Despite the lack of critical acclaim, people seem to like the show. This is usually how the horror genre works. And in the genre, when people want more, they usually get it. See franchises like Paranormal Activity and Saw (or more historically, Friday the 13th, Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, A Nightmare on Elm St., etc.).

Netflix has not announced plans for a second season yet, but it’s hard to imagine the company killing one of the early cornerstones of its original programming experiment if it’s getting the viewers. But iewers aren’t just watching the show. They’re already anticipating more. Yes, already (it did just come out less than a month ago). This is no doubt a side effect of releasing an entire season’s worth of episodes at the same time.

Nevertheless, as Yahoo reports, there is a high volume of people searching for the release date of the second season, despite no announcement that it will even happen.

The involvement of Eli Roth (one of the show’s producers, who also directed the pilot) was, without a doubt, a huge part of the interest the show generated ahead of its release, but t’s hard to say how much he would be involved with a second season. He clearly has a lot on his plate (and some of us are still hoping he can find time to make “Thanksgiving“). Still, there’s no apparent reason that Netflix wouldn’t push forward with a new season with or without him.

There shouldn’t be a lack of material, based on reports of Brian McGreevy’s work on sequels to the novel upon which the show is based. Shock Til You Drop reported in April of last year:

McGreevy has a second Hemlock Grove novel nearing completion, with a third fully outlined, so expect at least two more seasons should the series find a following.

Netflix said last week that Hemlock Grove attracted more debut weekend subscribers than even the -popular House of Cards, though reviews haven’t been quite so favorable.

The publisher later issued an apology for the statue. The carefully worded response did not state that the statues would be pulled from pre-orders, but did make it clear that they would never show up in the U.S.

The complaints surrounding the statue subsided within days, and now Dead Island Riptide‘s launch day is finally here. Along with mediocre reviews, the game has arrived with the statue still a part of the collector’s edition.

Video blogger AussieGamerChick received her “Zombie Bait” edition of the game today and showed it off in an unboxing video on YouTube. No doubt speaking for many horror fans, she states that the statue is the reason she pre-ordered the game.

AussieGamerChick had defended Deep Silver and the statue back in January when complaints began:

And here’s the launch trailer for the game, for good measure:

(via Kotaku)

And the early reviews are in, and they aren’t looking good for Netflix’s third major original series. Here are some blips from some of them:

The L.A. Times: “Let me be clear: As a for-profit visual arts experience, ‘Hemlock Grove’ is terrible in ways that mock the meaning of the word ‘terrible,’ with clunky acting, tra-la-la transitions and at least one monster that walks like a bad Frankenstein and appears to be wearing the very same wig/hat we used.”

The Telegraph: “So is Hemlock Grove another triumph for the TV and film streaming site? The short answer is no. Quite the reverse in fact. Hoping to be a cross between Twin Peaks and True Blood, with a hint of E4′s soapy thriller Revenge thrown in for good measure, this sexed-up 13-part series, I’m afraid, is Netflix’s first dud. Where it tries so desperately to be eerie and esoteric, it winds up as derivative as anything the basic TV channels churn out on a regular basis: hammy, hackneyed and disjointed.”

Variety: “If the underlying formula is as old as ‘Dark Shadows,’ there’s still a need for more narrative momentum than the 13-episode series initially delivers. So while one can understand why Netflix would augment its original slate with this mix of talent, ‘Hemlock Grove’ remains a mere niche confection, one likely to play best among those genre fans who can’t see the forest for the trees.”

HitFix: “But it’s also a mess: a horror series with a weirdly slow build (you don’t even see the lead werewolf character transform until the end of the second episode), a mix of campy performances and competent ones, and just enough intriguing ideas to make me wish the entire thing was a lot better than it is.”

There is a glimmer or hope, as Entertainment Weekly gave it a B+, saying, “When all the blood is mopped up, Hemlock, like so many horror flicks before it, is about the ­monster inside all of us and the human bonds that prevent us from becoming our beastliest selves.”

Of course, reviews aren’t everything – just one person’s opinion. But it definitely appears that Hemlock Grove isn’t going to benefit from the widespread, nearly-universal acclaim handed out to Netflix’s last original series – the superb political thriller House of Cards.

All thirteen episodes of the first season can be found here.

It’s going to be interesting to see if it can match the success of House of Cards, which Netflix debuted earlier this year. It quickly became the most popular show on IMDB.

There was a time when I wouldn’t have expected a horror show to achieve that kind of success, but after the popularity of The Walking Dead, who knows? It doesn’t hurt that Hemlock Grove comes with Eli Roth, who has great respect for the genre, attached. He did, however only direct the first episode and serve as executive producer on three episodes.

The show stars Famke Janssen, Penelope Mitchell, Freya Tingley. See the full cast here.

Here’s the red band trailer:

We’ve seen a number of trailers for Hemlock Grove so far, but today, Netflix put out the first red band trailer, with all of the sex, violence, and language fans of Eli Roth (the show’s director) would expect.

It’s going to be interesting to see how Hemock Grove is received following the success of House of Cards, which quickly became the most popular TV show on IMDB. That’s coming to DVD in June, by the way.

Next month, Netflix subscribers finally get to enjoy the long-anticipated fourth season of Arrested Development.

The series, based on the novel of the same name by Brian McGreevy, stars Famke Janssen, Bill Skarsgård, Landon Liboiron, Penelope Mitchell, and Dougray Scott.

“When the mangled corpse of a local teenager is discovered, rumor and suspicion spread like a plague through Hemlock Grove. As dark secrets bubble to the surface, everyone becomes a suspect in the hunt for a monster that may be hiding in plain sight,” reads Netflix’s summary.

Hemlock Grove will follow the new Netflix model (House of Cards), releasing all 13 episodes at once on April 19th.

The sequel to that game, Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs, was originally scheduled to be out in time for Halloween 2012. Instead, gamers on last year’s Halloween got a teaser trailer full of darkness and eerie sounds.

Today, Frictional Games has finally announced that A Machine for Pigs is nearing completion. The developer has updated its website with a message stating that the “final version” of the game has been received from indie developer thechineseroom. It is now undergoing testing and optimization, and is expected to be ready for release “around Q2 2013.”

From the update:

How come a game meant for Halloween 2012 has been delayed for so long? Originally we thought it would be a short, experimental game set in the universe of Amnesia, but thechineseroom had a vision that was bigger than that. As their work progressed, the potential for a much greater project emerged. What we ended up with is no longer what we had first imagined, but a fully fledged Amnesia game. A different kind of Amnesia, but definitely not a short experiment.

Frictional stated that pricing, PC requirements, and “more information on the game” will be coming soon.

Today, Blue Isle Studios announced that Slender: The Arrival will be released on March 26. The game is now available for pre-order. The price for pre-orders is only $5 – half the price of what the finished retail game will cost – and all pre-orders come with instant access to the beta version of the game. The game’s developers have some Kickstarter-like pricing options available as well. A $15 version of the game also comes with a soundtrack, and a $25 version throws in downloadable paintings. The $60 “Producer’s Edition” includes a thank-you in the game’s credits.

The Arrival is similar to the first game, but includes more levels and content not seen in The Eight Pages. Players will complete objectives while doing their best not to look at the slender man lurking right behind them.

EA and Visceral Games today announced the “Awakened” DLC add-on will be available sometime in March. The announcement states that the content will allow players to “experience the franchise’s darkest chapters as the Necromorph battles become even more gruesome and terrifying than ever before. The add-on will cost $10 via the PlayStation Network or Origin, and 800 Microsoft Points via Xbox LIVE.

“With Dead Space 3 our goal was to evolve the franchise bringing in innovative new features like drop-in/drop-out co-op, weapon crafting, and an engaging atmosphere while still retaining the incredible suspense, horror, action and sound that the series is known for,” said Steve Papoutsis, general manager of Visceral and executive producer of Dead Space 3. “Gamers are going to be thrown in and out of space, taken to a violent new ice planet and allowed to explore several different abandoned spaceships and caves. But we’re not stopping there. In Dead Space 3 Awakened, gamers will experience some of the most disturbing content they have ever seen in a Dead Space game – they are going to love it.”

In addition to new content for fans already deep into Dead Space lore, EA today began a YouTube mini series designed to acclimate gamers new to the Dead Space franchise. Dead Space: A Journey Through Terror will highlight all the important plot points from the first two Dead Space games, and are filled with spoilers. The first episode, titled “Isaac Clarke’s Journey,” details the protagonist’s former battles with the necromorphs.