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TV Media Weekly | June 1 - 7, 2019 By Francis Babin TV Media T he only thing hotter than nostalgia in Hollywood right now is Stephen King. In the past several years, the legendary writer has seen a resurgence like never be- fore. Numerous adaptations of the master of horror's works are currently being developed, with "It Chapter Two," "In the Tall Grass" and "Doctor Sleep" all hitting the big screen in the next few months and many more to come. The prolific scribe's gift for writing scary good stories filled with rich characters, vivid de- scriptions and snappy dialogue runs in the family — his two sons, Owen King and Joe Hill, are following in his footsteps. On Sunday, June 2, dim the lights and settle in for a fresh new take on the vampire genre courtesy of the latter, when "NOS4A2" premieres on AMC. Based on Hill's best-selling 2013 novel of the same name, "NOS4A2" treads on familiar familial ground with the New England-set supernatural horror tale pitting good versus evil. Af - ter discovering that she pos- sesses a supernatural gift that allows her to see across space and time to find lost things, a young working-class artist named Victoria "Vic" McQueen (Ashleigh Cummings, "Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries") must put her abilities to the test as she faces off with Charlie Manx (Zachary Quinto, "Hotel Artemis," 2018), a seductive im- mortal. In the adaptation, like in the source material, the creepy and fiendish Manx travels from town to town in his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith with the ever-so-clever license plate NOS4A2 (Nosfera- tu, for those reading this early in the morning). Oh, and he feeds off children in order to stay young. Unlike traditional vam- pires, Manx feeds off the life force of children as opposed to their blood. If not properly fed, our main antagonist becomes old, frail and a shadow of himself. AMC looks to deliver another mas- terclass in special effects and makeup with Manx alternating between a strong young look and an old decrepit one, de- pending on when he last fed. Once the children are robbed of their souls, what remains of them is sent to a cold, icy, twisted Christmas Village dubbed "Christmasland," where they are transformed into ghoulish creatures. Christ- masland is a dreadful, awful place where every day is Christ- mas Day and unhappiness is against the law. Using her unique gift and her ability to visit locations by standing on a mysterious covered bridge, Vic must track down and defeat Manx in order to rescue his vic- tims before becoming one her- self or losing her mind. If you are not a fan of the genre, you would never know, but horror and Christmas go to- gether like peanut butter and jelly. Aside from Halloween, it is easily the most depicted holiday in the genre. From legendary films such as "Black Christmas" (1974) and "Silent Night, Deadly Night" (1984) to modern fare like "Krampus" (2015), Christ- mas has served as the perfect setting for gruesome edge-of- your seat frights. "NOS4A2" looks to join the pantheon of festive classics with its dement- ed take on the Christmas village. If a vampire with an affinity for Christmas who goes town to town driving a classic car with a ridiculous vanity plate sounds silly to you — well, you're right. In the wrong hands, this premise could easily be turned into a painfully unfunny sitcom, but creator Jami O'Brien ("Fear the Walking Dead") knows that be- neath the goofy surface there is an incredibly dark, engaging and thoroughly entertaining story that will captivate the viewer. Throughout the season, Vic and Manx's backstories and ori- gins will be uncovered via multi- ple flashbacks while the series' central theme of loss of inno- cence is thoroughly explored. Beyond that, "NOS4A2" will dive deep into the relationship and connection that the two main characters share. During the course of the se- ries, we will also observe Vic's transformation from a starving artist lacking in social confi- dence to a courageous, tough- as-nails fighter who will do ev- erything in her power to rescue Manx's victims. She must also come to terms with her sudden powers and all the responsibili- ties that accompany them. Be- coming the "chosen one" over- night is no easy thing. Based on the emphatic reac- tion to the premiere episode at Anaheim's WonderCon (one of the biggest comic book, science fiction and film conventions in North America) this past April, AMC seems to have another winner on its hands. At the same convention, showrunner O'Brien discussed the challenges of adapting a wildly popular more- than-700-page novel to the small screen, and how certain pivotal events from the source material had to be tweaked to make it more accessible. In addi- tion, she mentioned that the se- ries is designed to run for three seasons, with the first season covering roughly a third of the novel, but all that can change down the line since Hill's story is chock-full of interesting charac- ters with compelling powers and stories. Hill's adaption joins AMC's foray into the horrorverse after the network's immense success with "The Walking Dead," its spinoff, "Fear the Walking Dead," black comedy "Preach- er" and edge-of-your-seat hor- ror series "The Terror." On Sun- day, June 2, witness the begin- ning of an epic battle between good and evil when the pre- miere of "NOS4A2" airs on AMC. Zachary Quinto in "NOS4A2" Soul sucker: Evil comes to town in 'NOS4A2' 2 | Cover story A/Grindstone Charlie's B/Norris Insurance 1 x 4" Encompass Credit Union 5 x 2"

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