Chambers premieres April 26th on Netflix.
[Ed. Note: Being that TV and City is on a bit of a hiatus, this article has not been edited.]
By Ariba Bhuvad
Chambers is not a show you want to watch. Before getting into the thick of the review, let’s discuss what the show is all about.
Starring Uma Thurman (Kill Bill) and Tony Goldwyn (Scandal), Chambers follows the story of a young woman named Sasha who has a heart attack and gets a heart transplant, as a result. From this point in the story on, Sasha begins to encounter some weird circumstances. Characteristics, traits, and memories of the girl, Becky, whose heart she now has begun to haunt her. On the surface, it sounds like it could potentially be a fun, scary watch–but nope, not at all.
In fact, Chambers just takes bits and pieces from other horror movies to create its story and over the course of ten episodes, it just drags on without ever making a point. Why do we care about what’s happening to Sasha when it’s not adding to the overall plot in any way? Oh, that’s right, we don’t. Even the “scary” moments seem to fail here and fail to accomplish actually scaring the person that’s watching. I’m privy to getting scared in every horror movie/show I watch and I passively watched Chambers. Now that’s saying something.
It’s a shame because Goldwyn and Thurman are actually a wonderful addition to the cast, but their talents go to waste here. It comes as a surprise that they signed on for a project like this, to begin with. Between its lazy writing, horrible attempts to scare, and mundane storyline, you would think they’d have realized this series isn’t going to take them anywhere.
Of the episodes given to critics to review, I watched three of them before realizing that Chambers isn’t going to gain any traction or make a sudden turn in its narrative. Yes, it’s that bad. The series did have potential to be better than it was, given that the story was rather interesting, even though it has been done before. But that’s exactly what is so disappointing about it, you’re constantly waiting for that next big scary moment, but it never comes.
Perhaps, Chambers should be locked away in just that–a chamber of bad shows.
I give Chambers an F.
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