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ABC has a long history of trying their hands at horror. Often it doesn't go well but every now and again they strike some gold. Last night they found a couple nuggets. Not a gold rush by any stretch but THE RIVER had its moments.
Word is out this afternoon that it opened OK, again nothing to write home about but respectable enough. Producer Oren Peli attempts to bring his "Paranormal Activity" style of film making to the small screen and does in fact succeed to a degree.
The story line is a bit silly but plausible enough.
A TV adventurer, Dr. Emmet Cole goes missing. He does a weekly series where he travels the world bringing nature to home viewers. One day the broadcasts stop.
Over the course of the first hour of the pilot we are introduced to the troop who set out to try and find the intrepid explorer when suddenly after six months his locator beacon goes off. A film crew, his wife and son and a couple others head off to the Amazon to find the beacon.
Well, they don't find the doctor but they do find the beacon and the story kind of takes off from there. I don't want to tell you much as this is a show that you need to experience knowing as little as possible but Peli pulls out the same bag of tricks that he used in Paranormal Activity and gets pretty much the same effect. The first hour serves as a good springboard, holding your attention and making you want to see just what the hell this whole thing is about. The second hour reveals what I am guessing will be the weekly formula for the series. The gang uncovers a clue and then sets off into the jungle attempting to follow that clue to the doctor. This second hour serves up a heaping helping of the weird as we are treated to some kind of demon monster, some possession, a forest filled with dolls hanging from trees and just for good measure some grave desecration. They really do kind of push the envelope a bit in that second hour - at least for broadcast TV.
Overall I found myself pretty much digging THE RIVER. It managed to surprise me on more than a few occasions and while the whole premise they are using to explain why there are so many cameras around in the middle of the jungle at first appears a bit lame, they make it work though and you quickly overlook the silliness.
I felt the second hour ended very strong and certainly made me want to tune in next week to see where they head with things.
This is really basically a six week mini-series which I'm not sure they will be able to carry much past that point. Hopefully they won't try and stretch this one out into a second season. I think six episodes should be just about right for this one.
From the tease they played at the end of the show it looks like it is going to six interesting weeks. I hope that Peli and company continue to keep it edgy and exciting.
THE RIVER airs at 10 PM on Tuesdays on ABC. Give it a whirl you might like what you see.
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