Penny Dreadful is a horror story with elements of other famous horror stories interwoven- Dracula and Frankenstein to name two-with a subplot involving an Egyptologist, the Egyptian Book of the Dead, an ancient curse from a couple of Egyptian deities who are upset about something, and a cadaver with Egyptian hieroglyphics written on it (or in it). The actor gives him the name “Caliban,” also from Shakespeare.

He is befriended by an actor drawn to freakish people who gives him a job as a sort of stage hand in the Grand Guignol theatre, which specializes in theatrical bloodletting and gory stagecraft.

He is much scarier than Proteus and knows how to spread mayhem to get what he wants. (My favorite scene is when Victor realizes during a thunderstorm that Proteus is up and walking around, meaning that he is “alive.” Victor is so astounded he is breathless.) Just when Victor and Proteus are getting on so well, Victor’s first “creature” (that we didn’t know about until that moment) returns and kills Proteus. When the series begins, we find that the “creature” he has created is doe-eyed, sweet and gentle, not at all a “monster.” Victor names him “Proteus” from Shakespeare. He lives in a dark hovel and experiments with creating “men” from parts culled from cadavers. He has a sort of soulful intensity and the dimple in his chin doesn’t hurt either.

Victor Frankenstein is my favorite character. For any medical services, Sir Malcolm enlists the aid of Dr. In an ongoing effort to rescue his daughter, Sir Malcolm has joined forces with a woman known as Vanessa Ives (Eva Green), who, we are told, “is affected by forces outside our world.” Sir Malcolm and Vanessa have engaged the services of one Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett), an American sharpshooter traveling in England with a Wild West show his unerring deadly aim might come in handy. She seems to have fallen into the clutches of a fiend or a really bad person along the lines of Count Dracula. Sir Malcolm Murray (Timothy Dalton) plays a wealthy explorer whose daughter, Mina, is missing. It’s set in London in the 1890s and has a gallery of interesting characters. Three episodes have aired so far of the new Showtime series, Penny Dreadful. Penny Dreadful ~ A Capsule Review by Allen Kopp

Proteus penny dreadful