‘October Faction’ brings beloved graphic novel to life

February 12, 2020

Ever since Disney split to have its own streaming service, Netflix has had no shortage of shows. You could say Netflix is jumping on the bandwagon when it comes to creating original series that are adaptations of pre-existing works.
“October Faction” is based on a gothic-themed graphic novel by Steve Niles, but I cannot compare the show to the novel.
The first season recently came out and it has a total of 10 episodes, each less than an hour.
There are discrepancies between the description, the trailers and the actual show.
The description would have you believe that it is some epic action about two monster hunters, Delores and Fred Allen, who keep their occupation a secret from their 17-year-old twins.
The trailer makes it seem more dark, mysterious and gory. A science fiction-drama-horror show with seances, unexplained phenomena, monster killers working for a secret organization and the untimely and questionable death of Grandpa Allen, who is a retired monster hunter.
This uproots the Allen family back to Fred and Delores’ hometown.
This show is a teen drama and a coming-of-age story, where these two 17-year-old twins struggle with their identity, unexplainable powers and who they are because their parents have been lying to them their whole life about everything.
It is much more of a family drama that also happens to involve monsters, wizards and witches.
The very first scene of the show could not get much better, and it’s one of the most well-framed parts.
It depicts Delores and Fred in Osaka, Japan having a menial conversation like the partners in crime that they are.
Suddenly, Fred finds out that his father is dead and that he must return home to Barrington-on-Hudson in upstate New York.
Fred expresses how scary returning home is to him, and Delores reassures him.
The scene pans out to reveal a dark room full of carnage as Delores shoots a “Silent Hill”-looking monster without even looking at it.
In moving back home, the past catches up with the family. The local town sheriff happens to be Delores’ high school friend. This becomes a problem for everyone’s safety because the sheriff doesn’t know about monsters or monster hunters.
Viv discovers a mysterious, kind and an unknown monster living on the Allen property. The monster protects Viv from an unwanted advance at a house party.
Geoff and Viv get kidnapped by a witch named Alice and it is then that they discover more about themselves.
Alice puts Fred and Delores on trial for murder and genocide. She magically makes them feel the pain of every monster that they ever killed.
A county fair goes awry by Alice’s hand and Presidio, the secret monster-killing organization, steps in and threatens to obliterate the entire town.
Presidio didn’t wipe out the town, Geoff and Viv are safe, Alice has escaped capture, and even though Edith, an antagonist, is dead Grandma Allen is in charge at Presidio now. Does that spell doom or salvation for the family?
The first half of the show fell flat while the second half was significantly better. Five directors were doing two episodes each; this could explain the disjointedness of the episodes and direction.
Flashbacks throughout the entire series made sure you know what’s going on, but also excessively spoonfeed information.
Hopefully, all the time setting up background information is to lay the foundation for the rest of the series.
The show’s take on a modern vampire is a fresh interpretation that deviates from a standard stereotype. In this series, they tend to look more snake-inspired.
However, the CGI for the vampires looks awful. The rest of the special effects that were done with makeup were flawless.
I’m not sure of any budget constraints they had to make “October Faction.” Filming started December 2018, so it took just over a year to make the season. Time and money allocations could have contributed to its downfalls.
Also, I almost feel sorry for the younger actors because it is obvious that adults were writing scripts for teenagers. Their dialogue specifically lacks natural fluency, as if teenagers speak in nothing but movie references.
The younger, newer actors who were limited by their script had to act alongside two very well-seasoned actors. Yet Viv and Geoff were the focus, not Delores and Fred.
The TV-MA rating doesn’t make much sense to me it was nowhere near as gory or profane as it appeared. Its teenagers are exposed to a supernatural world that takes on high school. This has been done before.
It is unclear who the heroes and villains are, and this changes throughout the show. The more you learn by the end you have a solid grasp of everybody’s true intentions and all their deceptions.
“October Faction” was good and bad. It was not what I was expecting, yet I still liked the content. I’m just going to go ahead and call it now: it has the makings for a cult fan following favorite, and the audience deserves a more conscientious second season.