Daimon Helstrom is a monster hunter. His sister Ana is a monster hunter too. Together they track down the worst of humanity, and together they fight to keep their family’s name from being remembered as the name of a killer. That is the premise of Helstrom, Hulu’s short-lived horror-drama series that ran for ten episodes across a single season, premiering on October 16, 2020. It is a show about the children of a powerful serial murderer, and it wants to be a dark, brooding meditation on guilt, inheritance, and the sins of the father visited upon the children. Mostly, it is a show that does not know what it wants to be.
Helstrom is based on the Marvel Comics characters Daimon and Satana Hellstrom, and it follows the siblings as they investigate crimes that appear supernatural but are almost always revealed to be human in origin. The series was created by Paul Zbyszewski, who served as showrunner, and it was produced by Marvel Television and ABC Signature Studios. It was planned as the first entry in Marvel Television’s Adventure into Fear franchise, which would sit within the larger continuity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) but would not crossover with its films or other TV shows. That plan changed in December 2019, when Marvel Television was folded into Marvel Studios and oversight of the series shifted there.
Trailer, via Hulu.
The Helstrom Family
The core of Helstrom is the relationship between Daimon and Ana. Tom Austen plays Daimon, a man who can see the souls of others and whose body is marked by the sins of his father. Sydney Lemmon plays Ana, who is more pragmatic and harder-edged, willing to use violence where her brother hesitates. Their dynamic is supposed to be the engine of the show: Daimon’s moral qualms versus Ana’s willingness to do what needs to be done. In practice, the tension between them feels thin. Austen and Lemmon are both capable actors, but the script rarely gives them much to work with beyond a standard sibling rivalry.
Elizabeth Marvel plays Victoria Helstrom, the mother of Daimon and Ana and the wife of the serial killer who fathered them. She is meant to be a shadowy figure, a woman who knows more than she lets on about her husband’s crimes. Robert Wisdom plays Henry, the Caretaker, a man who serves Victoria and watches over the Helstrom estate. June Carryl plays Dr. Louise Hastings, a psychiatrist who becomes involved in the investigation. Ariana Guerra plays Gabriella Rosetti, a woman who works with the siblings. Alain Uy plays Chris Yen, another associate. The recurring roles are filled by Daniel Cudmore as Nurse Keith Spivey and David Meunier as Finn Miller.
The ensemble is competent, but it is also large for a show that only ran ten episodes. Some characters are introduced and then forgotten within a single episode, which dilutes the impact of the central relationship between Daimon and Ana.
The Case Files
Each episode of Helstrom follows a different case, and the format is similar across the board. Someone commits a crime that looks supernatural — a murder that seems to involve demons, a haunting that might be a ghost, a curse that affects a family. The siblings investigate, find evidence that points to a human perpetrator, and then confront that person. The twist is always the same: the supernatural element is revealed to be a lie, and the real villain is a person who used technology, manipulation, or psychological trickery to create the illusion of evil.
That structure is fine on its own. What makes it wearisome is that the show never varies it. There is no arc for the characters, no escalation of stakes, no deepening of the mythology. The cases are all variations on the same formula, and after a few episodes the repetition becomes exhausting.
The Visual Effects
Where Helstrom shines is in its visual effects. The show is full of ghosts, demons, and otherworldly apparitions, and the practical and digital effects are genuinely impressive. The sequences where Daimon sees the souls of others are rendered with a mix of practical makeup and visual effects that hold up well. The show also makes effective use of lighting and color grading to create a grim, oppressive atmosphere, particularly in the scenes set in the Helstrom mansion.
The problem is that the visuals are not matched by the writing. A show can look great and still fail if the story underneath is weak, and Helstrom is a prime example of that failure. The effects are often used to mask the lack of substance in the plotting, creating moments of dread that evaporate once the reveal comes.
The Tone Problem
Helstrom is pitched as a horror series, but it is unclear what kind of horror it wants to be. It leans toward psychological horror at times, focusing on the inner demons of its characters rather than literal monsters. At other times it attempts supernatural horror, complete with demonic entities and cursed objects. Then it switches to procedural crime drama, with the siblings acting as detectives solving murders. The result is a show that is constantly shifting gears, never settling into a mode that feels consistent.
This tonal instability is a major problem. When a show cannot decide whether it is a thriller, a horror film, or a detective story, the audience gets pulled in multiple directions at once. None of them land.
The Father’s Legacy
Victoria Helstrom is the key to understanding the show’s failure. She is the one who knows the truth about her husband’s crimes, and she is the one who has kept the family’s secrets for years. The show hints at a larger conspiracy involving the Helstrom name, but it never fully delivers on that promise. The father’s legacy is supposed to be the central mystery, but the series spends so much time on individual cases that the broader picture remains fuzzy.
The show was canceled on December 14, 2020. The finale’s contents are not described in the available materials, and no further details about its shape are known.
The Reviews
Helstrom was released to largely negative reviews. Critics felt that the characters and the plot were uninteresting, though they acknowledged that the visual effects were impressive. The show’s Metacritic-derived figure is 4.0/10, and that number feels accurate. A show with decent production values and a talented cast deserves better than a premise this thin.
The criticism is fair. A show about monster hunters should be able to hold an audience’s attention with its story alone, even if the budget is modest. Helstrom fails that test repeatedly.
The MCU Question
One of the more interesting aspects of Helstrom is its relationship to the MCU. The show was originally planned as part of the Adventure into Fear franchise, which would exist within the MCU’s continuity but would not crossover with its films or other TV shows. That plan was abandoned when Marvel Television was folded into Marvel Studios, and the show’s creator, Paul Zbyszewski, told a standalone story instead.
The show does not explicitly reference the MCU, but it draws from its established characters. The decision to treat it as a standalone story was probably wise, since the show was so clearly a dead-end. But it also means that the series has no future in the larger universe, which limits its appeal for fans of the MCU.
The Final Word
Helstrom is a show with a good idea and a terrible execution. It could have been a gripping exploration of guilt, inheritance, and the weight of a family’s past. Instead, it became a repetitive procedural with occasional flashes of style. The performances are competent, the effects are impressive, and the premise is compelling. But none of that is enough to save it.
The show was canceled after its single season, and it left behind a legacy of wasted potential. It is a show that critics and audiences alike have largely forgotten, and that is probably for the best. There is no shame in forgetting a show that was never very good.
Key Facts
- Creator: Paul Zbyszewski
- Network: Hulu
- Season: 1, 10 episodes
- First aired: October 16, 2020
- Last aired: October 16, 2020
- Cancelled: December 14, 2020
- Metacritic-derived figure: 4.0/10
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