Aaron Mahnke is a gifted author and writer who has developed the cultural origins of legendary horror characters. In this documentary series we see a chain of horrifying stories that happened in the real life, and Aaron developed them, with various forms including zombies, vampires, and werewolves.
Cate Shortland's survival story is like a pastoral Come And See, capturing the refugee experience as a haunted memory through rich, impressionistic visuals.
Such effective audio storytelling already left its mark on the podcast world, and the Amazon adaptation doesn't elevate things at all. If anything, it's less effective because you can't watch it in your car or while out for a jog.
Lore is great viewing for people who like to mesmerize (or alienate) people at cocktail parties with sinister chatter about weird happenings, even if drags at some points.
Adapting podcasts for TV is an admittedly new and difficult challenge, but hopefully the next show to attempt it takes advantage of the lack of precedent and tries something a little more novel.
For the most part, the stories never stand entirely on their own. They never stray far enough from Mahnke's steady narration to become an absorbing episode of television on their own.
