks on a road trip through segregationist America in the 1950s in search of his missing father (Michael Kenneth Williams). A struggle begins to both survive and overcome the racist terrors of white America and the terrifying monsters worthy of Lovecraft's short stories. Lovecraft Country is a series produced by Misha Green, also a showrunner, J.J. Abrams, Jordan Peele, Bill Carraro, Yann Demande.

To say that we were looking forward to the new HBO Lovecraft Country series was an understatement. We suspected that the association as executive producers of Jordan Peele, Misha Green and J. J. Abrams could only announce an event series and the result easily exceeds our attention so much the scenario of the five episodes that we discovered is conducive to many events, shock scenes and above all benefits from a great care given to the casting in which we find Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Jonathan Majors, Aunjanue Ellis, Abbey Lee, among others. By transplanting the set to the America of the 50s, this series also puts in the background the shortcomings of a society in which being African-American implied facing too many inequalities and injustices.

Lovecraft Country is based on a fantasy horror novel by Matt Ruff, which explores the conjunction between the horror of H. P. Lovecraft and racism in the United States during the era of the Jim Crow laws. The universe of H. P. Lovecraft is perfectly respected if only by the atmosphere of this series, the many monsters that are everywhere and especially by this description of a society in crisis. Many films more or less convincing have succeeded in the past to transcribe on the big screen the universe of H. P. Lovecraft that evening Re-Animator (1987), Necronomicon (1993) or more recently color out of space (2019). Lovecraft Country also gains to be discovered by its uncompromising approach with many perfectly brought jump-scare, scenes close to gore (decapitation, various transformations.)

Lovecraft Country has established itself as the horror series of the year, a total success that the other five episodes of this first season, which includes 10, are already waiting to be discovered.

Synopsis :
Lovecraft Country follows Atticus Freeman as he joins up with his friend Letitia and his Uncle George to embark on a road trip across 1950s Jim Crow America in search of his missing father. This begins a struggle to survive and overcome both the racist terrors of white America and the terrifying monsters that could be ripped from a Lovecraft paperback.

Lovecraft Country
Based on Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff
Developed by Misha Green
Starring Jurnee Smollett, Jonathan Majors, Aunjanue Ellis, Abbey Lee, Jada Harris, Wunmi Mosaku, Michael K. Williams
Executive producers : Jordan Peele, Misha Green, J. J. Abrams, Ben Stephenson, Bill Carraro, Yann Demange (pilot), David Knoller (pilot)
Production companies : Monkeypaw Productions, Bad Robot Productions, Warner Bros. Television
Original Network : HBO (United States), OCS City (France)

Review written by Boris Colletier
Score : 5/5