Good news for those of us that have been waiting for Eli Roth to get back behind the camera, the director has signed on to helm HEMLOCK GROVE, a new ‘gothic horror series’ based on the novel by Brian McGreevy.

The TV show is the latest acquisition for Netflix, the US streaming company that are slowly moving into the realm of original content (they’re the ones giving us a fourth season of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT!). The story will revolve around the mystery of a shocking murder in the strange, titular town, and will be told over 13-parts.

For those of you unfamiliar with the source material, here’s the official synopsis of McGreevy’s book to give us a better idea of the story:

“The body of a young girl is found mangled and murdered in the woods of Hemlock Grove, Pennsylvania, in the shadow of the abandoned Godfrey Steel mill. A manhunt ensues—though the authorities aren’t sure if it’s a man they should be looking for. 

Some suspect an escapee from the White Tower, a foreboding biotech facility owned by the Godfrey family—their personal fortune and the local economy having moved on from Pittsburgh steel—where, if rumors are true, biological experiments of the most unethical kind take place. Others turn to Peter Rumancek, a Gypsy trailer-trash kid who has told impressionable high school classmates that he’s a werewolf. Or perhaps it’s Roman, the son of the late JR Godfrey, who rules the adolescent social scene with the casual arrogance of a cold-blooded aristocrat, his superior status unquestioned despite his decidedly freakish sister, Shelley, whose monstrous medical conditions belie a sweet intelligence, and his otherworldly control freak of a mother, Olivia.”

Sounds intriguing indeed, but hopefully there are enough innovations here to distance itself from the inevitable comparisons to TWIN PEAKS.

First to be cast is the always amazing Famke Janssen (most famous for her role as Jean Grey X-MEN’s) and Bill Skarsgard (most famous for being the little brother of TRUE BLOOD’s Alexander.) The two will play Olivia and Peter respectively. Here’s some pics, just because.

In a statement earlier, Eli Roth said of the project: “I’ve been waiting for years to dive into television, and Eric Newman and I founded Arcade to do elevated genre projects exactly like ‘Hemlock Grove. Brian McGreevy’s novel blew me away, and the material lends itself perfectly to long format storytelling. ‘Hemlock Grove’ is smart, dark, complex, and at times terrifying.”

HEMLOCK GROVE is expected to hit Netflix in 2013. Hopefully the UK version of the service will also carry it at the same time. (As anybody who’s signed up to the belatedly launched service last month will attest, they need to reeeeally start expanding their content soon if they want to stay the course.)

Thoughts? Share ’em with your fellow readers in the Comments section or on Twitter @Starburst_Mag

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