Modern parables make good public entertainment. The almost Stephen King-ish Creeped Out, a British-Canadian horror television series created by Bede Blake and Robert Butler, has enough allegories to make teens scratch their heads; or most certainly their folks. The directors have used the time-tested device of a narrator, or sutradharak of Indian folklore, in the anthological serial to great effect.
Each episode begins and ends with The Curious, a small masked figure in a hood—not sure if it is a boy or a girl, or a gnome from another dimension—ominously whistling as it collects stories in different settings. (The voice-over has been done by Norwegian teen-sensation singer-songwriter Aurora.) The mask is frightening in its innocence as its wearer is a herald of either terror or redemption, depending on the incident.
What are the fears and burdens of adolescence? School and the challenges of friendship. Embarrassing parents. Emotional dissociation. Cellphone addiction. Bullying. All these elements play dark roles; an evil puppet turns mom and dad into zombies, until a new set of parents is found. Many episodes are creepy. A malicious troll gets his comeuppance and devastates his mother. A girl gets the call of the sea, but is her eco-warrior mentor what she seems to be? Some tales are moving; a son and father who stuck in a time warp discover the value of bonding.
A disturbed girl deviates from form to save her friends selflessly. For such a wealth of plot diversity, there are also clichés with easy-to-guess endings; a horrible baby sitter is taught a scary lesson; a girl wrestler wants to be stronger than the brainless dud who turns out to be not so brainless at all. Some stories sadly resemble cut-price versions of Clive Barker Boos! For example, the Invasion of the Lice.
Eeuww! The producers could have spent more on special effects; nobody really digs villainous airwaves anymore. However, these tales of teenagers grappling with their anxieties, joys and heartbreaks are worth watching since the messes they get into and the solutions do not always have the right moral compass. In a rapidly contracting world, Creeped Out is a collection of pubescent fables about growing up and the price of understanding the age and themselves.
CREEPED OUT
Platform: Netflix
Directors: Bruce McDonald, Simon Hynd, Gareth Tunley, Lucy Campbell, Steve Hughes
Narrated by: Aurora and Hedvig Becke
Genre: Horror, Fantasy