We’ve been warned throughout ROANOKE to be afraid of the Blood Moon and what it brings. With “Chapter 7,” the moon lives up to its name and FX filled our television screens with bloodshed as we said goodbye to some of our characters.  It shouldn’t come to a surprise as we’ve been told that only one will survive these three days of hell.

Show runners wasted no time in getting the violence going as we got a reminder of Sydney’s sleazy behind-the-scenes tactics and all that he would do for the sake of ratings.  Without showing any remorse that one of his main producers has disappeared, he gets a major hard-on when Matt and Dominic get into a fight over Shelby, an event he clearly anticipated.  He meets his maker when stepping outside and Agnes, once again playing the role of The Butcher, surprises him with her cleaver and kills whoever is left behind the scenes.  I will admit her sudden appearance made me jump, which is a scare I crave.

Back inside the house, our guests come to believe that Rory has fled to film his big opportunity in a high profile project.  Never mind the blood drenched rooms, but maybe they are just gimmicks Sydney is pulling to scare them.  We know better, but our cast quickly learns not to doubt the violent truth.  Matt is summoned in the middle of the night in a trance down to the basement where he meets the witch again for a late night fling.  Dominic witnesses this and sees this as an opportunity to stir up some onscreen drama and wakes up Shelby.  Shelby things she’s saving Matt, but irns out Matt only came back to the house to be with the witch this whole time.  Upon learning this, Shelby loses it and bashes Matt’s head in a sick rage.  As Shelby, Lily Rabe got to go crazy in a way we haven’t seen since she was possessed by the devil himself back in her ASYLUM days.  Dominic and Shelby end their night (or at least this episode) by watching Agnes come face to face with the real Butcher, who greets her a head splitting welcome.  Her entrance indeed seems to mark the beginning of the real American nightmare.

Meanwhile, Audrey, Lee, and Monet flee the house encountering who could possibly be the real Mott owner in the tunnels in a seriously creepy sequence, but end up out in the woods.  It’s there they get a brief glimpse at the real Roanoke colony only to be taken by the crazy rednecks who harassed Shelby in the “My Roanoke Nightmare” series.  Pulling major inspiration from 70s exploitation cinema, what ensues is incredibly gross as they season up Lee’s legs and force feed her meat to Audrey and Monet.  This is all caught on camera of course and I hope we get an epilogue episode for a finale to see America’s reaction to real life sadism.

Despite all the terror, “Return to Roanoke: Three Days in Hell” managed to squeeze in some humor to lighten the mood.  Audrey’s stupidity is often pointed out by other characters, but as she explains, “I’m not American.  I’m not used to this carnage!” Even with someone’s insides pouring out, she still can’t comprehend the sight of death in front of her.  On top of that, Audrey is still convinced Agnes has gone mad due to losing a Saturn award to her and just can’t cope.  Speaking of Agnes, it’s her confession that all she wanted was to be on TV that gets her killed.  We only got a dark look at the real Butcher so I’m curious as to if she’s going to continue being a presence on the show or was this her cameo.  As seen in previews at next week’s episode, Audrey and Monet’s nightmare continues and we get some more supernatural action that will for sure get your coworkers talking the next day.

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Jovy Skol

Jovy grew up loving all kinds of horror movies which is ironic because his parents hated them. CANDYMAN still scares the shit out of him and it doesn’t help that he lives in the Chicago suburbs. He loves venturing into lesser-known exploitation films of the 70s and being introduced to new movies. Along with movies, Jovy loves horror video-games and books, including comics. Some of his favorite franchises include SILENT HILL, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, and the RESIDENT EVIL games.

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