As regular as clockwork, every few years there’s an outcry about the negative effect television and/or films is having on children. If it’s not that, then it’s video games. It seems that just about any problem in modern society which afflicts the young can be blamed on one medium or another. It never every seems to be the fault of the parents. Channel Zero: Candle Cove is created by Nick Antosca and based on a creepypasta written by Kris Straub, where a children’s show comes to life and oozes out of the TV.
Mike Painter (Paul Schneider) is a child psychologist who returns to his hometown of Iron Hill for the first time since the tragic events in 1988 when five children were killed, including his twin brother. He discovers that his mother (Fiona Shaw) hasn’t moved on and the town are suspicious, despite being welcoming on the surface. With the aid of his childhood friend Jess (Natalie Brown) and her husband and town Sheriff Gary (Shaun Benson), he tries to get to discover what really happened. However, when children start going missing again he believes a strange tv show Candle Cove could have something to do with it.
Channel Zero: Candle Cove possesses so much oddity and strangeness that it could easily have come from the mind of H.P. Lovercraft. Director Craig William Macneill, who revels in this eeriness, creates a world of lies, betrayal and deceit. There are many secrets in the town of Iron Hill and many mysteries to solve. Channel Zero: Candle Cove aims somewhere between twisted children’s ghost tale and tense psychological horror, hitting the mark on both points.
Channel Zero: Candle Cove is released on DVD & Blu-ray by Second Sight on 30 October.
