Throwing Stones Ep.6 “Death Beds” | A Web Series on The Watch List

A Teen Horror Web Series.

2 Swirlies

“He knew he was dead. You could just tell.”

Okay, there’s only two episodes left in this series, and I’m still kinda at a loss as to what, exactly is going on. How did they go from the detention to running screaming and bloody down the hallways? It’s not like it is a mystery, cause the characters certainly know what happened. But I feel cheated as a viewer because the creators are deliberately just not telling me, in favour of the characters sitting in the dark telling me how hard their lives are.

There’s also some confusion for me during one of the character’s stories when she saw someone die. He stuck his watering pipe in the ground… and started to shake… and what? I’m assuming he was electrocuted in some way. If that’s the case, how? Was there some wiring buried in the field? Or did he have a seizure?

I get it that this is supposed to be The Breakfast Club, but I feel like we barely had time to get to know these characters, and now we’re supposed to be bonding with them. Plus, they shoved that girl out of the room, and we’re not even told what happened to her. (At least, not yet.) In the Breakfast Club, we come to understand that each of them, in their own way, is struggling with their role in the world. And together they help each other to overcome the limits of those roles. But here, they just take turns telling hard done by stories. Sure, your parents hating you for being gay and seeing a guy die before your eyes are terrible things to experience… but then as a film maker/web series creator, show us those stories. Show us their struggles, don’t just tell us bad things that happened to them.

Throwing Stones started so cool, I was so into those first three or four episodes. But since we got stuck in this room… I’m the one who wants to escape.

From YouTube Description:

Throwing Stones is a horror story about a group of high schoolers who have to attend Saturday School and find they must work together to overcome their differences in over to survive when students end up missing. As if, high school wasn’t scary enough! The series stars Lindsay Seidel (Lionsgate hit The Final), Cherami Leigh (The Mist, Fast Food Nation, HBO’s Temple Grandin), Rebekah Kennedy (upcoming horror features Blood is Blood, House Hunting, and Season of the Witch w/ Nic Cage), Chad Cox (Powder, ER, Spin City, The Good Guys), and Kayla Carlyle (From the Dark), Lynn Andrews III (MTV’s: High School Stories). Writers Bart D. Van Bemmel and Jason A. Wheeler have five feature-length screenplays in production including their dark comedies BUTTERSCOTCH, SWISHER, ANGELS AND DUST, their teen comedy RUSHED, and their teen horror THROWING STONES (which this web series if based on).

Watch this web series at KoldKast.TV or Mingle Media TV.

Win SWAG while Watching the “Throwing Stones” LIVE beginning Wednesday January 5, 2011 8 PM EST from CCS.com, Eastbay.com, Creative Labs and ComfyGirl.com at http://www.minglemediatv.com/ThrowingStonesWebSeries.html. The eight episodes that make up the series will be released on a regular schedule and available on-demand.

To find out more about “Throwing Stones” visit: http://www.throwingstoneswebseries.com.
Follow on Twitter @StonesWebSeries or LIKE us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/throwingstoneswebseries

- If you like what we do, please subscribe! You’ll get every web series episode sent right to your inbox! -

More from the web series Throwing Stones

Back to The Watch List’s Main Page

Broken Toy Ep.3 | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

A Thriller Web Series

2 Swirlies

“You are a sweet little monkey. NOW GIVE ME A HUG!”

I don’t know.

The production, especially the special effects, is really strong. Some of the explosions towards the end look CGI-y, but a lot of it is awesome. The fights scenes are pretty well choreographed, and the acting on the part of the main guy is good. But the script… the script…

That first episode was so well written. Now each episode is just a drawn out fight scene and special effects showpiece. Especially since this guy is a psycho superhero that can’t be contained, but he’s the main character… well, we’re kinda just waiting for him to escape. Even when the twists come, such as they are, we don’t care because we’re not invested in anything or genuinely surprised. Nor do they particularly make sense.

A lot of work by a lot of people must have gone into making this web series. It has to be way more than the four people listed on the website under team. (Who did the make-up? And all that blood effects?) I wish that I liked it more. I’m going to keep watching, if only to see what happens now that we’re not in that same building.

From YouTube Description:

Bigger. Badder. Better. Don’t call him Frankenstein.

- If you like what we do, please subscribe! You’ll get every web series episode sent right to your inbox! -

More from the web series Broken Toy

Back to The Watch List’s Main Page

Overturn Ep.2 | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

A Sci-fi Conspiracy Web Series

1 Swirlies

“Stay away from me. Stay off my couch! Who are you?”

Wha!?

I gotta say, I don’t like things that are deliberately oblique I like to think I’m a pretty smart guy, but I have only the faintest idea of what this series is about. The two episodes don’t even seem to belong to the same series.

I know, I know, I’m supposed to be intrigued and then head over to the website to “solve the puzzle.” And look, I’m really sorry to the people involved with this series for being hard on you. This is merely my opinion, I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who love this show. I wish I could recommend it more, because the reason I do this blog is not to hold up things to ridicule them like 90% of the internet does, but to help introduce people to series they may not other wise get a chance to see - to make it easier to watch and follow web series in general.

I like stories that force you to rise up to their level, that ask you to trust them and learn as you go. Something like Radiance is like that - I had no idea going in what it was going to be about, but I found myself liking the characters and wanting to be around for the ride. I didn’t feel like the creators were deliberately withholding information that I needed to know to understand the story. I just felt like I didn’t have all the information yet, but as each episode goes by I’m getting more and more context.

Yes, this is only the second episode of Overturn, and I’m sure if I watched to the end all would be revealed. But here’s where they lose me - the whole foundation of the story is designed to be a mystery to be solved. What’s it about? Go to the forum and tell us your best guess. What’s going on? Join us on Facebook and discuss it with other fans. This not a story meant to be watched and enjoyed - it is meant to be figured out with very little clues and context. And I’m sure they’ll get to the episode where you find that you have been deliberately misled in order to keep you guessing.

I get why you’d want to design a web series this way. On the face of it, it seems like it will be good for community building. Watching the show isn’t enough you have to become involved. But first and foremost - entertain me. I don’t want to feel like I’m being given a quiz. “Quick, name three objects in the room you just saw.” “Was it really a dream or is he lying?” Can’t I just eat my burrito and watch your show?

This is what Lost has brought us to. To me, Lost was never about the mystery. Lost was about the characters. I found Lost entertaining, and I spent very little time trying to puzzle it out. To solve it. Where I stopped caring about Lost was when it began pandering to the “I want answers” crowd. All of a sudden, characters took a back seat to connecting all the dots. To giving people answers so that they could know if they got more things right than the other people in the forums.

And now the “I want answers” crowd, to whom Lost was something that you could win at, are making web series.

So where does that leave us with Overturn? I’m probably not going to keep posting it - it will be the first series that I have deliberately abandoned since starting The Watch List. But I can’t cover every web series out there, so by choosing to continue posting this one, I’m not posting any other show. I hope that there are people out there who discover this show through The Watch List and enjoy it. Just because I don’t like doesn’t mean you have to not like it. Just head over to YouTube, or the link to the website is below.

From YouTube Description:

Overturn - international sci-fi mystery web series - Episode Two
http://www.overturnseries.com Solve the puzzle.

Also check out this:
http://www.webseriesnetwork.com/profile/OverturnSeries
http://overturn.blip.tv

- If you like what we do, please subscribe! You’ll get every web series episode sent right to your inbox! -

More from the web series Out With Dad

Back to The Watch List’s Main Page

The Cell Ep. 3 | A Web Series Review on the Watch List

A Psychological Thriller Web Series

3 Swirlies

“I learned my place.”

There are things I like and admire about The Cell. One of them is the slow, deliberate, unhurried pace - it shows a confidence in the editing. Sometimes in post production, you watch your footage over and over and you really feel the slow moments and the pauses and it can be hard to resist the urge to tighten the pacing beyond what the mood of the scene requires. As an editor, no matter how many times you watch some footage, you have to put yourself in the pace of a viewer watching it for the first time. And that’s one of the many reasons why I could never be a picture editor. I get bored way before the thing is done.

And the production quality is high, the sound is nice, the music is great. The acting on the part of the woman is great. What I can’t get past is that I don’t buy how easily Brian seems to give up trying to resist or escape. I know - it is fiction, it’s a character thing. It’s not real and it’s not me there, but still… I spend the whole time thinking to myself, “Scream, shout, resist!” And I kinda can’t buy into the whole series - I can’t suspend my disbelief.

And that girl creeps me out. I know she’s supposed to - it is artfully done. But it is just not for me, in the same way the torture porn of the Saw movie series isn’t for me.

I think the ideas behind this series could be great - it raises the question, “How fragile is our sense of self?” But I feel like this series has already skipped over that, that Brian isn’t struggling to maintain his sense of self or fighting back against his captor. Again, that’s just me and it doesn’t really effect how successful this series is at meeting its goal. I guess maybe it comes down to how optimistic you are about the nature of our sense of self.

If you like being creeped out, you’ll probably like this series more than I do.

I did notice it is moving on to Chapter 2. I wonder how the mythology of it will evolve? Will there be a new person in the cage?

From YouTube Description:

Cracks appear in Brian’s defenses as the pressure of the situation reaches its breaking point.

Join the community and follow the latest news on our site at http://www.cellthewebseries.com

The award winning original series continues as Brian searches for more answers while the truth of his situation bears down on him.

Make sure to check us out on Facebook as well http://www.facebook.com/CELLwebseries

- If you like what we do, please subscribe! You’ll get every web series episode sent right to your inbox! -

More from the web series The Cell

Back to The Watch List’s Main Page

Throwing Stones Ep.5 “Pawn Stars” | A Web Series on The Watch List

A Teen Horror Web Series.

3 Swirlies

“Friday night lights. I’m the reason they come.”

Writing for this blog, I have to watch a lot of web series. Like any reviewer, there are times when if I didn’t have to be watching a web series I’d be doing something else. So I think sometimes I can be a little impatient with some episodes. Episodes like this one.

I like this series. I was looking forward to seeing it. I was waiting to see what happened to the girl that got thrown out of the room last episode. Instead, what we got in this episode is a back story to the three remaining characters in the room, back story that could have been delivered with a little less exposition.

I’m beginning to chaff at the fact that I don’t really know what these kids are scared of. What happened to them? Who attacked them? How did it start? I thought that the series would cut between the present and the beginning of the assault, but it hasn’t. At least, not yet. So while I get that they are scared, and I get why they are scared I have a hard time being scared for them. I like them, and I want to see them come out okay - kudos to the script writers - but I don’t feel the jeopardy. Is someone looking for them? Has the killer gone home? Are they being attacked with a knife or a gun or what? All of that matters to make me care if they stay in that room or not.

From YouTube Description:

Throwing Stones is a horror story about a group of high schoolers who have to attend Saturday School and find they must work together to overcome their differences in over to survive when students end up missing. As if, high school wasn’t scary enough! The series stars Lindsay Seidel (Lionsgate hit The Final), Cherami Leigh (The Mist, Fast Food Nation, HBO’s Temple Grandin), Rebekah Kennedy (upcoming horror features Blood is Blood, House Hunting, and Season of the Witch w/ Nic Cage), Chad Cox (Powder, ER, Spin City, The Good Guys), and Kayla Carlyle (From the Dark), Lynn Andrews III (MTV’s: High School Stories). Writers Bart D. Van Bemmel and Jason A. Wheeler have five feature-length screenplays in production including their dark comedies BUTTERSCOTCH, SWISHER, ANGELS AND DUST, their teen comedy RUSHED, and their teen horror THROWING STONES (which this web series if based on).

Watch this web series at KoldKast.TV or Mingle Media TV.

To find out more about “Throwing Stones” visit: http://www.throwingstoneswebseries.com.
Follow on Twitter @StonesWebSeries or LIKE us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/throwingstoneswebseries

- If you like what we do, please subscribe! You’ll get every web series episode sent right to your inbox! -

More from the web series Throwing Stones

Back to The Watch List’s Main Page

Hard Drive 13 Ep.3 “Classified Steganography” | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

A Conspiracy Thriller Web Series

3 Swirlies

“Classified. Yeah, that’s what Dad always used to say.”

This is one series that gets right to the action. You gotta admire that. And I finally get to see some of the shooting guns out of moving cars clips that we were teased with at the beginning of the series.

If you like your web series with lots of on the run, it is all a conspiracy, ‘watched the Matrix again last night’, you’ll love Hard Drive 13. If you’re looking for something nuanced and character driven, you should probably stick with something else.

Another Vancouver series, and this is very well made. Those green screen shots are hard to pull off - and while they’re not perfect, they are pretty good. And having guns on set, well… that’s either expensive (as far as web series are concerned) and you gotta call in a lot of favours. If you want to find a load of talented people looking for a fun side project to stretch their creative skills, I doubt there’s a better place for it in the world than Vancouver right now.

Where I think this series loses me is the story. I know, I’m watching some very interconnected episodes months apart, but I’m still not really sure about what it is about. I’m sure we’re meant to be intrigued by the mystery, and I’m not saying that I don’t want to discover things about the series as it develops, but I do want to know why I am watching. What makes this hacker so special? Is he looking for his father, or is he on the run from the government goons? The motivations of the characters are pretty vague.

And can I just say, what paranoid hacker on the run keeps using his cell phone?

From YouTube Description:

Nomad receives a cryptic message from an old friend; a strained reunion is abruptly cut short.

- If you like what we do, please subscribe! You’ll get every web series episode sent right to your inbox! -

More from the web series Hard Drive 13

Back to The Watch List’s Main Page

Broken Toy Ep.2 | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

A Thriller Web Series

2 Swirlies

“He drank the sedatives! Shoot him you morons!”

This episode, while still being pretty cool, lacks the nuance, tension and careful blend of humor that the first episode had.

Although I did quite like the hallucinations Quinn has.

The production is all but perfect, the make up and special effects alone are outstanding. But still, after that first episode I was disappointed. The ending of the first episode felt like an ending, like we were being told a complete story, the ending of this episode was a mid scene cliffhanger type.

There appears to be a bit of a trend in web series to take a short film and turn it into a web series pilot. The problem is that the two aren’t really the same form. Some series can do it really well. Aidan5 surprised me how well they took that short, with it’s very enclosed story, and turned it into an ongoing series.

I think the same thing happened here (I’m only guessing, though). I think the first episode was a short film, and when they decided to do more they conceived of it more as a multi-part story rather than episodic stories as part of a larger arc. Leaving this episode feeling unfinished.

Am I over thinking it? Perhaps. After all, from what I can tell there’s only one more episode in their Chapter 1. I’m sure that has a more satisfying ending to it. But I guess we’ll wait and see.

From YouTube Description:

Drugged, hunted, and slightly silly in a murderous way, Quinn is on the move.

- If you like what we do, please subscribe! You’ll get every web series episode sent right to your inbox! -

More from the web series Broken Toy

Back to The Watch List’s Main Page

Tyranny Ep.5 “Wake Up Calls” | A Web Series on The Watch List

A Sci-Fi Web Series

4 Swirlies

A great episode, completely without dialogue.

There’s a number of things to admire about this web series. They seem to have struck a nice balance between telling an ongoing, serialized storyline, and having episodes that feel like episodes. They don’t end each episode where I expect them too, instead choosing to make sure that there’s more than one scene, that they’re not just cutting out because this is the moment in the movie where they cut to something else - The makers of Tyranny actually cut to the something else, and end the episode when they’ve gotten to a point where what happens next is the next plot element to advance the story.

They also tend, at least so far, to make each episode unique. From the first two episodes that made me think this whole series was going to be constructed from montages, to this episode where there’s no dialogue and nothing’s really explained, each episode could kind of be a typical episode in its own series, if you follow what I’m saying. At the same time, the story feels like it is advancing, and the style chosen for each episode feels like the right choice to tell that part of the story.

It also feels longer than it is, in a good way. In the kind of way where you don’t feel time passing, but when the episode’s done you’re surprised to find out how short it was.

Am I 100% sure what this episode is about? Nope. Do I know where this story is going? Nope. And for many other series, this might be a problem. For this one, I’m intrigued and invested enough to keep watching and keep wondering.

You know, in the wake of Lost (or maybe its just the internet) there’s many webTV shows in which the audience is expected to puzzle out the meaning for themselves. But the vast majority of them are either way too opaque to be enjoyable, or so obvious seeming I don’t feel compelled to keep watching to see if I’m right. Sure, everyone has their own level of how much or how little information that want to be spoon fed in their entertainment, but for me Tyranny is just the right mix of “I think I know what’s going on but could be wrong” and the storytelling being so well done that I’m not really spending my time trying to solve a puzzle.

From YouTube Description:

- If you like what we do, please subscribe! You’ll get every web series episode sent right to your inbox! -

More from the web series Tyranny

Back to The Watch List’s Main Page

The Cell Ep. 2 | A Web Series Review on the Watch List

A Psychological Thriller Web Series

3 Swirlies

“Next time, I burn them off.”

Despite some clunky dialogue and acting, this series rises to its challenges and manages to be better than the sum of its parts.

Part of it is the haunting, if slightly over repetitive music, and some of it is the menace conveyed by “The Woman” who has clearly been terrorized to the point that she has forgotten everything except life with “The Man.” Actually, I was liking it fine until the very last image - which was what really got to me. Just the simple shot at the end of The Woman pushing the clothes across to the other cell. A bold and effective shot, and probably the best part of the episode.

From YouTube Description:

http://www.cellthewebseries.com
@CELLwebseries

Make sure to check us out on Facebook as well http://www.facebook.com/CELLwebseries

- If you like what we do, please subscribe! You’ll get every web series episode sent right to your inbox! -

More from the web series The Cell

Back to The Watch List’s Main Page

31 The Series “Transmission 1″ | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

A Horror Web Series

5 Swirlies

“No. NO!”

The concept behind this new horror web series is 31 episode over 31 days, each of which is 31 seconds long.

There’s not a whole heck of a lot you can do over 31 seconds, and this first episode wisely doesn’t try. I remember Prom Queen which tried to do episodes that were each 1 minute long, which made it feel choppy and repetitive. Here they make it part of their gimmick to get you to watch.

There’s almost nothing to this episode - you don’t even get to see the character, but it works. They want you to be scared - and that’s it. I wonder if the next episode will pick up right where this one ends off? I guess we’ll have to see.

I’m going to try to bring you all along for the ride. I’m going to do my best to watch and post an episode every day until the end of it’s run. Unless I start to hate it midway, or something… then you just might find it suddenly cease to be posted.

But so far, 1 ep in, I’m digging it.

From YouTube Description:

31 the series: 31 episodes. 31 seconds. 31 days. Transmissions begin 3/31 3:31pm ET.
31 web series: 1st daily Internet Horror Serial combining best of film, tv, and the Internet.
Follow at www.twitter.com/31theseries
Subscribe at www.youtube.com/user/31webseries
Like at www.facebook.com/31theseries
www.31theseries.com

- If you like what we do, please subscribe! You’ll get every web series episode sent right to your inbox! -

More from the web series 31 the Series

Back to The Watch List’s Main Page