Featured Image Credit: Prime Video
Topics: Streaming, Amazon Prime, Film and TV, Stephen King, History
Ellie Kemp
Topics: Streaming, Amazon Prime, Film and TV, Stephen King, History
Stephen King has recommended a TV series with 'jaw-dropping' scenes and a 95 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating.
The King of Horror's very own Amazon Prime Video series might have just launched - an adaptation of his novel, The Institute.
But the author has long been a fan of the streaming platform's own dramas, including a four-season series hailed 'excellent in every aspect'.
The dystopian alternate‐history drama - which ran between 2015 and 2019 - imagines a world in which the Axis powers won World War II and have divided the former United States into three territories.
Advert
They are the Japanese Pacific States (West Coast), ruled by the Empire of Japan, the Greater Nazi Reich (East and Midwest), under the brutal control of Nazi Germany and the Neutral Zone (Rockies), a buffer region rife with spies and resistance fighters.
At the heart of the story is a collection of mysterious newsreels - films produced by a mysterious man - which depict alternate realities where the Allies were victorious.
These reels spark hope among the American Resistance that overthrowing the occupiers might be possible
The TV series in question is called The Man in the High Castle.
Taking to Twitter, King said: "THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE (Amazon Prime) is just wonderful.
"Some of the images, while disquieting (American children giving the Nazi salute, a Nazi storm trooper replacing the Statue of Liberty), are jaw-dropping. Start from the beginning."
Others responded to his post, as one fan agreed: "100% right. Watched this from day one - excellent in every aspect... Amazon got this one right - amazed it’s not getting award nods."
A second social media user echoed: "The original story drew me in, but the show has kept me hooked. The performances are amazing."
The show's praise is reflected in its Rotten Tomatoes score - the first season has racked up a near-perfect 95 percent from critics.
Meanwhile, across four seasons, it averages out at a respectable 84 percent.
"By executive producer Ridley Scott, The Man in the High Castle is unlike anything else on TV, with an immediately engrossing plot driven by quickly developed characters in a fully realized post-WWII dystopia," the critics' season one consensus said.
"Brilliant! Ridley Scott delivers as usual. Great cast and characters. Original idea and well written and directed. Whole production is top class," another viewer weighed in.
Other fans, however, warned that the plot begins to lose its way around the third season. Many maintain it's still worth the watch, though.
All four seasons of The Man in the High Castle are streaming now on Amazon Prime Video.