"The Dead Hour" [series] (2023)

by Joseph Perry and Mike Imboden

In our “The Good, the Bad, and the Verdict” film reviews, Joseph and Mike give their thoughts on a slice of cinema. For this installment, they’re changing gears a bit and giving their thoughts on The Dead Hour, a twelve-episode anthology series by Daniel B. Iske and Scott Coleman, and Terror Films.

Synopsis

Mysterious late night radio host DJ Raven (Melissa Holder) brings her audience a new terrifying tale each night in this episodic horror anthology series.

The Good

Joseph: The Dead Hour kicks off well with a strong first episode, “Donor.” It’s disturbing and rather than going for graphic images, it shocks nicely with viewers needing to use their imaginations to fill in the ghastly gaps. It also serves up some intriguing food for thought as to how much punishment one of the two main characters deserves and how the other becomes rather villainous in an interesting semi-reversal of the classic EC Comics formula of the guilty getting their comeuppance. “The Hole” is another intriguing psychological study, with a man becoming obsessed with the titular pit in his backyard and the case of a missing woman after discovering something quite unsettling during his digging. Episodes such as these make The Dead Hour worth diving into.

Mike: The best aspect of anthology movies and shows is that there’s always something for everyone, and in that department The Dead Hour delivers. Vampires, slashers, the living dead, body horror - this really does bring a little bit of everything to the table, of that there’s no doubt. Of course, you can have a whole lot of something and still end up with just as much nothing if the stories are no good, and luckily there’s enough clever and fresh takes on old stand-bys that there’s a good chance that if one episode doesn’t land for you that the next one will.

The Bad

Joseph: For every couple or few hits, there are some misses, as is to be expected in an anthology series. For as good as the initial episode “Donor” is, the second episode “Alcoholic Vampire” didn’t impress me as much, and “Cougar” didn’t do anything new with the horror trope of horny teenage boys making the fatal mistake of trying to play out their fantasies with the seductive women who just moved into the neighborhood.

Mike: The worst aspect of anthology movies and shows is that in their attempt to deliver something for everyone they inevitably end up delivering enough clunkers to drag things down, and sadly that happens here. What’s worse is that one or two bad episodes may turn you off to the rest of the series and with a couple of the worst episodes here, that’s a distinct possibility. While there are fresh and original takes, there’s also a lot of floundering in familiar waters, such as “Hunted” which gives us the 749th spin on The Most Dangerous Game. Add in some so-so acting and - at times - poorly delivered visual effects, and there’s a good chance you may find your mind - or worse, your remote control finger - wandering.

The Verdict

Joseph: The official press release says that The Dead Hour was inspired by the original The Twilight Zone series, and I can see flashes of that on occasion, but I’d say this series leans more toward something like Tales from the Darkside as it serves up more tales of terror than it does cautionary fables. Production values and performances range from iffy to highly impressive from one episode to another. Although I was much more intrigued with some episodes than others, none of the episodes neared “absolute clunker” level, so I can recommend the overall series as an entertaining one that fright-fare fans — especially those who enjoy anthologies and short films — should find worthwhile viewing.

Mike: Like all anthologies, The Dead Hour has its hits and misses. Usually the misses can be offset by strong and/or engaging wraparound sequences. Unfortunately, our DJ isn’t enough to keep things moving, which is probably not helped by her limited involvement. For a show that claims to have its roots in The Twilight Zone, there’s not one closing take by a narrator to be found. If I had to compare this to anything, it wouldn’t be The Twilight Zone, but instead maybe one of the syndicated horror shows from the 90s like Monsters. Is it worth watching? If you’re a horror fan, you could do worse, and, since each episode averages around 18 minutes long, you can binge a couple over the course of a few nights.

The Dead Hour, from Terror Films, is now available to view on streaming services such as Tubi, Amazon, and more.

The Dead Hour