Lore (2017-18) was a short-lived Amazon series based on the popular podcast of the same name, narrated by Aaron Mahnke. The premise of both the show and the podcast is to explore the historical basis for many of the myths and urban legends in our culture. I vaguely remember when the show came out and thinking “sounds interesting” but for whatever reason, I didn’t pursue it until it recently came up as a recommendation on Amazon Prime.
The show closely adheres to the premise of the podcast, which is pretty stripped down (just how I like ’em), focusing on the facts without a lot of extraneous commentary. The one big difference between the two is that the miniseries contains a show-within-the-show of the historical events that allegedly inspired the urban legends, often cast with well-known actors, and with a pretty decent costuming budget. Think of it as a little historical horror flick contained within a larger narrative about the history of said horror. It’s an interesting concept which is probably why it wasn’t renewed after two seasons. Heck, I’m surprised it even got a second season!
As far as costuming content goes, it’s not bad. Season one was costumed by Ellen Falguiere and season two was designed by Sarah Arthur, who is currently enjoying acclaim for her designs on The Sandman (2022-). Some budget allocation clearly went into the costume department on Lore, with the overall quality of the historical segments being pretty good. There are some blunders, such as early Tudor gowns being used in the Elizabeth Báthory episode, when she was firmly 100 years later, fashion-wise. But the closer the show sticks to the current day and age, the better the costumes are.
Have you seen Lore (2017-18)? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!
That does sound interesting! I know about Elizabeth Bathory and poor Bridget Clearly but the others are new to me. I sincerely hope something awful happened to Dr. Freeman.
I watched a few episodes of Lore season one. I agree the Bridget Clary scenes were well done. As a whole, each episode felt bait and switch. The title and brief introduction of each episode was one thing, like zombies. The bulk would then be something else, like lobotomies.
Never heard of it. Sounds interesting.
I enjoyed the show overall but the Bathory episode was so bad I couldn’t even finish it, I didn’t even notice the costumes.
Being a LONG time listener of the podcast {I started listening in the second week of its release} I watched the Amazon series when it came out. I liked it a lot less than the podcast coz it felt very Halloween special on the history channel circa 2004.
I also hated the costumes on the werewolf episode. It felt like the assignment was “historical little red riding hood” and her flowing beachy waves distracted me all episode.