TELEVISION

FT’s very own couch potato, STU NEVILLE, casts an eye over the small screen’s current fortean offerings

Even in the most breathlessly agog of fortean TV offerings, mythology and folklore are often treated only at arm’s length (usually accompanied by line drawings brought to life, like the opening credits of Grange Hill). In a refreshing departure from the usual paranormal TV fare, Lore (Amazon Prime) treats mythology as a topic of interest in its own right, and takes the graphics in a number of directions sympathetic to the theme of each episode, from décolletage and German Expressionism to animated linocuts.

Developed and narrated by author Aaron Mahnke from his podcast of the same name, the series is a well-judged mixture of media, narrative and well-produced live reenactments with high-profile actors. A good example is S1E5, ‘The Beast Within’, about werewolves. The aforementioned linocuts lend themselves well to the subject, having an almost primitive feel, and Lore uses them well: the rough white lines on a black background are redolent of mediæval woodcuts, and the tale of St Patrick and the wolfworshipping people of Ossory,

Cut to Lon Chaney Jr, with his shiny nose and oddly buttoned-up shirt

whom God transformed into wolves that turned on their leader, is portrayed quite viscerally despite the limitations of the medium.

Cut to Lon Chaney Jr, with his shiny nose and oddly buttoned-up shirt, capering through the mists, as we’re told that over 100 werewolf films have been made; then we go back 400 years as Mahnke’s voice introduces us to the authentic-looking people of Bedburg, Germany, c. 1589, who live in fear of a werewolf lurking in the surrounding woods.

There follows the acknowledgement that wolf-like humans exist – hypertrichosis in terms of appearance and clinical lycanthropy for behaviour – but that their activities almost never involve butchering the local townspeople. Back to Bedburg, with young Greta Hetfelderz skipping around in her (yes, red) cloak, while Mahnke tells us the story of Red Riding Hood has its roots some two millennia ago. Greta encounters a wolf, but stabs it through the paw and escapes; 10 years later, another young girl and her boyfriend are graphically murdered by an unseen predator. A quick mention of the Beast of Gevaudan, then Bedburg again, as leader Peter Stubbe leads the townspeople in prayer; little do they suspect that Stubbe himself is the werewolf in human form – despite his hairy face and pronounced limp. Stubbe kidnaps Greta, then it’s pitchforks and flaming torches all round as Stubbe is revealed by the scar on his hand. Another cut to 1970s New York and the Son of Sam – the “beast within” theme – then Stubbe’s not-so-pretty torture, confession and execution on the wheel, once more fading to linocut for the really grandguignol bits. Smart and wellmade, this is a series worth seeking out.