The worst of times
Petrified review
Rating – 
Last week’s review left me in a bit of a funk if I’m being honest. This year has been so good for audio drama, and I was beginning to wonder if the bar had stopped raising. Thankfully, it hasn’t. This is both good and bad, because I have an ever increasing “short list” of shows that I have to whittle down for my annual awards in a few weeks.
This show got mentioned on Reddit along with a few others that got a bulk subscription from me, and after Moira Graves, I needed something of a palate cleanser.
So what’s it about?
Well folks, it’s another horror anthology podcast. I actually didn’t realise that it was when I started listening. I thought it was more like The Magnus Archives, or last week’s review, The Collection Of Moira Graves. What we have instead though, is a series of incredibly dark and taut horror stories.
Each tale is very weird, and a lot of them lean into the realms of folk horror. If you’re a fan of Nigel Kneale’s work, then you will love this. Like Kneale’s TV show Beasts, the stories in Petrified usually have some big reveal that takes your breath away. As the tale progresses, you have some sinking feeling that you know how it will play out. Sometimes you’re right, and sometimes there’s a cunning twist in the tale that really pulls the rug out from underneath you.
Mixed in with all the terror and grue is a good dose of humour too. This is not only laugh out loud funny, but means that the horror hits all the harder. There are no punches pulled here at all, so prepare to be shocked in places.
Is it any good?
Hoo, boy. Is it good? It’s very good indeed. As I mentioned a few weeks back, this is one of the “radio drama” style podcasts. It feels very “close”, perfect if you loved the old radio shows like Lights Out, or TV shows like Dead Of Night.
There are very few shows that I have actually found genuinely creepy. Actually I could probably count them one one hand, and only one immediately springs to mind. This however, is another.
Written by Peter Dunne, and produced by Liam Geraghty, each episode is outstanding, and the stories cover some very dark content indeed. It’s baffling to me how so much can be put into a podcast and it never feels samey. In series three there is a nice call back to the first few episodes that really cements the universe as a real place, inhabited by real, albeit very strange people.
The acting is perfect for the show. It keeps up with the radio play feel and even in the more emotional scenes, never feels too hammy. The cast is quite small, and therefore you get used to hearing the same voices. This is reminiscent of shows like The League Of Gentlemen, or perhaps Inside Number Nine. The reason I use these comparisons is because the story telling here could easily appear in the productions of Messrs Gatiss, Shearsmith, Pemberton and Dyson.
Having said that, there is the odd dodgy accent here and there, but really nothing that takes you out of the action too much. Especially when the stories are so gripping.
Final thoughts
If you’re looking for the next fireside companion as the nights are getting darker, then this is for you. Not sure I’d like to listen if I was out walking at night though.
Along with shows like Last Dance, and Ten Apocalypses, Petrified is showing that Ireland is producing some incredible content, and I can’t wait to hear what’s around the corner. The last episode was released over a year ago, and I really hope that we haven’t seen the end of this. I can’t wait to dive back in and see what the writers have cooked up!
You can get Petrified here:
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