Night of the Zombie King Ep.1 “From the Shadows”

Jamison “Jaz” Colier is captain of a Goblins & Gold team which has been recently removed from the pro rankings. Frustrated and disappointed, he flees his troubles by traveling from Los Angeles to his hometown of San Jose, where he has not visited for over fifteen years. When he arrives, he is hi-jacked by a group of old friends for a surprise night of gaming.

3 Swirlies

“I know. It’s like looking into the Guardian of Forever.”

The opening titles are amazing – really nicely done. With lots of info without being too long. Awesome.

Old friends get together to pick up the game they were playing 15 years ago.

The production is good (especially the lighting!) but not stellar. The episode, like almost all first episodes, is long on backstory and set up and light on actual story. It’s more prologue than story. We meet the characters, but we don’t really get much a sense of who they are. I’m also not sure of where this show is going – what happens next episode now that the adventure has started.

What does work is the sweetness and sense of nostalgia the characters feel for each other and the game. There’s a hint that the last session went wrong, fifteen years ago, but I’m not sure if the guy they’re talking about hasn’t shown up yet, or if one of the very happy group we meet has a secret grudge.

I guess time, and subsequent episodes, will tell.

We’ll also have to make a note to check out Gold. It appears to be made by the same people who are behind Night of the Zombie King.

More Info:

written by: David Nett, Rick Robinson & Andrew R. Deutsch
directed by: David Nett
cinematography by: Andrew R. Deutsch
edited by: David Nett & Frederick Snyder
featuring: James Ellis Lane, Jonathan Nail, Maxwell Glick, Stephanie Thorpe, Brian Majestic
production staff & crew: Matthew Arevalo, Jamie Blair, Maria Deutsch, Rob Gokee, Joey Harris, Mike Horton, Ashley F. Miller, Shannon Nelson, Sean Oakley, Ed Robinson, Chad Schnaible, Justin Waggle, James Paul Xavier