When it comes to both breadth and scale, even though there is more streaming competition, it is still the leader. There is a lot to watch onNetflix, to the point that even seemingly big-name series and films can get buried by the system that is trying to show you the latest in reality TV. There are 10 excellent new titles that run the gamut from zombie thrillers to stop- motion family movies.
Cabinet of Curiosities is a terrifying anthology of hour long episodes from some of the most exciting people working in horror. There is a fun romp about killer rats from Cube director Vincenzo Natali, a very trippy sci-fi story fromMandy director Panos Cosmatos, and even a short about the horrors of beauty products directed by Ana Lilimpour. There are at least a few Lovecraft adaptions in this collection. The anthology is both consistent and varied, showing just how many different ways there are to approach a frightening story.
Love, Death and Robots is a collection of animated science fiction shorts that can get pretty weird and pretty gruesome, and the third season is arguably the best yet. There is a scary story about sailing alien seas, an unnerving piece about a siren tracking a soldier, and a dream from the director Emily Dean. In an era of hour-long prestige dramas, it is refreshing to binge a series that is less than 20 minutes long.
The first season of Russian Doll was very popular. It put a new spin on the tradition of a looper dying on her 40th birthday and teaming up with another looper to solve the puzzle. The second season is a time travel story where you can ride the MTA back in time. It takes a little longer to get going, but once things click, the second season is just as good as the first.
All of Us Are Dead changed my mind about zombie shows. The Korean series mixes zombie horror with high school drama. A group of students are trapped in their school in the middle of a flesh-eating outbreak. In the middle of all the heart-pounding escapes and tragic deaths there is still a budding teenage romance, as well as some humor to cut the tension. All of Us Are Dead is turned into a show that is hard not to binge watch.
It seems that the sequel to Knives Out has paid off for the streaming service. Glass Onion is a sequel that makes everything bigger, from the cast to the mystery. It once again sees Daniel Craig pick up his questionable southern accent as the detective, and this time he is invited to a murder mystery party hosted by a tech billionaire played by EdwardNorton. Watching the pieces fall into place as Blanc solved the mystery is very satisfying. It's a lot of fun with some hilarious writing and ongoing jokes that pay off by the end.
The House looks like a cute and fuzzy movie, but it is very dark. Each of the three stories tells a different tale about a specific house and the people who lived in it. You begin with its creation, then move into a renovation decades later, and then into a future seemingly decimated by Climate Change. The House is not a horror film, but it does have an unnerving tone beneath the surface, which makes it all the more disarming.
It has been a great year for del Toro on the streaming service. He also wrote and directed a musical adaptation of the children's book of the same name. It is not like the Disney movie. It is a family-friendly version of Pan's Labyrinth, with a combination of wonder, heartbreaking drama, and the sinister backdrop of rising fascists. Even Mussolini makes an appearance. It looks amazing, with a world that looks like it was carved from wood by a master craftsman.
Henry Selick has not released a new movie in a long time, but his latest feels like an instant classic. A young girl with special powers who makes a deal with a pair of demon brothers is the subject of a dark stop- motion tale that he and Jordan Peele collaborated on. There is a story about trauma and loss that also takes a stab at the prison industrial complex. There is something for everybody.
Thermae Romae Novae, a goofy time-travel story about an ancient Roman architect who is obsessed with bathing, was one of the best releases of the year on the streaming service. In each episode, the architect, who is stumped by a design problem, is transported to modern-day Japan, where he is inspired by our futuristic bathing technology and uses it to create something new in the past. Each episode ends with the author of the original comic visiting a Japanese hot spring or public bath to learn more about the history and culture of bathing.
The resurgence of puzzle box TV shows can be attributed to the likes of Yellowjackets and Severance. There is an answer to the trend. 1899 starts out as a ghost ship story and then progresses into something much stranger and more complex. The show throws a lot of different mysteries and narrative threads at you, but it is not until the final episode that you will understand what happened. Everything from the costumes to the set design is a clue as to what is going on in the show.
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