Epix’s From Review-Harold Perrineau Shines In This Can’t Miss Horror Puzzler

Epix’s From is an impressive puzzle box mystery with a great premise, plenty of questions, and an outstanding cast.

Prestige programming is something that everyone strives for, but few succeed. Anything MCU-related on Disney+ or Showtime’s runaway hit Yellowjackets are recent examples. The puzzle box show that defined all others to come is, of course, Lost. Boasting an impressive list of talent both behind and in front of the camera, including some notable names from Lost, Epix’s From has the potential to be that rare kind of show that terrifies you, makes you think, and has you reaching for tissues.

The series executive producers Jack Bender(Lost, Game of Thrones) and Jeff Pinkner(Lost, Fringe) direct and act as showrunner while John Griffin(Crater, Magic the Gathering, The Twilight Zone) created the intricate horror mystery series full of questions and a shocking amount of viscera. These are big names in the world of genre series. Expectations were extremely high with this kind of brainpower behind the scenes. They did not disappoint in the first four episodes available for review. There is more than enough meat left on the bones for picking over the remainder of the eight-episode first season run. There is also the potential for the kind of show we will talk about for years.

No one shies away from declaring this a horror series right away. There is also a macabre sense of glee that stems from a boundaryless approach to victims. Nothing will be sacred, and nothing is off-limits. Children will die in the worst way possible, elderly men who were quickly becoming sympathetic touchstones for a kinder world are gutted like a fish, and priests have to behave in decidedly ungodly ways.

After the opening sequence establishes what to expect, we cut to our entry point into the world, the Mathews. Jim(Eion Bailey), Tabitha(Catalina Sandino Moreno), sullen teen Julie(Hannah Cheramy), and creepy cute Ethan(Simon Webster), who is an unsettling combination of Danny Torrence and Gage from Pet’s Semetary. They are on a semi-tense family RV trip when they run into this strange town with no way out. After a harrowing night separates the group, they find themselves living in this tiny town with two encampments.

There is a fair amount of ominous signposting that nothing is as it seems and the few things that are would be better off left as nightmares. An intricate balance to the gaggle of misfits who have had to adapt to this new existence of nailing their windows shut and bolting the doors after dark keep things from wobbling too far into expected territory. It also keeps things from becoming so bleak you aren’t sure why anyone would try. You understand why they continue persevering and why they set such rigid rules. There are extreme consequences to breaking the established rules, both for those you endanger and the rule-breakers.

There are two groups in town, the Colony, a hippie commune of free lovers who live in a large house on the edge of town are governed by Donna(Elizabeth Saunders). She is a hard-headed ball-busting no-nonsense kind of woman. On Tabitha’s first night in town, Donna delivers a whopper of a story told so matter of factly it is chilling. It isn’t hard to understand where her life philosophy came from.

The second group is those who choose to live in the town in independent houses and abide by strict rules designed to keep the most people safe for the longest time. Both camps come with some colorful characters, including a stunted shell of a man who has lived in the town the longest and is not better for it. He knows more than he is letting on and has an unnerving amount in common with Ethan. In town, the group is rooted by Sherrif Boyd Stevens, an impressive Harold Perrineau who is one pensive glance away from a full-blown panic attack or crisis of conscience. Perrineau captivates every scene as the beleaguered man in charge, doing everything he can to atone for past mistakes and save lives.

Some of the more surprising beats of gallows humor come from Boyd and Father Khatri(Shaun Majumder), who flip the typical stereotypes and create a much more interesting pair. Boyd’s adult son Ellis(Corteon Moore) lives in the Colony with Donna, and it is obvious there are unresolved issues between the lawman and the free-thinking artist.

An enigmatic young woman might be the scariest person in town. She focuses the message Deputy Kenny delivers. The monsters aren’t the only things to be frightened of. Ricky He’s Kenny is a soulful presence stuck in town with his family, trying to make the best of things and hold his family and himself together. Even fellow newcomer Jade(David Alpay), who could easily have become fuel for the monster’s fodder, develops the story without betraying his core cowardice.

From has assembled a cast of complex, intricate characters that all feel very real in their individuality. Instead of each person fulfilling their expected role within the story structure, everyone provides legs for the story to stand. From doesn’t scrimp on the gore either. It shows all the grisly gnarly bits that we’d rather not see, but it also gives us something to care about in between the vicious business of surviving the monsters.

There is something very Twilight Zone about this town with its mysterious chicken and cow supply and razor fanged monsters who come out at night to slowly stalk and taunt the residents. Some of the best episodes featured scares along with the weirdness. Bender, Pinkner, and Griffin provide both in heaping doses. Everything from the way the town looks with its weathered paint to the bizarre collection of cars in increasingly alarming positions screams this town is cursed. Even the diner where the townies gather to break bread together has a sinister undercurrent that flows through the music boxes at each table. Clever touches are reminiscent of the fortune-telling machine in The Twilight Zone classic Nick of Time buzz menacingly in the background.

A lot is going on in the first four episodes of From. There is fear of otherness, revolt against rule and order, hope versus acceptance, practicality versus spirituality, and youthful rebellion. Come for the unmistakable Lost vibes but stay for the compelling relationships, nasty well placed horror, and consuming puzzle. Harold Perrineau is the necessary glue in this next great series. It will be the series everyone is talking about and is worth the added cost of another streaming service. It premieres on February 20th, with subsequent episodes rolling out each week.