The River follows the story of wildlife expert and TV personality Emmet Cole. Emmet set course around the world with his wife, Tess, and son, Lincoln, while filming what would become one of the most popular shows in television. After he goes missing deep in the Amazon, his family, friends and crew set out on a mysterious and deadly journey to find him. Famed explorer Dr. Emmet Cole (Bruce Greenwood) went looking for magic deep in the uncharted Amazon and never returned.
On the heels of FX’s American Horror Story, ABC is preparing an intense and scary series called The River. It was born out of Oren Peli, the man best known for developing the Paranormal Activity franchise. Peli ripped a page out of his Paranormal playbook and used stationary security cameras and the mobile “shaky cam” film style to follow an ensemble cast, including 24‘s Leslie Hope and Paul Blackthorne and Bruce Greenwood in The River.
At the TCA panel today, executive producer Michael Green shared some insight into how the eight-episode first season arc will play out. “We know all the pitfalls [of a serialized show] and do not want to fall into them. Each episode is a stand-alone horror film. We looked more to X-Files than to shows like Lost. We’re going make each one of them a little jewel.” Intriguing, yes? Though the pilot reveals that the rescue team/camera crew are being haunted by a supernatural spirit, Green promises that there’s more in store for them. “It’s the Amazon, there’s more than ghosts to be scared of,” he said. “There’s an endless number of things that can hurt you.” Will the threat of death be lurking around every corner for the cast of characters we’ll come to know over the season? Green presses, “We won’t remove people needlessly just for the gag. My philosophy in TV is to treat every script like it’s your last because chances are it will be.”
Having screened the pilot at Comic Con, I can say that the first episode is very cinematic and, indeed, genuinely frightening. A critic at the TCAs brought up the point that the way in which the “found footage” shaky cam style of shooting is eerily similar to the way Peli does it on the big screen. In fact, after watching the pilot I thought to myself the The River could work stupendously in theatres due to its cinematic nature. Green commented that “We didn’t try to be overly cute about it. In a way it makes it feel more improvisational, a lot scarier.” I wholeheartedly agree. ABC boss Paul Lee revealed that if The River were to live on past its short season order, the producers and writers have a wild imagination that’s prepared to further explore the mystery and intrigue behind Emmet Cole’s disappearance.
If you’ve seen commercials or print advertisements for this show, you should know that filmmaker Steven Spielberg is being pimped as one of The River‘s executive producers. But does he actually have any impact on the creative direction of the supernatural fright fest? Exec producer Zack Estrin says yes. “[Spielberg’s] influence with stories, his influence when he watches the cuts is amazing. I mean, he’s off doing a movie — or two — and the fact he finds time to watch these cuts and give us notes and be just incredibly supportive is great for us. To have someone like him at our hip and giving us guidance that’s not superficial but indeed foundational is pretty great.” In other words, his presence is felt behind the scenes, and hopefully the audience will notice it too.
“For as many episodes as we are blessed to have, we have real stuff to go off of,” added Estrin in regards to the show in general. “We wanted you to be not just scared, but worried for the people. I think that’s what will make the difference between a great horror movie and a great horror series.”
The River premieres February 7 on ABC.