A 'chilling' Netflix thriller which landed on the streaming platform this month is based on a real-life massacre in 1857.
The six-part series has debuted immediately in the top five of the streamer’s charts and looks set to continue upwards in the coming days.
It is also written and created by Mark L. Smith, who co-wrote 2015's The Revenant aka the film that finally landed Leonardo DiCaprio his long-awaited Oscar.
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The TV show has also been a hit with fans, with an 8.2 on IMDb, and various rave reviews.
The cast is a whose-who of some of the most underrated actors around, including Taylor Kitsch, Betty Gilpin, Shea Wigham, Jai Courtney, Dane DeHaan, Derek Hinkey, and Shawnee Pourier.
The series follows a mother and son fleeing their past to start a new life as culture, religion and the US government all collide in a break-out war.
Check out the trailer here:
The show in question is called American Primeval, and is based on the ‘birth of the American West’.
Though critics haven’t been overly convinced with a 52 per cent critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, viewers are loving the show, with a 92 per cent crowd score on the website.
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One fan said on Twitter: “3 hours in on American Primeval *Netflix* One of the best series I've watched in a long time....... Top tier TV.”
Another said: “You guys have got to watch American Primeval on Netflix. That sh*t is so well done. Like masterpiece done.”
Meanwhile, someone else posted a shocked emoji, and wrote: “American Primeval on Netflix… it’s great but f**kin brutal.”
One viewer said: “AMERICAN PRIMEVAL has managed to shock me with its BRUTALITY and VIOLENCE (I don’t necessarily mean gore).
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“It’s been sometime since something has done that. It’s stark and chilling.”
An element that viewers are finding particularly shocking is the show’s portrayal of real-life historical events with bone chilling accuracy.
One of these events in particular is the ‘Mountain Meadows Massacre’.
This is a real massacre carried out by members of the Church of the Latter Day Saints, aka Mormons, in 1857.
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The members carried out a brutal mass murder of over 120 members of a wagon train, with many dressed as Native Americans, which is portrayed in the show using 280 actors after four months of planning, according to Netflix Tudum.
The show’s executive producer, Eric Newman, said of this segment of the show, which is shown in the very first episode: “We chose that because there was this intersection between a few different Native nations, the US government, the Mormons, and the American citizens who felt they had the right to move through this area.
“The Mountain Meadows Massacre did happen … and it became, for our narrative purposes, an inciting incident of conflict for our cast of characters.”
This portrayal has even caused a stir amongst Mormon and ex-Mormon communities alike.
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The Church of Latter Day Saints have previously expressed remorse for the massacre, writing in a statement: "We express profound regret for the massacre carried out in this valley 150 years ago today and for the undue and untold suffering experienced by the victims then and by their relatives to the present time."
Some have been critical of the portrayal, as writer Dan Peterson says on Patheos there's 'no excuse' for an 'inaccurate and sensationalized anti-Mormon portrayals' of the massacre due to the 'actual facts being bad enough'.
Meanwhile, a viral post in the r/exmormon subreddit said: “I started the INCREDIBLE series on Netflix this morning.
“I am a historian with a minor focus on the 19th century American west. This show obviously has some fictitious story arcs.
“But there are several plot points that are based on accurate research and credible sources.
"The Mountain Meadows Massacre is reenacted in the first episode (TA, it's pretty graphic), and the director/writer/film team, having done their research, exposes the fact that many of the Mormon militia dressed like the natives and wore masks so as not to defame themselves, and could use the tribes as a scapegoat for the attack.
“This is a very sore subject for Mormon apologists, not to mention the entire MMM event itself. But there are A LOT of things that happen in the FIRST episode that could grab the attention of questioning members of the church.”
American Primeval is available to watch on Netflix now.
Topics: Netflix, History, TV and Film, TV
Michael Slavin