The Unsettling Second Season of CHANNEL ZERO Offers Chills that Never Go Away

Have you finished watching Stranger Things but still have a desire to hear a spooky tale about young people who mess with other dimensions. Check out Channel Zero Season 2. It's all about a scary house that once you go in, you are never sure if you've really left.

The first season dealt with the story of Candle Cove. A Creepypasta about a group of people who all remember an old creepy kids show that never existed. This new season is completely separate from the first season and deals with a different Creepypasta. It's called "No-End House". It's a scary house with six rooms that you have to go through to get to the end. Each room scarier than the last. 

I binged the whole thing in one day, and have to say, I was left satisfied. I feel Syfy is in an interesting place where they know they don't have the budget for huge ambitious projects, but they have the right people who know how to do a lot with a little. It's genuinely creepy and not in the "oogy boogy I'm a gonna getchu" kinda scary that a lot of horror movies go with. It's also not creepy in the blood and guts kinda way either. It's just unsettling.

I never watched all of Season 1, but Season 2 just hit me in all the right places that freaked me out. The acting is great, staging is strong and the feel is utterly unsettling. It compares in some ways with Black Mirror, but instead of anthology per episode, it's more anthology per season. A slightly less complicated American Horror Story. It doesn't mix it up too much with super weird stuff. Just enough to make you curious and then a little bit more to make you wish you could back out, but mostly because you are scared where it will go next.

Each of the actors give strong performances. I especially was impressed by Amy Forsyth and John Caroll Lynch. They have a remarkable relationship which is VERY complicated. I won't go too in depth, but let's just say the complication isn't so much confusing but more of a complicated because I have no idea what I would do in that situation. Lynch manages to play a lovable and caring father figure in one moment and then consumed by desires the next. I was reminded of Jack Torrance from the Shining in one moment in particular. Forsyth herself manages to do something I feel very few actors can do well: Play a broken apathetic teenager who the audience doesn't totally get annoyed with. I have seen so many shows with main character teenage girls who are so "above" it all but Forsyth manages to play this person who doesn't feel like she's above it, but rather is drowning in it. I found myself connecting with her performance in a lot of ways especially near the end when the character has reached a fate almost worth than death. She plays it straight.

I also want to give props to the director Steven Piet and writer, Nick Antosca. They created a very spooky feeling in the show.

Now, I've been mostly spoiler free from before so if you want to continue beware. Spoilers I'm headed into spolier territory.

Antosca adapted a rather spooky and simple story into something bigger. The original story of No-End House was basically a house that got more twisted and terrifying as it goes on and by the end, the characters leave the house and go home only to find out they are still in the house, and constantly wondering if they will ever truly be free. That's what makes the original Urban Legend/Creepypasta so freaky. This feeling of not knowing what's real or fake. I feel like they took that idea of what is real and fake and pushed it forward with whole new ideas. She finds her father who was dead in the No End House world, and even though he is created from her memories and is everything that she knew him, it made you wonder if it's really them. Are we made up of more than how people remember us? Another moment has a person's memory kill them and want to take their place on the outside, but is it really them?

So many ideas are pushed while not overcomplicating things. There was never any moment I thought to myself that I was bored of one thing and wanted to go see what another character is doing. It was well crafted with the fear coming from our own mortality and memories. The idea of a monster that just eats my memories is so much more terrifying for me than a spooky mask bad guy. The series didn't focus on jump scares, even when I thought they would for sure in some moments. They showed restraint. 

The show only had a couple things that really made me shrug, but besides those little things that I won't even bother you with, it was a solid story beginning to end. I love when a scary story can still be a story. It makes me want to go over the first season again and look forward to the next. Check it out for sure. It's only 6 episodes. Easily bingeable and if you don't mind nightmares, you will truly enjoy it.