A TV show that starts and ends with Marilyn Manson singing is guaranteed to be rather dark.  Add in a writer who has written scripts for movies such as Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, and what you get is a primetime horror show, which is The Following in a nutshell.

The premise is that serial killer Joe Carroll, who has been in prison awaiting execution, has been communicating with his followers who worship him and want to emulate his crimes and after years of communication, they are now acting under his command.

Not for the faint of heart, The Following shows gruesome scenes with no clever camera angles hiding any part of the damage inflicted by Carroll and his followers.  Carroll, who is played by James Purefoy, worships Edgar Allan Poe and believes, like Poe, that a beautiful woman dying is like making art.

Kevin Bacon, in his first major television role since the ‘80s, plays Ryan Hardy, an ex-FBI agent who caught Carroll in 2003.  Hardy struggles with a drinking problem and doesn’t “play well with others,” part of the reason he was let go from the FBI.  He is brought back in to help the FBI in the Pilot episode when Carroll escapes prison with the help of his followers, hence the name of the show.

For a network show, Fox doesn’t hold much back, not hesitating to show a girl with no eyes and another girl voluntarily stabbing herself in the eye.  The show also has enough moments of suspense to ensure that I will be sleeping with the lights on for the next week.

With Kevin Bacon and James Purefoy in the lead roles, the show feels more like a movie than a television show, and with strong acting the only question regarding its viability is how many people will tune in to watch a show this dark.

In The Following’spilot, there is not a trace of humor and no hesitation to display the brutality of a man with a twisted mind.  There is no break from the horror, which might turn away some viewers.  Despite the dark nature of the show, the plot is original and, if you can take the horror, well worth it.

The Following airs Monday nights at 9 p.m. on Fox.