Penny Dreadful, Season 2

Rory Kinnear’s gripping interpretation of Frankenstein’s Monster is featured on a new poster announcing the highly anticipated second season of Showtime’s PENNY DREADFUL, coming May 3. It is one of a series of new images introduced on IGN, along with a trailer for the new season.

PENNY DREADFUL boasts a uniformly excellent cast, headed by the remarkable Eva Green. When Season 2 begins, Kinnear’s Caliban will be introduced to his new Bride!

Penny Dreadful page on Showtime

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Penny Dreadful’s Other Monster

Penny Dreadful's Other Monster

Season’s halfway done and the new Victorian horror TV series Penny Dreadful is shaping up as a cult favorite. Earlier this week, the Showtime Network greenlighted a second season.

It’s all beautifully done and drenched in atmosphere. Monsters are multiplying, with hints of lycanthropy, perhaps Dracula himself to come and — possible spoiler if you mean to watch it later — two Frankenstein monsters. The docile, innocent Creature, Proteus, conjured in the first episode, has been brutally superceeded by Frankenstein’s original Monster, Caliban, turning up to demand a custom-made mate for himself.

Nice twist: The Monster holds down a job as stagehand for a London Grand Guignol theater. Episode 4 featured a splendid recreation of 19th Century stagecraft with Rory Kinnear’s Monster rushing about, moving scenery and backdrops, rattling tin for thunder and operating trapdoors.

The series’ viral promo campaign makes a big deal of Kinnear’s very intense Monster — pardon me, “Creature” — being exactingly faithful to the book’s original but, of course, it isn’t. With a smooth round face, porcelain complexion and straggly hair, sporting a heavy overcoat, this Monster would look at home in a post-punk gothic alt-rock band. This version of The Monster is as different and new and, ultimately, “of its time” as any of those that preceded on film or onstage, and that’s fine. I welcome the originality of this interpretation.

Penny Dreadful: Introducing Frankenstein

The new Penny Dreadful TV series has been playing to excellent reviews, assisted by an ongoing “viral” campaign that includes a busy, well-done website. Here, first shown to promote the series on the UK’s Sky network, is a beautifully animated introduction to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein directed by Gergely Wootsch for London-based Beakus studio.

The short piece was written and narrated by historian and broadcaster Matthew Sweet, author of Inventing the Victorians and Shepperton Babylon: The Lost Worlds of British Cinema.

This Frankenstein is the first of three animated shorts promoting the series, with Dracula and Dorian Gray to follow.

The Dracula animation is here.

Beakus Animation Studio.

Penny Dreadful website.

Penny Dreadful's Frankenstein

A new horror series is launching on the American Showtime network this month under the evocative title of Penny Dreadful. Set in a highly atmospheric Victorian London, the show is described as a psychological thriller weaving together classic horror origin stories into a new adult drama. An impressive cast is headed by Eva Green as the enigmatic Vanessa Ives, Josh Harnett as a “man of action” and Timothy Dalton as the father of Mina Harker, whom we know as one of Dracula’s victims. Iconic horror characters present include Dorian Gray and, of immediate interest to us, Victor Frankenstein and his Monster. Other characters include a spiritualist, an Egyptologist and assorted mysterious types. No doubt parallels will be drawn between this and Alan Moore’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

The series, eight episodes in all, comes with sterling credentials. Penny Dreadful creator and writer is Josh Logan, whose screenwriting credits include such titles as GLADIATOR, THE TIME MACHINE, THE AVIATOR, SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET, HUGO and SKYFALL. Producer Sam Mendes directed AMERICAN BEAUTY, SKYFALL and he'll helm the next Bond as well. Director Juan Antonio Bayona directed THE IMPOSSIBLE and THE ORPHANAGE.

The series’ first chapter, "Night Work", cablecasting on May 11^th, is available now, free online to North American viewers. Note: The episode includes the surprising, must-see creation scene where the young Victor Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway) animates his Creature (Alex Price).

Viewers in the US need to access the show’s official page and click the “view series premiere” link. In Canada, go to TMN: The Movie Network site and follow the link to Penny Dreadful.

Showtime keeps an excellent dedicated website featuring character profiles, trailers, a blog and production videos.

The cast, creators, top-notch production values and the perfectly unnerving premiere episode make for a very promising series.