Unwell, a Midwestern Gothic Mystery
5.0/5
Critic Rating
Unwell, a Midwestern Gothic Mystery is a new audio drama from HartLife NFP.Releases every other week during season.Lillian Harper moves to the small town of Mt. Absalom, Ohio, to care for her estranged mother Dorothy after an injury. Living in the town's boarding house which has been run by her family for generations, she discovers conspiracies, ghosts, and a new family in the house's strange assortment of residents.
Critic Reviews
Score: 5
Andrew Liptak • The Verge • Apr 7, 2019
"HartLife’s new podcast series Unwell is a good example horror storytelling. Parts of the series feels as though it’s akin to shows like Twin Peaks or Sharp Objects: stories set in, and dealing with characters who live in insular communities. It’s a type of story that has a long history within horror canon, and lends itself well to supernatural mischief. One notable element in the production that jumped out at me in the podcast comes at the end of each episode: an indigenous people’s acknowledgment that lists off the tribes that live in Chicago and southern Ohio. Now is a very good time to jump in and get caught up on the show. "
Score: 4.9
Elena Fernández Collins • Elena Fernández Collins Blog • Feb 21, 2019
"The creeping, quiet dread of the desolate Midwest—those distant areas where there’s nothing but corn, a gas station, and one ancient diner for miles—is the ideal setting for the terror and dysfunction that lives inside the Gothic family home, like the one in Dorothy Harper’s boarding house in Unwell and the town of Mt. Absalom...Between the writing and the performances, Unwell’s tackling of the micro- and macrocosms of generational distress is, so far, flawless—it is agonizing, cringe-worthy, and at times, hilarious in its weirdness."
