nce, Frank Taylor (Fox) ignored a bump in the night, and it's a moment that will haunt him for the remainder of his life. Frank had the perfect life. He was a good cop and had a great wife and son. But then, in a moment, it all vanished when his son was kidnapped and never found.
Now, nearly two years later, Frank is divorced from Jessica (Collins) and working as a private investigator. He's hot on the trail of a man named Simon (Mann), who may be responsible for abducting two missing children, a boy and his babysitter. Frank finds the babysitter, who is wounded and dying, but Simon knocks him out. The next thing Frank knows, he is on the roof of a building and being dragged toward the edge. Frank is about to be pushed off, but he fights back and Simon stabs him. As Simon is about to finish him, Frank manages to get the better of him, and Simon falls to his death.
In the emergency room, doctors struggle to save his life. Frank dies on the table and he walks out of the room to see a boy at the end of the hall. The boy looks like his son, and Frank is about to go to him, when he finds himself being pulled back. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Simon grabs him.
Frank wakes up in the hospital. As soon as he can stand, he's back on the case. The babysitter died, but there's another boy out there and the police have no idea where he is. No sooner does Frank start his investigation again than strange things start happening. Someone from the other side seems to be
trying to get a message to him, but he doesn't understand what they want him to do.
Following the clues he sees in his visions, Frank finds himself getting closer and closer to figuring out where the boy is. However, he realizes some of the spirits surrounding him are not good, and there's at least one nasty spirit who will stop at nothing to make sure neither Frank nor the boy gets out alive.
A dark detective solves ghostly mysteries
The world of Frank Taylor is an interesting one to bring to television, mainly because it doesn't want to be anything else other than a dark, moody drama about a private eye who sees dead people. It's not a light and sunny series, and Haunted's main character isn't funny or witty. It's a serious show about a guy who has lost everything, and his sadness is etched in every move he makes.
Haunted rides on the shoulders of Fox's Frank Taylor, a driven man whose past haunts him, along with the ghosts who need his help in solving the mysteries with which they're involved. Fox is an appealing actor, and he gives Frank a level of intensity that envelops the character. The father of a missing and possibly murdered child should be an intense character, and while Fox's Frank may be in pain, he also has a mission. The villain of the series is Simon, a seriously demented fellow played by John Mann, who manages his own fierce intensity.
Haunted is moody, edgy and more than a little spooky. It rains, people cry and ghosts pop up in the most surprising ways. The script does a fine job at delving into the characters and their motivations, not letting up a moment to give them a breath. However, there are some curious moments that destroy the mood. Why do the police need to get a search warrant for a place that's considered a crime scene, and how does Frank manage to get around so well after he just nearly died? It seems like near-death should require at least a couple minutes of recovery. These elements feel wrong and take away from the flow of the story. However, those are minor quibbles.
This promising new ghostly series has plenty of potential if it continues to keep the right mix of detective story combined with ghost story. It's a fascinating combination.
