Review: Fortitude

Looking for a really creepy series that instills a deep feeling of foreboding?

Try all 3 seasons of Fortitude. It doesn’t get much creepier and anxiety-inducing than that.

It’s on Amazon Prime so if you’re a subscriber, it’s free. Otherwise, you can buy episodes or the seasons.

Written by Simon Donald, Fortitude is billed as: Psychological thriller, Drama, Mystery, Horror, and Science fiction. It’s all that and more.

There is something beautiful and frightening about the Arctic setting of Fortitude.

That incongruity lends itself to the drama, becoming as much a character as the foreboding sense of impending doom. As you watch, inexplicable events shatter the lives of ordinary people in, what to them, is a normal world. But nothing is normal in the community of Fortitude.

3 Seasons of Nail-Biting Anxiety

Season 1 kicked off with the remarkable Stanley Tucci as one of the names American viewers will recognize in this BBC series.

Season 2 and 3 was led by the also remarkable Dennis Quaid.

When I watched Season 1, my first thought was, “This is slow. Why am I watching this?”

Oddly enough, I couldn’t stop watching! There was this building anxiety as I watched what seemed to be disconnected events in an oddly commonplace community despite that community being in the frozen Arctic region.

After a couple of episodes of freakishly weird events, nothing seemed common or mundane. At the same time, I realized the escalating creepiness I’d felt from the beginning was created in part by the stunning but subtle musical background.

No wonder the series was nominated 3 years in a row for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Music Score and Musical for Episodic Short Form Broadcast Media. It won in 2015 and 2016/2017.

Nothing like music to create a mood, right?

Season 1 was like being on a roller coaster, slowly climbing the steepest elevation, knowing you were going to get to the top then fly down at warp speed, scared and screaming.

By the end of Season 1, all the secrets are out and the mysteries are solved. Or are they?

Season 2 and 3 are your tickets for another horrifying roller coaster ride with some plot lines I found repellent and frightening. By the end of Season 3, you’ll be thinking the whole planet is at risk.

Fortitude wraps up its broadcast with a very short Season 4 that debuts April 14.

If you want to see some amazing acting, wildly imaginative stories, and hear a musical score that will give you the heebie jeebies, watch Seasons 1 through 3 now to get ready for the grand finale of Season 4 when they wrap up the series.

The Amazing Cast

Most of the main players—I won’t tell you who gets killed off—are there from Season 1 to the end.

The actors are incredible and deliver award-winning performances you won’t be able to forget. Give a big round of applause to the cast, composed of:

Richard Dormer as Dan Anderssen

Björn Hlynur Haraldsson as Eric Odegard

Sienna Guillory as Natalie Yelburton

Mia Jexen as PC Ingrid Witry

Luke Treadaway as Vincent Rattrey

Alexandra Moen as Petra

Sofie Gråbøl as Hildur Odegard

Verónica Echegui as Elena Ledesma

Stanley Tucci as DCI Morton

Darren Boyd as Markus Huseklepp

Dennis Quaid as Michael Lennox

Nicholas Pinnock as Frank Sutter

Elizabeth Dormer-Phillips as Carrie Morgan

Ramon Tikaram as Tavrani

Takeaway Truth

This is a series you may want to watch a couple of times just to pick up the subtle foreshadowing. Two thumbs up for Fortitude.

Tonight, grab a hot drink, wrap up in a blanket, and watch Fortitude, a frozen serving of suspense, horror, and mystery just perfect for a cold winter’s night.