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The River chronicles the everyday living and disappearance of famed explorer Dr. Emmet Cole who turned his existence, and also the existence of his relatives, into a weekly Tv series combing unique locales aboard his boat “The Magus” for that ‘magic’ that he was convinced existed in character. Now missing for six months after a mysterious solo quest to search out ‘real’ magic, Cole has been declared dead. Is he? When Cole’s rescue beacon is activated deep from the Amazon River, Cole’s family members, in addition to a Television crew, embarks on a mission down a forgotten tributary hoping to seek out Cole alive, along the way they discover a trail inhabited by terrifying supernatural forces and mounting proof that Dr. Cole’s journey was an apt representation of Edgar Allen Poe’s ominous proclamation: "be mindful whatever you want for, lest it arrive correct."Watch The River Episode 3

Shot within the type of ‘Found Footage’ which has turn out to be the boon for collection co-creators Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity) and Michael R. Perry (American Gothic, Legislation & Order: SVU, Paranormal Action 2), The River is part Blair Witch, Part Heart of Darkness, and all authentic horror adventure with an aura of mystery that sucks you in like some kind of evil inescapable gravity. To evoke another of Poe’s macabre idioms, The Imp of the Perverse, The River is loaded with moments where you know you should look away, but you just can’t. A tension that is paid off with some very effective scares over, and over, and over again.

Without great characters The River would easily be just a schlocky creep-fest. Everyone from Bruce Greenwood’s Emmet obsessed Emmet Cole to Daniel Zacapa’s ship mechanic Emilio brings their A-Game into the collection with characters that beg for exploration and mesh with one another despite whatever mysterious motivations might be peering out from beneath their personas.

“Nothing is what it is around the River,” Joe Anderson, who plays Emmet’s son Lincoln Cole about the River, explains to me. “That is the best way to describe it. “

A fitting description that will make a lot more sense when you watch The River tonight on ABC. ‘The Unexpected’ is the domain of The River, combining Peli's perfection of the 'found footage' model while using visceral horror fantasy of EC comics, and the Warren Creepy and Eerie mags, and throwing in occasional bits of modern suspense and even a little Cronenberg inspired body-horror, the writers of The River know their horror, and they know it very well. The River is the scariest show on television being a result.

Anderson’s Lincoln Cole is in many ways the engine of the character ensemble. He has a lot of conflict both inside himself and with those around him, and carries a gargantuan chip on his shoulder. At the same time, he is intelligent, perfectly on his way to becoming a doctor, and not exactly a novice at this whole adventure thing having grown up to the decks of the Magus. So he’s not simply an angsty guy,  there is some legitimacy behind that chip. “From the get go Lincoln has spent six-months putting his father to rest. He’s been missing for 6 months and declared dead. Lincoln had to do the memorial service, and his mother wasn’t there, and then the beacon goes off and he’s being told occur on, the network won’t pay for a rescue mission unless you occur alongside so they can film it to have some drama.” Anderson explains. “[Lincoln] thinks straight off the top that that is something immoral; it doesn’t sit proper with Lincoln, the idea that my father could possibly be lifeless and this television company wants to extort that and make a Television show out of it. So the chip on Lincoln’s shoulder definitely comes from that at the beginning, but once he’s there, and once he’s on board, and once there is no turning back that chip will fade. Not too quickly, but it will fade.”

As for the experience of filming The River inside the ‘found footage’ style of Peli’s megahit franchise Paranormal Action, Anderson described some of the challenges involved. “There’s millions of cameras all over the place so you’re covered 360 degrees - up, down, left, ideal - so you have to be on your game all the time. One of the bigger challenges is the fact that you’ve got an actor shooting you. It’s not a cameraman it’s another actor who’s holding the camera, so they’re having to learn incredibly quickly how to grow to be camera ops. By the end of the season I would hear the director or the producers say ‘Well, we don’t need to bring the genuine cameraman in because that was just fine.’”

Those who are a little nervous about taking the trek up The River with Anderson and crew for fear of getting lost in a complicated serial needn’t worry. There are certainly over-arching plot elements, but as Anderson explains The River is just as enjoyable for casual viewing as it is for those who love a deep mystery. “Each week will have an individual story for sure, but over the season there will be storylines that run throughout and larger themes explored. Ultimately what we discover inside of each episode there will be pieces that, if you add them up over the eight episodes, will provide with the information you need to make the realization you need to make as an audience. If you’re just going to flick about the Tv and watch it you’re going to receive enough, and if you watch the whole season you’re going to become blown away. Either way, it works.”