Review By: Sara Kinne
I dove into day two of Comic-Con@Home with a look into the upcoming Amazon Prime Video horror-comedy series, TRUTH SEEKERS. Moderated by Chris Hewitt, the panel consisted of stars/co-writers Nick Frost (Gus) and Simon Pegg (Dave), as well as co-writers/co-creators James Serafinowicz and Nat Saunders. They started right off the bat with the world premiere of the teaser trailer for the 8-episode series and it looks like it will be a perfect blend of creepy and hilarious!
The show follows a team of part-time paranormal investigators, led by broadband installer Gus, that use homemade gizmos to investigate supernatural occurrences and share their adventures online. As their haunted undertakings become more terrifying, they begin to unravel an unimaginable conspiracy.
You’ll recognize Pegg and Frost as the dynamic duo from films such as Shaun of the Dead (one of my top favorite films of all time), and The World's End where they are known for effortlessly combining comedy and horror/sci-fi. When asked about blending the two genres and the difficulties involved, Pegg explained “It’s not difficult. You just have to not make fun of the horror... The key with horror-comedy is to take the horror completely seriously and allow the comedy to exist adjacent to it.”
Serafinowicz said he and Frost had been texting various paranormal links found on Twitter, YouTube, and the like, back and forth for years now. On the intention of TRUTH SEEKERS he commented, “We just thought, how could we kinda harness our obsession with all of the paranormal in a show?” The group discussed further inspiration for the series, which included The Unexplained book series, Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers television show, and a strong influence from The X-Files (evident from the show’s tagline “The Truth is Way, Way Out There”). Pegg and Frost have even gone ghost hunting together in the past.
To create more of an ‘old school horror’ feel, director Jim Field Smith and the creators made a point to use mostly practical effects, rather than CG, and go on location to real abandoned (and potentially haunted) spots to film. A fun fact we learned is that they used lenses previously used on Return of The Jedi and Raiders of the Lost Ark to capture an authentic, old feel that is harder to replicate with cameras nowadays.
TRUTH SEEKERS stars Emma D'Arcy, Nick Frost, Samson Kayo, Malcolm McDowell, Simon Pegg, Susie Wokoma and Julian Barratt. Saunders gushed about the cast saying, “Everyone bought into the spooky, creepy, fun, weirdness of the show, and brought something special to their role.” He also hinted at some surprise guest star appearances sprinkled throughout the season that viewers can look forward to.
All of this is more than enough to pique my interest. While Amazon has not yet announced a release date for TRUTH SEEKERS, the series is confirmed to premiere sometime in the fall of this year, and I’ll be ready to binge-watch it whenever that is!
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