Author Brian McGreevy & Readers Weigh in on Hemlock Grove

Curious what viewers think of Hemlock Grove? How about the author Brian McGreevy? We have the answer to both for Netflix’s new hit ( is it? ) show.

I have said it many times nobody here cares what critics think. In the same breath our readers may respect our opinion on horror movies but you should judge a movie or television show based off your own tastes and Netflix’s new original series Hemlock Grove is no different.

I found the show far from good but not nearly as bad as The Hollywood Reporter made it out to be. The Hollywood Reporter when they reviewed Hemlock Grove wrote;

Hemlock isn’t scary. It isn’t creepy. It barely makes sense, much less sense you want to decode.

For me Hemlock Grove is a mix of Twilight meets True Blood with a side order of American Horror Story. My only wish was that Hemlock Grove was half as good as True Blood or American Horror Story. As far as Twilight goes that comparison was not a compliment. Eli Roth’s Hemlock Grove is clearly catering to a demographic that I am not a part of but that doesn’t change the fact that for every one of our readers who hate NETFLIX’s Hemlock Grove another one loves it.

Just last night I was telling Chris who blogs on this site with me not to give up after only one episode after he revealed how much he hated the show. Hemlock Grove takes a few episodes to get into for some and for others it just glows from the opening scenes.  As far as what our readers think Bob writes to us saying;

I’ve only seen the first episode and I’m not impressed yet. There was nothing big that happened to reel me in to tune in next week. Oh wait, they don’t have to because all the episodes are available now. Clever Netflix. The ending did make me want to watch another episode, but Gamefly sent out Fatal Frame 2 and I’ve been wanting to attempt to play that again for a few years now so it’ll have to wait.

Something just doesn’t look right, like the colors are too dull. I guess that has to do with production value. I was expecting more vibrant colors like those used in AHS. It doesn’t help that I’m thinking Twilight the whole time even though I’ve never seen those movies or read the books.

Jonathon writes;

I just finished episode 3 and will continue tomorrow evening as I must get to sleep for I have to be up in the morning. Otherwise I would keep watching through the night. With that said, I never listen to critics reviews as more often than not they simply have no idea what they are talking about (especially in regards to the horror genre.) However, with the abundance of negativity being thrown at it I must say it is unwarranted.

Sure some things need to be tweaked but in no way is this new series a lost cause. I hope the genre fans give it a shot (mainly the ones who know what the genre is all about and aren’t stuck on one note as some tend to be) and see it for what it is. You cannot judge after one or two episodes. I always give a show at least 4. Consider my interest charged!!!

Last but by no means least DirtyGirl writes;

Well, I just finished watching all 13 episodes, and I want more! Yes the show is not perfect… It suffers from stiff dialogue at times but it also has some really great lines every episode! I find Famke’s accent distracting as well. However, I do know her character is supposed to be a European Upyr. So the accent is crucial to the character and we will probably get more back story on her in season 2. That is if we get a season 2…

The story gets more involved and interesting as the season goes, so I wouldn’t judge the whole show by just two or three shows. I think the reason the show is getting poor reviews by critics is that they keep comparing it to House of Cards. Personally, I didn’t care for House of Cards that much and lost interest about half way through the season. So to each their own. And genre fans keep comparing it to True Blood or American Horror Story and it just doesn’t hold up to those shows at all. I think a better comparison is to Vampire Diaries. But to compare it to Twilight? No way. It is not even similar at all. There is a love triangle but every Vampire movie or show has a love triangle these days. Actually, Bram Stoker’s Dracula had a love triangle as well. So I guess they can all be traced back to that one in one way or another.

My favourite character in the series is Shelley. I think the actress, Nicky Boivin, did a great job considering all she gets to do is grunt and point. In fact all the younger actors were good. Bill Skarsgard reminds me of a young James Spader at times. There is a great monologue at the end of episode 12 by the killer. Such classic horror monologuing going on there!

My major complaint about the show is that it needed more killings and gory scenes. even when a character died they would show it off screen and then flash to the bloody aftermath. maybe this was because of budget constraints? I keep hearing how so many people love the transformation scene in episode two. it was good but not great. Seriously, those who think it was great or awesome need to watch An American Werewolf in London again! Anyway, I hope Netflix gives us a second season because I am completely hooked on this show!

I think the nicest thing I can say about Hemlock Grove is it is not for me and considering that Eli Roth is supposed to be a Master of Horror I am pretty surprised how tame it is.

For those not aware Hemlock Grove is not an original idea from Eli Roth or Netflix its based off the book of the same name by author Brian McGreevy. I was curious to know what he thought of the show and it would seem that he is a fan. He tells TheWrap quote;

“I think viewers will find that the world opens up over the course of the season. There’s some stuff that happens out of chronology and I think people will be pleasantly surprised by ultimately the scope of the series. We wanted to slowly unravel.”

Did you see Netflix’s Hemlock Grove? Hit the comments and let us know what you thought.