It’s never too early for scary (and not-so-scary) TV shows, movies
Halloween is still more than a week away, but it’s never too early for some frightening TV.
And we’re not talking about ABC’s “Super Fun Night.”
Ba-dum-bum.
Critically acclaimed creepfests “The Walking Dead” (9 p.m. Sundays, AMC) and “American Horror Story: Coven” (10 p.m. Wednesdays, FX) are joined this week by the return of “Grimm” (9 p.m. Friday, KSNV-TV, Channel 3) and the debut of “Dracula” (10 p.m. Friday, Channel 3).
Yet, somehow, the monster-hunting “Grimm” feels more familiar than this barely recognizable “Dracula.”
All the classic characters are there: Renfield, Mina, Lucy, Van Helsing and Jonathan Harker. But Dracula (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) has been transplanted to 1881 London, where, for some reason, he poses as a new-moneyed American.
Rhys Meyers wrestles with his drab Yankee accent at every turn, and his character has been saddled with some half-baked revenge plot like something out of, well, “Revenge.” Even with lowered expectations on Fridays, poor ratings seem more likely to drive a stake into Dracula’s heart than any of his adversaries.
In other debuts worthy of the scary season, “30 Rock’s” Judah Friedlander searches for the Jersey Devil, the chupacabra and America’s version of the Loch Ness Monster in “The Monster Project” (8-10 p.m. Saturday, Nat Geo Wild); Daryl Hannah, Anthony Michael Hall and Shirley Jones star in “Zombie Night” (9 p.m. Saturday, Syfy); and spirits seek revenge in the new series “When Ghosts Attack” (10 p.m. Sunday, Destination America).
Or, if you prefer chills of the big-screen variety, the PollyGrind film festival returns for an encore weekend, boasting titles such as “Purgatorium” and “Legend of The Hillbilly Butcher,” Friday and Saturday at theatre7, 1406 S. Third St.
The remake of “Carrie,” starring Chloe Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore, is new in theaters this weekend.
And you can wrap up this year’s installment of the Outdoor Picture Show at The District in Henderson with free screenings of “Ghostbusters” (7 p.m. Friday) and “Wallace &Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit” (7 p.m. Saturday).
On the case: Yolanda McClary will be dishing out more “Cold Justice.” The Bonanza High graduate, who spent 26 years with the Metropolitan Police Department, wraps up the first season of the series, billed as an “unscripted procedural drama,” at 10 p.m. Tuesday on TNT. After helping to secure a guilty plea and three murder indictments in the first two episodes, McClary’s true-crime series will return with new episodes early next year.
Supermarket chefs: UNLV grad and Rolaids pitchman Guy Fieri hosts “Guy’s Grocery Games” (8 p.m. Sunday, Food Network), in which chefs compete in “real world” cooking challenges in a grocery store.
Come on down: Las Vegan Ambree Klemm is the first contestant on “Trust Me, I’m a Game Show Host” (10:30 p.m. Tuesday, TBS), the new comedy game show hosted by D.L. Hughley and Michael Ian Black.
Stage to screens: Stephen Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along,” filmed in London’s West End, is coming to movie theaters at 7 p.m. Wednesday. See it at the Colonnade, Orleans, Sam’s Town, South Point and Village Square. And Shostakovich’s “The Nose,” presented by the Metropolitan Opera, will be broadcast live at 9:55 a.m. Saturday. See it at the Cannery, Colonnade, Orleans, Sam’s Town, Santa Fe, South Point and Village Square.
Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@ reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4567.