Chapelwaite is a new American horror series based on Stephen King’s short story “Jerusalem’s lot.” Peter and Jason Filardi wrote it, and it was released on Epix on August 22, 2021.
The story revolves around the Boone Family. Charles Boone is the captain of a whaler ship who moves to a small town called Preacher’s Corner, Maine, with his three children unknown of the dark past, curse, and the secrets after his wife’s tragic death are the Boone family heirloom.
The first episode, “Blood calls Blood,” begins in 1850, when the protagonist Charles Boone, a whaler, inherits the infamous Chapelwaite Mansion’s family fortune in Maine.
He relocates with his three children, Honor, Loa, and Tane, but receives a rather harsh welcome from the townspeople who believe the Boone family is a curse and the reason for their unhappiness and misfortune.
The captain hires a governess for his children: Rebecca Morgan, a college graduate and an author; in short, she is a free-thinking woman who defies society and the church.
The mystery and the curse also revolve around Stephen, Philip, and Marcella Boone, the previous owners of Chapelwaite. After his death, Stephen gives away all the ancestral property to Charles, his cousin, which is termed suicide.
The second episode is titled, Memento Mori.Â
A child suddenly dies of illness which is named the Boone disease, due to the hatred of the Boone Family among the townsfolk. The child, before dying, says that Stephen Boone is here to take her away, creating a series of terror among the people, starting a rumor that Stephen Boone lives. The people demand that Charles open Stephen’s grave for the people’s satisfaction, but she refuses. Privately, he opens the tomb to find out that nobody is in the grave, raising his suspicion.Â
The third episode is titled “The Legacy of madness.” Â
There is a hereditary madness in the family,Â
The illusion of seeing worms everywhere. The same hereditary tendency afflicts Charles, and he too sees worms everywhere. To find the root cause of this delusion, the hereditary madness, he sets out to an asylum to seek answers.
The fourth episode is titled “The Promised.”
Charles is ready to seek treatment from the asylum because he thinks he is mad, just like his cousin and the rest of the family. His son Tane discovers a hidden passage in the barn behind the mansion, and Charles decides to find out where the course leads; that is when he discovers that Stephen is alive and is living inside the estate’s walls.Â
The fifth episode is titled “the prophet,” Charles discovers a man named Jakub who lives in an abandoned town with his followers known as “Jerusalem’s lot.”
Jakub tells him about the family madness and says that the only way to save his family is to find the lost book which his cousin Stephen and Uncle Philip had hidden. The Children discover Rebecca’s drafts.
The only reason she decided to be the governess of the Boone family was that she wanted to write a story on the Boone curse and publish it in the paper to earn money and become famous.
The sixth episode is titled “The Offer” To everyone’s surprise, this episode contains the death of Charles’s second daughter Loa, who Stephen lures in with a promise that she will be able to see her dead mother. Both Stephen and Philip, who are vampires, propose to Charles that if he brings them the book about which Jakub talked, he will save his family.
The finale, the seventh episode titled “De vermis mysteriis,” shows that Charles is overwhelmed with his daughter’s death and turns the world upside down to find the book and bring an end to this madness.Â
The series started on a good note with the sleepy little town and the grand mansion Chapelwaite. The story progress at a good pace with all the mystery and gore, and suspense.
The revelation that Stephen and Philip are vampires takes the story to the wrong side as the suspense, and the mystery created during the earlier episodes is obliterated.
The ghost element in the series is a vampire, and the depiction of the end of the world is a little childish, even though the cast and the rest of the storyline are fantastic.
