MovieChat Forums > In the Flesh (2013) Discussion > Any other series like this?

Any other series like this?


Honestly I only picked this up blindly because it was cheap and the cover made it look like quick, low budget zombie cheese. Something I'm always in the mood for. Imagine my surprise when I was treated with a well written and acted, interesting character drama with a sci-fi/horror slant.

Haven't delved too far into British television outside of comedy, are there any other series like this out there? Doesn't have to be zombies or horror, but any smart show with a sci-fi setting would do fine (doesn't have to be British either).

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Have you tried Les Revenants?

It's a French series (and also a film, not connected, but I haven't seen the film) that deals with the dead returning (as in the name of the series). It's more drama than horror but the production values are high.

Or if you're into books, there's Handling The Undead by John A. Lindqvist (author and screenwriter of Let The Right One In).

All three (In The Flesh, Les Revenants, and Handling The Undead) deal with the social and personal aspects of the dead returning, as opposed to the obvious horror of the dead returning. Brain eating zombies are okay, but it's nice to have variety.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e3tGxnFKfE

http://tinyurl.com/LTROI-story

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Interesting. I actually saw the film years ago and was reminded of it a few times by In the Flesh. Had no idea it was a television show now so I'll be checking that out for sure.

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There is a Japanese film 'Yomigaeri' which is also a drama about the returning of the undead.

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Awesome, I'll check that out too.

Just to clarify though it doesn't have to be about zombies and the dead coming back. I'm mainly looking for any obscure sci-fi/horror shows (or films, really) that use their setting to explore deeper themes like this one did with homosexuality, homophobia and mental illness.

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"I'm mainly looking for any obscure sci-fi/horror shows (or films, really) that use their setting to explore deeper themes like this one did with homosexuality, homophobia and mental illness." - ohwellokay


In that case, you should see Let The Right One In, the setting uses a vampire, but it's not about vampires. As Mark Kermode once said...
"Let The Right One In is a film about children which just happens to involve a vampire". http://youtu.be/qgaGOmc6cl8


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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e3tGxnFKfE

http://tinyurl.com/LTROI-story

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There is an American film I saw recently called The Returned http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi620669721/
I am not 100% but it could be an American version of the one your talking about. Not sure as I have not seen Les Revenants but I did really enjoy The Returned as a different take on the whole zombie thing

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The original British version of Being Human is excellent, you should give that a shot. Great characters, great acting, terrific writing.

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I second that.

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"The original British version of Being Human is excellent, you should give that a shot. Great characters, great acting, terrific writing."

It's kind of nice to see someone NOT knocking the $hit out of this show and ranting how U.S. version is so much better! :D

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Utopia
Orphan Black

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The Fades is an award winning British supernatural drama television series.
The programme centred on a bedwetting English teenager named Paul who is haunted by apocalyptic dreams. He is able to see spirits of the dead, known as the Fades, all around him. The Fades cannot be seen, smelled, heard or touched by other humans – they are what is left of humans who have died but have not been accepted into the afterlife. As such, the Fades left on Earth have become embittered and vengeful toward the human race. It is shown in the first episode that the Fades have found a way to become partly human again and regain control of touch within the real world. However, they remain unseen in the world except to those special few like Paul – 'Angelics' – who have the ability to perceive the Fades. Paul finds himself pulled into a conflict between the Angelics and the Fades, trying to prevent the Fades from breaking back into the world and destroying the human race.

Dante's Cove is an American LGBT-oriented supernatural television series.
Dante's Cove combines elements of the horror and soap opera genres in telling the story of Kevin (Gregory Michael) and Toby (Charlie David), a young couple seeking to be together and overcome the dark mystical forces that conspire to separate them.

The Lair is an American gay-themed vampire television series.
The Lair is set in a small island community. Thom, a reporter for the local paper, is investigating a string of deaths of young men, known as the "John Doe murders". His investigation leads him to a sex club called The Lair, which he discovers is run by a coven of vampires led by Damian. Damian is drawn to Thom because Thom is the double of the man who turned Damian into a vampire two centuries earlier. Colin, Damian's lieutenant, schemes to brick Damian behind a wall and take over The Lair.

Paradise Falls is a Canadian drama television series. Murder and a little witchcraft are included in the mix, as well as an open approach to sexual and homosexual themes. The series was shot entirely on location on Sparrow Lake in Muskoka and Whitevale, Ontario, to give the show an authentic looking background.

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The Sentinel is a 1977 American horror film based on the 1974 novel of the same name by Jeffrey Konvitz.
Alison Parker, a beautiful but severely neurotic fashion model moves into a Brooklyn brownstone house that has been divided into apartments. The house is inhabited on the top floor by Father Halliran, a reclusive blind priest who spends all of his time sitting at his open window. Alison begins having strange physical problems, including insomnia, and has some terrifying flashbacks of her attempted suicide. She complains to the real estate agent of the noise caused by her strange neighbors, only to be told that the house is occupied only by the priest and herself. The behavior of her "non-existent" neighbors becomes increasingly surreal and disturbing.
It turns out that the building is owned by a secret society of excommunicated Catholic priests, and is a gateway to Hell. The blind priest is the guardian who ensures that the demons do not escape. The priest is nearing the end of his life, and a new guardian is needed.
Although a bit homophobic at times, this is more to do with being made in the 70s, rather than any bad will.
The film was released by Universal Pictures in 1977. It is completely unrelated to the 2006 political thriller of the same name.

The Hunger is a 1983 British horror film adaptation of the 1981 novel of the same name by Whitley Strieber.
The film opens in a New York night club. A gothic rock band (Bauhaus) is onstage performing a song called "Bela Lugosi's Dead". In the crowd are John and Miriam Blaylock (David Bowie, Catherine Deneuve). Stylishly dressed and predatory, they stalk the crowd and connect with a young couple (John Stephen Hill, Ann Magnuson). The couple takes them back to their home, where John and Miriam seduce them before viciously slashing their throats. John and Miriam are vampires, although not in any traditional sense; lacking fangs, they use ancient Egyptian pendants to cut open the jugulars of their victims.
The center of their strange existence is Miriam. She is an immortal being, able to pass along her supernatural qualities to selected human beings that she chooses to be her lovers. However, her progeny are not truly immortal as she is, and sooner or later, usually after 300 years or so, they find themselves suddenly and rapidly getting old. However, the progeny are unable to die, but continue to live forever withered, in a fully conscious, vegetative state. Miriam packs their decaying, aging bodies in caskets that she keeps in the attic of her residence. In the 18th century, Miriam offered this gift of immortality to John, who eagerly accepted, as had all her previous lovers through the ages.
Suddenly, John develops trouble sleeping, and starts aging at a rapid rate. Miriam is aware of the significance of this happening, and she goes looking for a famous gerontologist, Dr. Sarah Roberts (Susan Sarandon), desperately seeking her help for a cure for John's fast deterioration.

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"The Hunger is a 1983 British horror film adaptation of the 1981 novel of the same name by Whitley Strieber."

Did you read the sequels and don't you wish they'd adapt them to screen?! :D

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Wow, I had no idea there were sequels! I must check them out!

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I'd also recommend The Fades (I still cry over them canceling this after only one season, but it's a wonderful show) Luther, Misfits, Sherlock and Black Mirror and everyone recommends Red Dwarf to me, but I haven't watched it yet. I think it's a scifi comedy.

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Hehe

The "Despair Squid". Awesome concept. Great episode.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e3tGxnFKfE

http://tinyurl.com/LTROI-story

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Intense Drama, chosen for writing and production values ~

Black Mirror (British) - Dystopian/borderline sci-fi drama presenting a dark view of society and technology set "the day after tomorrow" exploring what is and what could be with regards to our obsession with technology.

Les Revenants (Francais) - Intimate character studies and exploration of how people would be affected if their loved ones suddenly returned from the dead.

Six Feet Under (American) - Drama about a family who live and work in a Funeral Home. Intense character studies and internal monologues presented through conversations with dead people in the morgue basement et cetera. Not supernatural, but incredible family drama with many different themes. Alan Ball (American Beauty) was the show runner on this one. (One of my all time favorites, I still mourn for it)

True Blood (American) - Supernatural drama, not as intense as the others, set in backwoods Louisiana in a world where Vampires have "come out of the coffin" due to the Japanese inventing synthetic blood (for transfusions) that they can live off. Social and political intrue also follows. The first few seasons are really good and worth the watch, but in my opinion the latest series have declined, coinciding with Alan Ball (yes another one from him) leaving as show runner.

Game of Thrones (American, with a host of British actors) - I suspect you might have heard of it. If you want drama with elements of supernatural, then this really does take the cake, so to speak. Stunning, absolutely stunning political/medieval/fantasy/drama.

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Another interesting take on zombies is the book and movie Warm Bodies (2013).
Don't moan, it's not a zombie Twilight rip off :)
It is actually pretty good.

:)

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The Black Mirror and Utopia. Highly recommend them.

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