Night of the Zombie King Ep.5 “Thoughts of Darkness” | A Web Series Review on the Watch List

A Drama Web Series

3 Swirlies

“Back then, it was the last time that I felt like I was good, you know?”

Okay then.

If I could split up my review, I’d give the first half of this episode of Night of the Zombie King a 1 and the second half a five.

I don’t get it. How can one scene make me want to just skip posting it, and the next scene make me want to sing its praises from the hilltops? When it is the real world, drama stuff it is at once cheesy and artificial. When it is the game stuff… the series soars. Is it just the music that gets me? Maybe, but I don’t think so.

When it comes to the real world stuff, I keep wanting someone to shrug and say, “We were kids. Now we’re adults. Let’s deal with some adult stuff.” I got nothing against adults playing games, I do have a problem with adults obsessing over some poor choices they made in high school and crying because they wanted to recapture the magic of sleep overs.

And when it comes to the game play stuff, I’m surprised and delighted, despite the fact that I’m struggling with myself not to turn it off. It grabs me, it drags me back in to the fiction, it makes me like it. It works, it feels more real than the drama scenes. But then, you couldn’t really have a show that was just a group of people playing the game? You have to have the game resonate with what’s going on the actual lives of the characters. That’s where the game play adds a strong dramatic value.

From Blip Description:

Jaz pursues Hicks, trying to coax him back into the game. Hicks explains his difficulty in coming to terms with the past, and they stumble upon a plan to salvage the adventure. Featuring music from Bellavista – www.thevue.com/bellavista

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Night of the Zombie King Ep.4 “Howls in the Night” | A Web Series Review on the Watch List

A Drama Web Series

2 Swirlies

“I hate you both! You ruined it!”

Yeesh.

Here’s another review people are going to quietly hate me for.

This show is one of those shows that you are supposed to love. More precisely, the show that this is a spinoff of, Gold, is a legend in certain wider on the web. I haven’t seen Gold, but I did surprise myself about how much I liked this series.

Until exactly 2:40 of this episode.

When it was about the game, this web series racks. When it become about real life type stuff the show devolves into the most cliched, over written melodrama I have seen in a long time.

There are some shows, like Oh Brother, that have a charm and naivete that makes them enjoyable even if they delve into some well worn territory. This show has proven it knows how to tell a story and set a mood, so to have such a paint by numbers and exposition laden emotional outburst just feels… I dunno. Cheap.

Sorry, guys. Like I said, the stuff about the game is amazing. Oh, and the opening sequence is awesome.

From Blip Description:

As Hicks had predicted, the decision to split the party results in disaster. When Jaz is unable to come up with a solution, Brian’s anger boils over and he forces an out-of-game confrontation.

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Night of the Zombie King Ep.3 “Hour of the Knife” | A Web Series Review on the Watch List

An RPG Drama Web Series

4 Swirlies

[Sorry, but this video won't play for non-flash devices. If you don't see a video, click here to come to the site.]

“Umbra Hulks don’t have tongues, they have mandibles”

And now we’re into the action.

There’s a scene where the old friends tell stories and butt heads, but it is the scene with the game play that shines, where the creators manage to make both the characters and the fictional game exciting, tense and dramatic. The lighting is sweet, the sound is well done, and the score is perfectly used and evocative. The acting is pretty strong, too. All of this means one thing: good directing. The last few moments are particularly effective.

What I sort of don’t really buy is Brian, who clearly has a problem with Jaz, sitting through this game. He seems pretty upset, why doesn’t he just walk out?

What’s great is that this show is more or less a straight forward drama. And a well done one, at that. Still the rarest commodity there is in web series land.

Still haven’t checked out Gold. Damn you web series creators, can’t you take a break making more shows while I catch up on all the ones already out there?

From Blip.tv Description:

Jaz tells a story about gaming with the legendary Jonathan Drake, the tension rises between Brian and Jaz, Hicks tells the group about his odd dreams, and Brian commits a gaming cardinal sin. Featuring music from Bellavista – http://www.thevue.com/bellavista

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Night of the Zombie King Ep. 2 ‘When Black Roses Bloom’

As the game gets underway, the old friends fall into familiar patterns, Martin’s adventure tests the players’ skills, tension emerges between Jaz and Brian, Hicks exhibits his old-school roleplaying chops, and Jaz attempts to reconnect with Danny, featuring when “When We Closed Our Eyes” by Andrew Ross Gregory.

3 swirlies

[Sorry for the autoplay commercial. That's gonna get annoying real fast. The Watcher]

For those who haven’t yet checked out Episode 1 “From the Shadows,” and our review, can do so here.

So Episode kicks off with– what else?– our team of friends playing an intense game of Goblins and Gold.  The score really added a lot of the needed tension and sense of stakes here, and also goes to show you, music does matter.  Especially when your characters are strategizing and joking in cryptic game talk that we don’t necessarily understand.

Note to the writers: It would help out the audience a lot if the series set up some of the rules of the game for us.  How do you even win Goblins and Gold?   Who’s even winning this game between friends?  Because we jump right into gameplay, there are a lot of in-jokes that are funny to the characters, but not necessarily, to a clueless audience.

Though, you have to admire the dedication of the actors who really buy into their lines and gamer characters.  Jaz is quite believable as a General of sorts, doling out tactics and strategy, leading his team to victory.  Kudos as well to the actor the bringing the gameplay to life with his impassioned campfire story voice.

As with the first episode, the prologue of game-play is long.  We don’t get to the opening credits until at least a minute and a half into the episode.  Then, we get a nice moment of unrequited love tension between Jaz and the one lady player in the kitchen, which is very Everwood– if I did watch Everwood– which I don’t.

It’s sweet and opens the door for us to care about this group of friends, though we still don’t get a good sense of where the story is going.  There is a lot of references to their past history, but not a lot of forward movement to the plot.

We know Jaz has run away from his problems in L.A.  But what does Jaz want from his friends?   Is he looking for redemption?

The filmmakers have hooked me enough that I’m willing to be patient and watch another episode.  But what do you all think?

More Info:

Featuring “Silver Cities” by the amazing Los Angeles band, The Monolators: www.themonolators.com

other viewing options

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

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