I'm a fan of Stephen King's written works and all the film adaptations. I just learned of this series the other day even though it's a few years old by now. What I like about both formats is the way King utilizes his settings and characters in multiple stories, so when one of them is mentioned, it's like revisiting old friends. Here we have Alan Pangborn, who appeared in 'The Dark Half; and 'Needful Things', and of course Shawshank Prison, borrowed from perhaps his most famous work that didn't involve any horror elements except those of the human kind. Interestingly, the prison setting used in 'Severance' isn't the Ohio State Reformatory found in Shawshank, but a hospital in Tewksbury, Massachusetts. I actually visited the now closed prison used for Shawshank in Mansfield, Ohio a couple years ago, and I can attest that the types of 'cages' filmed in this episode do resemble the inhumane prison cells that actually housed inmates there decades ago. The story here sets us up for at least a couple of mysteries, the first being why retired warden Dale Lacy (Terry O'Quinn) committed suicide in the most horrific fashion, and the second, the identity of the young man (Bill Skarsgård) found in a lower unused cell block and how he came to be there. Central to the story is present day criminal attorney Henry Deaver (André Holland), who as a youth went missing in Castle Rock for eleven days in sub-freezing temperatures, and was rescued by Sheriff Pangborn in the middle of a frozen lake twenty seven years earlier in 1991. It's an intriguing set up and designed to keep the viewer coming back for more, which is pretty much the way Stephen King writes his novels and short stories. I know I'm hooked and will be coming back for more to see where it all leads.
Review of Severance
