Entertainment
This 3-Part Horror Sleeper Hit Is the Ultimate Weekend Binge Before It Returns Next Month
Now is the perfect time to dive into the excellent, highly underrated, and nightmarish horror series From before it returns for Season 4. The MGM+ original series, led by creator and showrunner John Griffin, follows a desperate group of survivors who are stranded in a mysterious, remote town in the middle of nowhere, from which they can’t escape, and when night falls, strange and deadly creatures roam the area. They can take human form, but they can rip their victims to shreds. No wonder horror novelist Stephen King has previously praised the series that makes for the perfect weekend binge experience.
From Season 4 Trailer
What Is ‘From’ About?
Although King has nothing to do with From, the series feels very much inspired by his horror-fueled style. Comparisons are very appropriate, considering the mostly blue-collar townsfolk forced to deal with the nameless place they cannot escape from, where they’re terrorized and stalked by predatory creatures. The creatures are vicious and feral, but the fact that they can appear human, with creepy grins and period clothing, makes them all the more unsettling. King previously gave the series his stamp of approval, praising it as being “believable and scary as hell” and saying that From left him “absolutely riveted.”
From mixes its horror premise with the intrigue and mystery familiar to fans of the hit television show Lost — a parallel that feels even more apropos given that the series is led by former Lost actor Harold Perrineau. From also boasts a large, diverse ensemble cast, exploring the group dynamics in the town’s community and their struggles to find answers to the untold mysteries of the town. Additionally, just as the mystery of the island served as a major focus in Lost, uncovering the strange town’s secrets is a significant part of From‘s story, and always keeps viewers coming back for more.
‘From’ Never Loses Sight of Its Grounded Human Drama
A good horror story is meaningless without strong characters, and From has built a tremendous ensemble over its last three seasons. It’s deeply harrowing to see the survivors struggling to stay alive in such a horrible situation. One character, Jim Matthews (Eion Bailey), is desperate to protect his family, who are already mourning the loss of a child before the events of the series. Meanwhile, the town’s self-appointed sheriff and mayor Boyd Stevens (Perrineau), does his best to lead the town and keep everyone alive, constantly fighting a losing battle each season while desperately trying to find answers about their entrapment. Perrineau delivers a knockout performance as a man who does his best while simultaneously struggling with his own tenuous grip on sanity in the face of such overwhelming darkness.
Through its excellent cast of grounded characters, From never loses sight of the townspeople’s fight to survive and maintain their hold on sanity. Some of the survivors band together, strengthening their love and bonds to reinforce their sense of community, but others fall prey to the physical and psychological terrors of the nameless town, making their struggle extremely compelling to watch. In Season 3, Fatima (Pegah Ghafoori), the girlfriend and later wife of Boyd’s son Ellis (Corteon Moore), discovers that she’s miraculously pregnant despite it being medically impossible before she arrived in the town. Eventually, Fatima’s premonitions of something being very wrong with her pregnancy grow stronger and more deeply disturbing as the subplot progresses.
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Pure terror from start to finish.
‘From’ Reaches a Major Turning Point in Season 3
Although the story’s feral creatures only emerge at night, the townsfolk are terrorized by psychological entities and horrors during the daytime, such as the malevolent music box monster who haunts multiple townsfolk during Season 2. Later in Season 3, one of the newer cast members who arrived on the bus, Elgin Williams (Nathan D. Simmons), is stalked by a ghostly specter in a kimono. The monstrous creatures who hunt the townsfolk are merely the beginning, as whoever is controlling what happens in the town wants to keep the survivors in a permanent state of terror and despair. These more haunting moments definitely appear right out of the Stephen King-approved playbook.
Just when it appeared like From was on the verge of becoming overwrought with its increasing cast and lack of bigger answers, however, the story finally reaches a major turning point. Without giving too much away, the series finally provides some much-needed answers regarding the town’s backstory and the likely origin of its deadly creatures. The great thing is that From doesn’t spoon-feed all these answers, and the revelations offer just enough information to build the anticipation for the fourth season. Rather than giving away every secret, the narrative drops just enough reveals to drive the viewer to continue watching, providing the proper escalation in tension and intrigue ahead of From‘s Season 4 return next month on MGM+.
