Available on the STARZPLAY platform, “Shining Vale” marks the return of Courteney Cox in a series. On the program: a haunted house, spirits and a possessed author of erotic novels.
WHAT IS IT ABOUT ?
A dysfunctional family leaves the city for a small village and settles in a house where terrible atrocities have taken place. But no one seems to notice, except for Pat, who’s convinced she’s either depressed or possessed – it turns out the symptoms are exactly the same.
Shining Vale, a series created by Sharon Horgan and Jeff Astrof.
WHO IS IT WITH?
No need to introduce her, Courteney Cox, star of the series Friendsreturns to the small screen with ShiningVale. This is his first major role in a series since the end of Cougar Town, in 2015. She gives the reply to Greg Kinnear, who plays her husband. The actor, whose career extends mainly to the cinema, appeared in Little Miss Sunshine Where For worse and for better with Jack Nicholson.
Mira Sorvino, visible recently in season 3 ofAmerican Crime Story and the series Hollywood by Ryan Murphy, plays Rosemary, the spirit that haunts the family home. After her, other famous actresses complete the distribution such as Sherilyn Fenn (Twin Pekas), Judith Light (Madame is served) and Merrin Dungey (Alias).
WELL WORTH A LOOK ?
Like all good old ghost stories, ShiningVale begins with the arrival of a family in a haunted Victorian house. The formula is well known, but takes another turn thanks to a tasty mix of horror and comedy. From the first minutes, the viewer discovers an unusual heroine. Forget the archetype of the courageous mother or the badass, Pat, she has hit rock bottom.
Interpreted by Courtney Cox, both funny and touching, the character sees his life dissolve before his eyes. Her marriage explodes, her children ignore her and in the end, she has no imagination. Author of best-selling erotic novels – the series employs the amusing term of lady porn -, she is unable to write one more line.
Starz Entertainment Courteney Cox as author victim of the blank page in “Shining Vale”.
Fortunately, in ShiningVale, spirits are good. Her meeting with Rosemary, a housewife of the fifties now deceased, will awaken the demon that lies dormant in her. After a fairly slow first episode, the ghost train sets off. Beneath its lighthearted tone, the series tackles more serious issues like addiction, depression and fear of aging.
Starz Entertainment
Courteney Cox opposite Mira Sorvino in ‘Shining Vale’.
It is all the more interesting that it is a question here of a fifty-something woman who is a little lost, tired of injunctions to be a mother and a model wife. It is rare for a portrait of a woman like this to be seen through the prism of a horror comedy.
Chills side precisely, ShiningVale plays it soft, but offers nice nods to fans of the genre. The Shining – of course -, The Curse, Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist… all the greatest horror classics are present, in one way or another, in the series. Tributes that should also speak to fans of the American Horror Story anthology.
ShiningVale does not revolutionize the concept of the haunted house, but ventures sufficiently towards other paths to thwart a few clichés and offer a good time to its public.
The first two episodes of ShiningVale are available on STARZPLAY.