I love web series when they are done right.
What’s not to like about a serialized story broken up in many different
parts that keeps you on the edge of your seat from one episode to the
next? Web series remind me of the old
serials that ended in a cliff hanger that had you on the edge of your seat until
the next episode was released and you (finally) got to see how the main
characters get out of their cliffhanger from the previous episode. Unfortunately, the first episode of the web
series Hell’s Circus (titled “Playing the Woods”) does nothing to set
up the premise of the series or present a story that you haven’t already seen a
thousand times before.
The story starts with a group of friends arriving at their
camp site ready for a night (or maybe longer but it isn’t really made clear) of
drinking and fun. They wonder around a
lot aimlessly until that night when they have a campfire drink-fest which has
three of the guys venture off into the woods (briefly) only to return claiming
that one of them heard footsteps in the woods.
As two of the friends go to their car to grab the gun they have stashed
in the car, the episode ends before reaching the five minute mark.
That’s generally it.
No real set up for the premise.
None of the characters are established.
No one does anything to make the whole story interesting or at least
suspenseful or scary (this is, after all, a horror web series with clowns). It’s all a bland set up for (hopefully) something
more sinister to come (because at least the web series has a great title in Hell’s Circus) but there is no
indication in this premiere episode why I should even bother to wait for any
more. This episode lacks the drive and
determination of a suspenseful horror story and its cluttered with clichés and
barely established characters. The rest
of the production values aren’t much better as the audio levels are all over
the place and the harsh red lighting of the campfire scenes call attention to
themselves, and not in a good way.
The series is from Sitrep Productions and is written and
directed by Francheska Arroyo who has a rough road ahead in terms of getting
audiences hooked on this web series.
This being said, the entire cast do seem like they’re having fun and if
future episodes do start to focus on character and suspense then when the
clowns finally show up it may have been worth the wait.
You can catch the latest episodes of the web series on the
Sitrep Productions Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/sitrepmovies/
