The Returned (2015)

What Cuse and Tucker have done best is maintain the eerie tone and feel from the original.

Though his [Carlton Cuse's] version is not quite as eerie and enigmatic as the French version, it's still pretty dang eerie and enigmatic, particularly for those watching the story unfold for the first time.

It's not a talky show; there's as much to be gleaned here in what is not said as what is. The moodiness of the production also goes a long way in helping us suspend our disbelief.

There are a lot of characters and talent involved here--Mary Elizabeth Winstead notably plays the bride who was left behind--but The Returned is very much a show propelled forward by its story and the questions it raises.

The final sequence in the premiere doesn’t quite work like it did in the original, and the small-town atmosphere of dread isn’t quite the same, but these are minor complaints for a surprisingly effective drama.

All told, a heavily crowded series, stuffed with characters and interwoven tales of vengeance, betrayal, murder--unyielding in its darkness, unfailing in its power to hold you in its grip.

The Returned is little more than a nimble translation, but the material is strong enough to reward its staunch fidelity.

The critical success of the original “Returned,” as well as brainier zombie shows such as BBC America’s “In the Flesh,” has spawned other American knockoffs, such as ABC’s “Resurrection,” the kind of series that reminds us that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but only if it’s done as well as A&E’s The Returned.