Since we can remember, the genre horror has never had a very good consideration both in cinema and in literature. It is over the last few years that, after careful analysis, he has managed to innovate, adapting to the new course of the seventh art without losing his identity and the more particular canons. It has a simple, concise canvas that repeats itself over time and, precisely for this reason, it has always been considered a B-series genre, even if there are many examples that are not so close to this thesis. Someone thought about giving polish to such a mistreated genre TV series which has gone to dig into the roots of horror itself, bringing to light the reasons why the genre must be loved precisely because it reflects on unconscious fears of the human soul. We are talking about Penny Dreadfulan Anglo-American series, which was originally broadcast on the American channel of Showtime TV from 2014 to 2016. In Italy, it first landed on Netflix to then move permanently to Paramount+ where all the episodes products.
It’s a horror series, there’s no doubt about that, but Penny Dreadful immediately imposed itself on the television scene because it played at will with all the clichés of the genre, intertwining the stories of legends of darkness who populated the gothic fiction of the end of the 1800s. Indeed, at the center of a tense and dreamlike tale, Penny Dreadful re-imagines the life of Victor Frankenstein, Dorina Gray, Doctor Jeklyl, Count Dracula and other creatures of the night. A story that has its own identity and that has gone far beyond the simple depiction of evil but which has also launched a disaffected analysis of thehuman spirit and how impossible it is to understand what is right and what is wrong.
A glimpse of a gloomy and gloomy Victorian London
The story is set in 1891 London, at a time when the society it was split between abject and less abject, and at a time when progress in medicine and infrastructure was making great strides. It is on an evening like many others that Ethan Chandler is approached by Miss. Ives. The woman offers a night job, easy and fast (and well paid) in the service of Sir Malcolm Murrary. The man, blinded by the ache for the disappearance of his daughter, he sets up a team to continue the search. Very soon it is Ethan who discovers what is behind Mina’s disappearance. The city, in fact, is populated by ancestral creatures, dangerous, who feed on flesh and blood, and who live almost in communion with ordinary people. Mina was kidnapped by a vampire and research leads the team to get on the trail of a dormant evil that could throw the whole city into chaos. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg of a much greater danger that has gripped the entire City of London.
A series that explains the “nature of things”
While remaining a product of niche and which can appeal to a selective audience looking for an unconventional story, Penny Dreadful is, in fact, one of the most series intimistic of the tv. The only one that, despite the strong horror nuance, questions the fragility of the human soul in the face of life’s adversities and the dangers of the unknown. And, perhaps, it is not easy to find the meaning at the bottom of a story so complex and full of meaning. You have to watch the unfolding of events carefully, understand the looks, the sighs, even the simple movements because it is in these details that the very meaning of the TV series is hidden. It is full of itself, as it is aware of being a product that is not easy fruition but thanks to these peculiarities that it has established itself in the television panorama today. 7 years after the last episode it is almost impossible to forget theappeal and the extraordinaryness of Penny Dreadful.
Between fantasy and myth
Intense and never banal series, but which plays on two tracks. On the one hand, it looks to an audience that wants to find a different product than usual. On the other hand, it also tries to seduce lovers of gothic literature and horror films, reworking the works of Oscar Wilde, Stoker and Shelley with a modern perspective. We have tried to keep intact from the various works from which the series is inspired personagesthemes and situations. However, there are some substantial differences. For example, in the book Dracula by Bram Stoker, Professor Abraham Van Helsing is closely linked to Count Dracula and meets him personally several times. In the television series, however, Van Helsing reveals that he has never had contact with the vampire and that the demon never turned his wife into a creature of the night. Bizarre is how the character of Dorian Gray is presented. If innovel of the same name the story has very little supernatural – it only insinuates that Dorian has tightened a pact with the devilor -, in the series he is described as a man capable of love and comfortable with a condition of being extraordinary. In the Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Victor gives life to a single creature. In the series there are two beings who are brought back to life artificially, and the character of Prometheus is never mentioned.
Eva Green is the undisputed star
In addition to being a series with attention to content and staging, Penny Dreadful has found wide acceptance also thanks to a cast of sacred “monsters” of cinema who have brought small screen of characters of great depth and value. Among all there is Eva Green who with her Miss Ives has managed to charm everyone. The actress plays a woman in perpetual conflict with herself, seduced by the power of evil and capable of gestures of infinite kindness. Not forgetting Josh Hartnett, in the role of a beautiful and damned man. To which is added Timothy Dalton who plays a wealthy man blinded by a sense of lookout. And then again Reeve Carney who perfectly embodied the myth of Dorian Gray, and Henry Treadaway in a very sweet Victor Frankenstein.
The Meaning of Penny Dreadful
The TV series has a very unique title but there is an explanation. THE dreadful pennies are known by the terms penny horrible, penny awful, penny number or penny blood, and were a type of publication in the form of stories popular in the UK during the 19th century. Characterized by low costjust a penny, they proposed narratives in installments (and published in newspapers) aimed mostly at proletariat and to the bourgeoisie. The stories told, vivid horror stories, were short because they could be read at leisure. Despite the low cultural value, the genre of dreadful pennies however, it had an influence on the literary authors of the following years, such as JM Barrie and Robert Louis Stevenson. The Showtime TV series, in particular, is inspired by Varney, the vampire. The story has also been translated into Italian and divided into three volumes now published by Gargoyles Books.
And then there’s the failed spin-off
In light of the success and after a massive revolt from fans enraged by the (almost) rushed closure of Penny Dreadful, the official spin-off was launched in 2020. Set in Los Angeles in the early 1920s presented a different cast and story and which, unfortunately, did not find favor with the public. City of Angelsthis is the title, was focused on the mysteries linked around the Mexican folklore. After 10 episodes and with an inconclusive ending, the series was cancelled.