HBO's new drama Lovecraft Country ambitiously attempts to blend two popular genres: a sobering Green Book-style tale of 1950s American social justice and a full-out 1950s-style monster horror movie.
For those who remember the actual 1950s, put it this way. Lovecraft Country, which premieres Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO, aims to give you both the A and the B movie from a drive-in double feature.
Atticus Freeman (Jonathan Majors, top) is a well-educated Black man at a time when that was regarded more as suspicious than admirable. He's also a sci-fi geek well versed in authors like H.P. Lovecraft, which provides the title both for the 2016 Matt Ruff novel on which the TV series is based and the series itself, which was developed by Misha Green.
Atticus has a complicated family situation that has taken a critical turn with the disappearance of his father, Montrose (Michael Kenneth Williams). Montrose is irresponsible and an alcoholic, among other things, but Atticus can't just let him vanish, if only because Montrose left some tantalizing clues to the family's dark past.
A combination of odd factors sends Atticus on a road trip with his cousin Letitia (Jurnee Smollett, top) and his uncle George (Courtney B. Vance, top) to the place where they think Montrose has headed: Arkham, Mass., a (mythical) town just south of Boston.
George is up for the trip in part because he's already been compiling a Green Book type of guide for "Negro travelers," after being assaulted and nearly killed when he naively sought basic lodging services himself one time in the wrong town.
Letitia has serious issues of her own, like an apparent inability to find and hold down a decent job. But she's tough, very tough, which makes her an ideal traveling companion in a world that looks much like the worst nightmare stereotypes of the old-time Deep South.
The fact it's set in the north makes that picture more disturbing, and Lovecraft Country goes beyond The Green Book in portraying the graphic and lethal violence faced not so long ago by travelers of color who happened to run into the wrong bullies.
Finding safe places to eat and sleep, Lovecraft Country suggests, was like threading a needle, and the 45 minutes that set up the show do a strong job of making that point.
Human monsters aren't enough in Lovecraft Country, though, because in the spirit of H.P. himself, we soon meet classic monsters from purgatory: mammoth, ferocious globby things that can both rip you apart and infect you with something that turns you into a monster yourself.
Gee, which sounds better?
Our intrepid travelers do find what seems to be refuge when they get to Arkham. Not surprisingly, their haven turns out to be less than entirely safe, and Lovecraft Country's 10-episode first season integrates the monsters from our dimension with the monsters from another.
Fans of social justice drama, who would be feeling engaged by midway through the first episode, might want to yield the couch to horror movie fans by its conclusion. While those two aspects of the storyline soon run concurrently and routinely intersect, they also at times create a jarring contrast. Imagine a Twilight Zone episode with a much higher budget for special-effects carnage.
Atticus and his pals have a sobering story that unfolds in a compelling fashion. The monster part may scare off those who never cared much for the second feature at those old drive-ins.