Channel Zero: Candle Cove Series Premiere Review: This Is the Horror We’ve Been Waiting For

All I need to be happy in this world is good horror on television, and now, thanks to Syfy, I’ve got exactly what I want. Tonight marked the series premiere of Channel Zero, a new horror anthology on Syfy based on Internet creepypasta stories that relies on self-contained seasons of small episode counts (check out my interview with showrunner Nick Antosca about the series). The series’ first season (it was greenlit for two right off the bat, so the next season will be coming in 2017) is titled Channel Zero: Candle Cove, and, obviously, it adapts the “Candle Cove” creepypasta.

The premise of Channel Zero: Candle Cove is simple: Mike Painter (played by Parks and Recreation‘s Paul Schneider) is a child psychologist, and he returns to his hometown that he left as a kid only to relive the happenings of his childhood in which his brother and four other children were murdered in a case that was never solved (and his brother was never found). These memories return to the surface after a child goes missing not long after mentioning that she had been watching “Candle Cove,” a (very creepy) children’s puppet show that Mike used to watch around when his brother was murdered. The big moment is the realization that the show never really existed and that the children had just been watching static the entire time, changing things for Mike completely.

Here’s the thing about Channel Zero: Candle Cove: it’s creepy. This is an extremely unsettling show already, and I can’t even imagine what it can do in a six-episode space. One of the most well-known horror films of all time is The Exorcist, and the reason that it’s so well-regarded is because of the way it establishes and sustains a tone that frightens you to your core. It doesn’t rely on jump scares (which, don’t get me wrong, definitely have their place in horror), but it instead crafts a “feeling” that puts you in a completely different emotional and mental place. Candle Cove isn’t thematically or stylistically similar, but it does that exact same thing with establishment of tone that I think instantly makes it a horror classic (though, granted, that’s a difficult word to use this early on).

One of the reasons that the tone of Candle Cove is so easily established and so pervasive is because of the score. This series features some of the best musical scoring and sound design that I can remember on television. A lot of it is just a variation of a simple, subtle tone that sets the mood, but then something wild will take place in that score that engrosses you even further. I don’t know that the series’ sound is going to get as much credit as it deserves, but I can’t even imagine this story taking place on-screen without this element present.

Visually, the presentation of Candle Cove is absolutely gorgeous. The first season of Channel Zero is directed in its entirety by Craig William Macneill (2015’s The Boy), and the decision to use a single director throughout a story should give the series a perfect visual continuity that you couldn’t possibly get otherwise. Every aspect of the presentation is a perfect fit for the story (and, as established, the tone). The color palette is often a bland mixture of grays, blacks, and faded blues and greens, and it serves as a great visual treat for the story (it reminds me in a lot of ways of the usage of color on Hannibal, another series that involved Nick Antosca). The entire “feel” of the episode is very cinematic, and it’s unlike anything that I’ve ever watched on Syfy before.

The performances in “You Have to Go Inside” are all strong, but Paul Schneider’s really stood out to me as stellar. In a brisk 44 minutes (the pacing in the episode is pretty outstanding), he absolutely becomes Mike Painter. All of the emotion and trauma inside the man is brought out by Schneider, and this is definitely among his best performances yet. Fiona Shaw is also great as Mike’s mother, Marla, but I don’t want to make a big judgement on her until we’ve seen more of her in the season.

Overall, “You Have to Go Inside” is a fantastic premiere for any series, but it really sets up Channel Zero: Candle Cove as one of my favorite new series in a year of great television. The episode delivers on every single level, and Syfy absolutely has something special on their hands with this one. I can’t wait to see where it goes from here.

What did you think of the series premiere of Channel Zero: Candle Cove? Will you be tuning in again next week? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below!

[Photo Credit: Syfy/Allen Fraser]