We receive a ton of tips every day from independent creators, unaffiliated with any major motion picture studios, television networks, new media studios, or other well-funded online video entities. The Indie Spotlight is where we’ll write about and shout out to a select few of them and bring you up to speed on the great (and sometimes not-so-great) attention-grabbing series you probably haven’t heard about until now. Read previous installments here.
A new drama offers chilling suspense to its viewers. Creator Lukas Driscoll and his Tiny House production studio are behind Darkstone, which uses a paranormal investigator as a framing device for several spooky stories.
The paranormal investigator in question is named Stephen Cook, and at the start of the series, he is held by a mysterious interrogator. His captor instructs him to recount particular episodes from his work, and Darkstone takes off with its first tale. In the pilot, we meet an ailing man who looks after his daughter Emma, who suffers from some sort of mysterious condition and is kept sedated at all times. The storytelling isn’t particularly rich, but the beautiful cinematography, gloomy tone, and creepy soundtrack all pop off the screen. Together, they make Darkstone into a gripping experience.
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The anthology format is a good one for Darkstone, because Driscoll can peel back each individual episode’s mystery while still leaving additional layers of suspense intact. By the end of the second episode, we still don’t have a clear picture of Stephen’s situation, and the titular object has only just been mentioned by name. Clearly, Darkstone has a lot more to tell us, and I’m looking forward to seeing where the series goes from here.
OTHER UNDER-THE-RADAR SERIES TO CHECK OUT
- Red Hood: Retcon Series. This fanmade work looks to add a new story based around the DC Comics character Red Hood.
- My Girlfriend. Trevmonki, a YouTuber from Singapore, launches his own web series.
- Food Stamps. Actors Danny Trejo and Noel Gugliemi lend some star power to this series.
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