Terry Moore's Comic Rachel Rising Will Soon Add More Horror And Mystery To TV

For horror fans, it feels like television is entering a post-Golden Age, where networks aren’t afraid to go for viewers in visceral and frightening ways, rather than making them laugh or follow criminal investigations. FX has the third season of American Horror Story coming this fall. The Walking Dead has achieved record ratings for AMC. A&E and NBC both reinterpreted classic characters for their respective prequel series Bates Motel- which already secured a second season - and Hannibal, which is slowly building itself into a success. And Eli Roth’s Hemlock Grove premieres on Netflix this Friday. These are frightening times indeed.

Alcon Entertainment Group’s TV branch, Alcon Television Group, will take on a small screen adaptation of comic mastermind Terry Moore’s horror mystery series Rachel Rising. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Moore will executive produce the series, along with Alcon and longtime producer Lloyd Levin, who worked on the Watchmen and Hellboy films.

But Rachel Rising, nominated as one of the Best New Series for the 2012 Harvey Awards – doesn’t have superheroes to draw viewers in. Just the stark tale of Rachel, a woman who wakes up in a shallow grave, alive except for the fact that she has a nasty scar across her throat and that she’s actually dead. She looks to her friends in town to help her solve the mystery behind her death, all while a freaky blonde killer is on her trail, using a freakier little girl as her mate. This isn’t gory, psycho horror. It’s a thought-provoking take on death, witchcraft and local history, which makes it vastly different from all of the shows mentioned in the first paragraph.

Though it’s still in its earliest stages, preliminary shopping around has attracted interested from various networks, sources tell THR. Something tells me this needs to land on a network that actually pays attention to what it airs, so none of the Fab Four here. Maybe Netflix or A&E could nail the B&W bleakness, but we’re interested even if this thing ends up airing on Disney.

Nick Venable
Assistant Managing Editor

Nick is a Cajun Country native and an Assistant Managing Editor with a focus on TV and features. His humble origin story with CinemaBlend began all the way back in the pre-streaming era, circa 2009, as a freelancing DVD reviewer and TV recapper.  Nick leapfrogged over to the small screen to cover more and more television news and interviews, eventually taking over the section for the current era and covering topics like Yellowstone, The Walking Dead and horror. Born in Louisiana and currently living in Texas — Who Dat Nation over America’s Team all day, all night — Nick spent several years in the hospitality industry, and also worked as a 911 operator. If you ever happened to hear his music or read his comics/short stories, you have his sympathy.