Summary
The Devil’s Hour is a skilfully crafted series that slowly builds suspense over its first two installments. There’s some great acting on display here, especially from lead Jessica Raine, and enough intrigue to keep viewers watching until the very end. A surprisingly creepy offering that has the potential to be a much-talked-about, addictive series.
We review the Prime Video series The Devil’s Hour season 1, which stars Peter Capaldi and Jessica Raine – it’s spoiler-free, so enjoy!
Call it superstition, coincidence, or OCD, but there is no denying the fact that the human race has a serious fascination with numbers. The number thirteen is supposedly an unlucky number, which is so engrained into society that airplanes forgo a seat thirteen. 666 has been labeled the number of the beast and between 3 am and 4 am is apparently the devil’s hour. In this Prime Video six-part series, our leading lady Lucy (Jessica Raine) finds herself waking at 3:33 am every night for as long as she can remember. She’s jolted awake by the same horrifying dream each night and turns to see those three threes on her bedside alarm clock.
This chilling thriller from writer Tom Moran has many more scares up its sleeve for you to enjoy or endure depending on your preferences, with this just being the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. The first two installments available for review work well at building suspense in this intriguing mystery, hopefully leading toward a fascinating and eagerly anticipated conclusion.
The series centers on Lucy Chambers, an insomniac who is prone to hallucinations and odd feelings of déjà vu. Someone who is very much on the verge of a mental breakdown. Her husband has become a distant stranger who comes and goes as he pleases, while her son Isaac is an emotionless and troubled boy. He talks of imaginary friends and strange people wandering the rooms of the house, although Lucy cannot see them. It all adds up to a rather anxious scenario for our poor protagonist, but she valiantly carries on anyway. Lucy is a determined individual and she wants the best for her son. Many psychiatrists have tried and failed to diagnose the boy, but the latest, Dr. Ruby Bennett, may be on to something.
Intercut with this slow-building horror narrative is an absorbing crime investigation too. DI Ravi Dhillon (Nikesh Patel) and DS Nick Holness (Alex Ferns) are on the hunt for a possible serial killer who is targeting random citizens in the local area. As you would expect, these two subplots soon become interlinked and merge together, as Lucy’s nightmares are only just beginning. How is she exactly connected to the murders and a creepy suspect called Gideon (Peter Capaldi)? A third future storyline involves these two cast members fervently interacting as Lucy appears to question Gideon in a police interrogation room. Gideon talks in cryptic riddles, hinting at a larger conspiracy at play.
The Devil’s Hour is well-shot and expertly crafted. The acting is top notch too, with Jessica Raine (Patrick Melrose) and Capaldi (Doctor Who and The Suicide Squad) grabbing your full attention from the get-go. Raine is impressive as the unhinged mother trying her best to fix her son’s worrying ailments. It’s heartbreaking to watch her struggle to prompt any emotional responses at all from Isaac, as the parent tries to just make her son laugh or even smile. While Capaldi is just perfect as the unnerving, prime suspect in the case. He may not appear much in the first two installments, but still delivers when he is on screen, hitting the right level of creepy and yet convincing in his fleeting appearances.
There’s inventive camera work and some clever editing techniques on display as well, while the jump scares are surprisingly decent. This hasn’t been promoted as a horror per se, even though the release schedule would lean towards that genre, yet it is quite an eerie little series, one that appears to be building towards something unpredictable and exciting. You can see that the filmmakers have put a lot of time and effort into this production, with some smart little throwaway moments that are actually integral to the plot. The show isn’t perfect though, it takes a while to build momentum, not all of the jump scares work, and the opening credits hint at a low-budget feel that is otherwise quite well hidden, but these negatives can be easily ignored. To conclude, The Devil’s Hour is a binge-worthy offering from Prime Video that has the potential to be another memorable addition to the streaming platform’s library of content.
What did you think of The Devil’s Hour season 1? Comment below.
