Locke & Key Review: 5 Ups & 5 Downs
A wildly mixed bag for Netflix's latest fantasy series.
Netflix's long-awaited adaptation of Joe Hill's award-winning comic book series Locke & Key is now available to stream worldwide.
The supernatural horror comic has had an incredibly arduous journey to the screen, with numerous failed attempts to get both a TV series and a movie made, before Netflix stepped in and finally stumped up the cash.
In case you're unaware, the series revolves around three children who, shortly after their father's murder, move into their rustic family home in Massachusetts, where they discover a number of keys which grant them supernatural abilities. Naturally, there are also malevolent forces who want to get their hands on those keys.
It's painfully clear throughout Locke & Key that Netflix forced some disappointing creative concessions upon Hill and co., by taking a significant departure from the tone of the source material and instead creating a more family-friendly, teen-skewing fantasy show rife with iffy melodrama and questionable plotting.
Is Locke & Key a bad show? Certainly not, but an underwhelming one? Absolutely. Though it might fill the void for those craving some creative-yet-flawed supernatural fare, it doesn't nearly begin to realise the potential of its premise, nor of Hill's original work.
It's certainly worth checking out an episode or two to decide for yourself, though it's also smart to go in with appropriately middling expectations...