News & Interviews for Marvel's Helstrom: Season 1

Critic Reviews for Marvel's Helstrom Season 1

All Critics (26) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (7) | Rotten (19)

In the first five episodes made available to press, a general lack of focus prevails, as those plot threads and others keep piling up and unspooling without intersecting.

Oct 22, 2020 | Full Review…

Glen Weldon

NPR

Top Critic

Now lacking a 'Marvel Originals' moniker, Helstrom is missing clear stakes and intriguing characters, too.

Oct 15, 2020 | Full Review…

Roxana Hadadi

RogerEbert.com

Top Critic

Given that Helstrom is already the last piece of a TV administration Marvel has moved away from, nothing here is good enough to make an investment in. Check out CBS' actually clever, actually scary Evil instead.

Oct 15, 2020 | Full Review…

Dan Fienberg

Hollywood Reporter

Top Critic

There isn't anything inherently objectionable about it. It simply comes off feeling a lot blander than something like this should.

Oct 23, 2020 | Rating: 2.75/5 | Full Review…

Drew Koenig

Tell-Tale TV

It's moody and ominous but superficially. There are glimpses of something more compelling buried in the usual, but the show hasn't found its footing or identity yet.

Oct 22, 2020 | Rating: 2.5/5 | Full Review…

Meagan Navarro

Bloody Disgusting

In the end, there's nothing that's wrong with Helstrom that couldn't have been fixed with a little more attention and care... Helstrom has its charms, but all these small problems combine to make it a frustrating watch.

Oct 20, 2020 | Full Review…

Sara Century

Polygon

Hulu's Helstrom keeps its focus too firmly set on the rearview mirror.

Oct 20, 2020 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…

André Hereford

Metro Weekly (Washington, DC)

The implementation of horror and supernatural elements usually works best when it's in examination of the human condition and Helstrom fails in its refusal to do that.

Oct 19, 2020 | Full Review…

Mae Abdulbaki

Pajiba

With its formulaic plot, low stakes and plodding pace, Helstrom fails to connect as a family drama or a supernatural horror adventure. The series is a true wasted opportunity to take a deeper dive into the scarier side of the Marvel Universe.

Oct 19, 2020 | Rating: 3/10 | Full Review…

Jesse Schedeen

IGN Movies

A bland last gasp for Marvel Television.

Oct 19, 2020 | Full Review…

Alci Rengifo

Entertainment Voice

Tonewise, Helstrom is a dark thriller with plenty of supernatural touches, but it also pokes fun at supernatural stuff. There are gallows humor and sarcasm in plentiful supply, along with a strong sense of world-weariness.

Oct 16, 2020 | Full Review…

Kimberly Ricci

Uproxx

Though the family dynamics give Helstrom its emotional weight, the overarching mythology is what keeps you intrigued.

Oct 15, 2020 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Sadie Gennis

TV Guide

View All Critic Reviews (26)

Audience Reviews for Marvel's Helstrom: Season 1

• Oct 27, 2020

  Well-built characters. The plot is captivating and has a very good linearity in the story. It mixes terror, action and sarcasm in the right measure. (Sorry about my terrible English)
  Lucas L
• 1d ago

  I think sometimes professional critics do not take the time to just sit back and enjoy the show because they are so busy picking it apart. I was very happy to see Tom Austen star in this Marvel series. He is one of those actors I love to watch - I am hoping to see him become a major player in the entertainment business. After I got past Sydney Lemmon's "interesting" hair, I very much liked her in the sister role. Once I started watching the series, I could not stop, which is always a sign of good entertainment. This is why the audience score so high. I am not sure where this series will land but I am keeping my fingers crossed that Hulu or Disney+ notices that the general public really likes Helstrom. I say renew it for a second season - I know I will watch it! Additional thought after reading comments about the comparison to the TV series Evil: I also watched Evil and enjoyed it but it was not a show that I had to watch. My preference is most certainly Helstrom.
  

  Amy B
• 2d ago

  While it has typical comic plot holes and singular story line, the casting was is awesome and I could not stop watching this show. Looking forward very much to season 2!
  

  Dan M
• 2d ago

  Based on the trailer , I was very interested but I almost didn;t bother based on the critics. I decided to try it anyhow and enjoyed it tremendously. Right up there with Daredevil or Jessica Jones as Marvel series go but simply very good television, Hghly reccomended.
  

  Phil P
• 2d ago

  completely different from the comic book series, but it is still decent if you like CW type shows.
  

  Ari P
• 2d ago

  Once upon a time, Sex and the City's supremely carnal character of Samantha Jones unsuccessfully attempted a serious relationship due to the seeming promise of a match that it would later be revealed was flawed by an inherent imbalance in the emotion/action equation, leading her to declare, "I don't know how you people do it. All that emotional chow chow; it's exhausting"--right before she ended things. That's pretty much the scenario Helstrom hands viewers on Marvel's way out the door from HULU to Disney+, and it's a shame. The opening scenes might have been a little obvious in introducing the brother/sister leads and messy Helstrom family, coming a bit too directly at the audience in a nudge-wink, "want to see something really scary" way that has already been done better, but the actors largely carried off the performances needed to establish connections with the viewers and provide a glimpse of the powers these supernatural siblings could channel. Unfortunately, that promise largely went unfulfilled, as action scenes with them doing anything with those powers were increasingly left by the wayside while everyone talked about their feelings, their backstories, and what they used to feel during said backstories, all seemingly to do little more than facilitate the handing out of heartfelt apologies for various mistakes made across a couple of decades we mostly didn't see. The powers behind the series seem to have forgotten that maxim of the writer's creed to show rather than tell, with the result that the characters have little depth, appeal, or chance to connect with the audience in a meaningful way as they spew the copycat conversations to establish backstory layer upon backstory layer to the detriment of the story we were tuned in to see. On top of which, all that pointless emotional chow chow took up so much screen time the action sequences suffered, too, and it was there that the show had its few shining moments--especially those with Daimon, who was by far the more interesting half of the duo no matter how they tried to push the darker younger sister to the foreground. Taking tropes of horror classics for some tweaking and twisting to updated scenarios fit for today's world can certainly work, but here they tried to cram a few too many into the plot web that goes from the Exorcist and The Omen at the outset to Rosemary's Baby at the end, with frequent stops on a monster mash-up pub crawl along the way (secret orders, ancient evil beings, body horror...). Playing some of those beats would have served the show better than endless blah blah blah about the characters' feelings, as would getting a bit more focused than what was largely a scattershot spray with little sticking power even if quakes in intellectual property land hadn't remapped the terrain and ownership claims. Rotten Tomatoes was built with real audience members whose viewing eyes and entertainment dollars paid for the vast majority of entertainment, breaking the stranglehold of professional critics telling us what we were supposed to think of projects from their artsy fartsy perspectives (and secret commercial payoffs), which is a feature I've always liked at this site. So, it's always interesting when these great but relatively rare divides occur between reviews from critics and audience members. This time, I regret to say that the critics have it right about this being a definite splat. Now, I'll confess up front that I'm not the most ardent fan of properties coming out of comics just because they are comics, but I am also not a cultural snob turning my nose up at them, either. I take as I find, and I do usually like the darker end of things, enjoying the show Gotham and lots of properties related to the Dark Knight incarnation of Batman, generally, for example. I AM a fan of horror, though, especially classic horror that relied on more than gore and took a less is more approach to creating fear in the mind rather than directly in front of the eyes. If the makers of Helstrom wanted that kind of show, they certainly failed, delivering emotional chow chow going nowhere instead. This is a definite miss you can do without, finding something much better for your Halloween and comics entertainment.
  Cathy S
• 2d ago

  This show is amazing. The critics have no idea what they're talking about. They're just pulling shit out of their asses.
  movie critics a
• 2d ago

  I love this show. It has a great mythology and a well crafted story. Daimon and Ana have a complicated relationship that only a "brother" and "sister" would understand. I am really into the supernatural aspect and the powers of the 2 leads. Oh and that ending wow!
  Dion S
• 3d ago

  i absolutely loved Helstrom. From start till finish. what is it with critics and knocking down good TV? what do they know anyway? Cannot wait for Season 2!
  

  Uche N
• 3d ago

  I really enjoyed this show! The cast is phenomenal and as somebody who was introduced to these characters via the comic book, I thought the story was a more grounded way of bringing this to a tv series. I do think storywise the wheels started coming off the bus so to speak towards the end, mostly because 10 episodes was just too long. The same footage was flashed back to over and over again and began to feel kind of stale, ditto for the location. But the connection between the characters seemed organic and genuine. If they could move the action out into the world I think it would be great series to continue on.
  Mandy V

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