Channel Zero: Welcome to the No-End House

29 October 2018

Channel Zero: Welcome to the No-End House

Update: Channel Zero is no longer on Showmax. Find your next binge in the full series catalogue here.

A door creaks open into darkness in the second spooky season of Channel Zero (2016-current, Seasons 1 and 2 are now streaming on Showmax) as best friends Margot (Amy Forsyth), Seth (Jeff Ward), Jules (Aisha Dee) and JT (Seamus Patterson) decide to visit the “fun” haunted house on Nivens Street.

The building is supposedly an artist’s installation called The No-End House (which is also the title of this second season of Channel Zero). But the artwork’s materials are listed as “Wood, nails, copper, caulk, you”.

Wild rumours are flying about the house and a previous visitor is shown staggering out and throwing up. It’s a Spooktober special that promises to make all their nightmares come true. But this is no ordinary house/art project. Giant red spray painted letters warns guests “Beware the cannibals” – which is nice as you don’t have a dog to guard the property, we suppose. We got an especially soulless real estate agent to guide us around six of the house’s rooms.

Channel Zero: No End House - Season 1.5
Channel Zero: The No-End House. Amy Forsyth as Margot, Aisha Dee as Jules. Image: NBC

The head room

Just through the entrance way, this fabulous living area features original period fixtures including a bay window, fireplace, hardwood floors and a moulded, vaulted ceiling that just ooze craftsmanship – along with eight sculpted busts that visitors claim to be eerily, disturbingly lifelike. As with many old houses, there is an intermittent electrical fault that occasionally plunges the room into the dark pits of hell, so don’t forget that that cellphone you were using just moments ago has a flashlight function so you can see the disembodied hands.

The Pool Room

Just off the head room via the right-hand fireplace door, we have what we like to call the Pool Room. It has great potential as an ultra-luxe wet room thanks to the sunken entrance and exit ways and well-spaced, waterproof lighting fixtures. What could be more chic than your own private indoor pool? Again, there is a lighting fault, but nothing that a competent electrician and exorcist couldn’t attend to. The paint needs a touch up, but that will have the added benefit of covering the conspicuous fresh streak of blood on the floor. The revolving door off the pool room – yes, it does stick occasionally – leads to a corridor that would benefit from your special touch updating the wallpaper, lighting sconces and carpeting, as they are currently quite literally maddeningly dreary and tasteless.

The Attic Room

At the end of the passage we have a pretty blue entrance way leading into an attic-styled room with pitched ceiling and a giant video wall. Like the pool-room, this entertainment area is one of the high-end features of the No-End House. The current projection system plays trippy footage of guests’ past traumas, but that’s not to say you couldn’t replace it with rugby or The River. The only limit is your imagination.

Channel Zero: No End House is first on Showmax
Image: NBC

The Living-Dead Room

A connecting door leads to a living area or family room that has currently been staged with a bland couch, television and tranquil neutral décor that should shows off the house’s potential to buyers who might have been put off by the more avant-garde aspects of this home. To add to that feeling, the TV and video setup has been loaded with potential buyers’ home video footage, and a dead, bloated relative is pre-installed on the sofa to welcome you home. Charmingly retro.

A door off the Living Dead Room leads outside…ish. A special feature of The No-End house is the neighbourhood, an absolute dream to anyone who has ever managed a Home Owner’s Association. The houses featured are uniformly beige, and all gardens are well maintained. Interiors have all been modelled on guests’ childhood homes.

Other features of the No-End House and neighbourhood include a light-up whisper-egg, masked creeps, wandering lunatics, temporal and spacial anomalies, corpses in the street, neighbours who mind their own business, murderous doppelgangers, orchids galore and that sinking feeling. Also, cannibals. We promised six rooms and you will have noticed we have mentioned only five. This you have to see for yourself. So come, come inside your darkest thoughts…

Plus

If you’re trick or treating this October, Showmax has blood and terror for all your for Halloween needs! Aside from Channel Zero, we also recommend a “screaming” of another newly released series…

Sleep Tight (2018) follows a young Marianne (Jessica Garcia) as she collects people’s stories of true encounters with the supernatural, bizarre and evil. But the more she collects, the more something from the other side will start to pay attention to her.

So far so whatever, but don’t turn the lights off and prepare to spook-grab your cousin’s ankle just yet. Each story has a modern, social media theme that plays with the idea of urban legends, often with a humorous twist. The horror of Friending your parents on Facebook is nothing compared to what Sleep Tight does with Facebook game requests!

Your Halloween “screaming” playlist

Siembamba is on Showmax
Image: Phoenix Films

Dark Beacon (2018)

Siembamba (2017)

Freakish (2016)

The Frankenstein Chronicles (2015)

Nightrunners (2015)

The Woman In Black” Angel Of Death (2014)

Warm Bodies (2013)

Insidious (2010)

RAQ (2016)

Scream (1996); Scream 2 (1997); Scream 3 (2000)

From Dusk Till Dawn (1995)

Start watching now »

Original African stories by local talent

Tollie en Manila

Die Tollie & Manila Show

A bold talk show where SA celebs join drag queens Tollie Parton and Manila von Teez for an evening of conversation and games… in drag. Landing 4 November.

Original
/images/za.svgMade in South Africa
The Station Strangler on Showmax

The Station Strangler

The Station Strangler is a true-crime documentary investigating the serial killer who is believed to have killed 21 young boys and one adult from the late 80s to the mid-90s on the Cape Flats. Stream from 6 November.

Original
/images/za.svgMade in South Africa
Black & Blue on Showmax

Black & Blue S1

Black & Blue, a Showmax Original police-based mockumentary series, lands on 6 November, with new episode every Wednesday.

Original
/images/ke.svgMade in Kenya
Ubuthe Uzobuya on Showmax

Ubuthe Uzobuya

Ubuthe Uzobuya delves into the lives of couples torn apart when one partner abruptly disappears without explanation. Stream from 29 October.

Original
/images/za.svgMade in South Africa
Princess on a Hill is on Showmax

Princess on a Hill

Princess on a Hill is a compelling drama series that explores themes of power, ambition, and the cost of success. Stream from 7 November 2024 on Showmax.

Original
/images/ng.svgMade in Nigeria
Brasse Vannie Kaap on Showmax

Brasse Vannie Kaap

Brasse Vannie Kaap is a documentary about the iconic, game-changing 90s group who helped make hip hop South African. Stream now on Showmax.

Original
/images/za.svgMade in South Africa
Soft Life on Showmax

Soft Life

Soft Life follows Owami who enters into the secretive world of high-society companionship. Landing on Showmax soon!

/images/za.svgMade in South Africa
Style Magnate on Showmax

Style Magnate

Style Magnate is a Nigerian Showmax Original following 20 designers vying for a life-changing prize. Stream now, with new episodes every Friday.

Original
/images/ng.svgMade in Nigeria
Soft Life, coming to Showmax
My Brother’s Keeper S1 on Showmax