Whatever damage Netflix did to its reputation last year is quickly fading, or at least the company is doing its best to make it do so, as it gets more into original, exclusive programming. So far, we’ve heard about plans for House of Cards, new episodes of Arrested Development and possibly Reno 911, and even seen the debut of original series Lilyhammer (which isn’t bad, by the way).
Now, news comes that Eli Roth (pictured above: image from his Facebook Page, not the show), director of horror classics Cabin Fever, Hostel and Hostel Part II (not Hostel III), has a new show called Hemlock Grove on its way to Netflix, which Roth has deemed his “new BFF”:
#FF #HemlockGrove author @diegomcgreevy #CabinFever co-writer @randazzles #SpringBreaker @Bellekorn & my new BFF @netflix
IMDB has little info about Hemlock Grove other than the listing of Roth as director and Lee Shipman and Brian McGreevy as writers. It’s based on a novel by the latter. Here’s Amazon’s description of the novel:
The body of a young girl is found mangled and murdered in the woods of Hemlock Grove, Pennsylvania, in the shadow of the abandoned Godfrey Steel mill. A manhunt ensues—though the authorities aren’t sure if it’s a man they should be looking for.
Some suspect an escapee from the White Tower, a foreboding biotech facility owned by the Godfrey family—their personal fortune and the local economy having moved on from Pittsburgh steel—where, if rumors are true, biological experiments of the most unethical kind take place. Others turn to Peter Rumancek, a Gypsy trailer-trash kid who has told impressionable high school classmates that he’s a werewolf. Or perhaps it’s Roman, the son of the late JR Godfrey, who rules the adolescent social scene with the casual arrogance of a cold-blooded aristocrat, his superior status unquestioned despite his decidedly freakish sister, Shelley, whose monstrous medical conditions belie a sweet intelligence, and his otherworldly control freak of a mother, Olivia.
At once a riveting mystery and a fascinating revelation of the grotesque and the darkness in us all, Hemlock Grove has the architecture and energy to become a classic in its own right—and Brian McGreevy the talent and ambition to enthrall us for years to come.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, it will star Famke Janssen and Bill Skarsgard, and the 13-episode first season will be available early next years to Netflix Instant customers.
All I know is that fans of Roth’s work in film will certainly be interested in checking the show out, as a Roth-directed film has not been released since 2007, unless you count “Nation’s Pride,” the Nazi propaganda film within a film in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, which he also starred in.
Roth has been involved in production roles on a handful of films since then, as fans await film projects he’s hinted at in the past, which may or may not still be happening (Endangered Species and Thanksgiving).
This isn’t the first time Roth has ventured into television (if Netflix counts as Television – which it should), though it is at the directorial level. He’s made numerous appearances on various TV programs, and recently hosted Curiosity: How Evil Are You? on the Discovery Channel.
Netflix, by the way, has also been in talks to possibly acquire ABC’s The River.