SummaryDaimon (Tom Austen) and Ana Helstrom (Sydney Lemmon) are the children of a powerful killer but use their gifts to deal with supernatural beings in this series based on the Marvel comic characters.
SummaryDaimon (Tom Austen) and Ana Helstrom (Sydney Lemmon) are the children of a powerful killer but use their gifts to deal with supernatural beings in this series based on the Marvel comic characters.
The central duo could stand to gain a little bit of comic book flair, especially if we’re supposed to accept that the various nightmares they deal with on a daily basis are as scary as Daimon and Ana insist they are. The show really is better off having exorcised any obvious comic book connections, but it struggles to find anything especially unique to fill that void.
It’s possible the protracted table-setting and myriad subplots will eventually pay off when “Helstrom” ties the threads together. However, even if that’s the case, the actual experience of watching those threads in action remains programmatic and dull.
Critics received five of 10 Helstrom episodes, and the fourth and fifth episodes actually contain a couple wrinkles I liked. ... Otherwise, Helstrom is nearly indistinguishable from other entries in the genre. ... Nothing here is good enough to make an investment in. Check out CBS' actually clever, actually scary Evil instead.
It’s more creepy than scary and the first episode does nothing to make us want to watch and find more of those scares. ... Helstrom was slow-moving and dull, and is more interested in brooding dialogue than actual scares.
What follows is part demon-exorcising procedural, part family drama, and neither are properly executed. ... Furthermore, awkward editing is also a persistent issue throughout all 10 episodes. Dramatic, action-oriented, and ostensibly scary moments are frequently cut short and the interruptions kill any semblance of the show’s pacing rather than creating tension or suspense.
“Helstrom,” the series, is void of everything that defines “Helstrom,” the comic. This is an ongoing problem with comic book shows and movies: The endless search for respectability and gravity in stories about superpowered people fighting evil in spandex. Here, the search ends with pouting dourness and tedium.