Castaween: 10 Must-See Series for a Good Time While Having a Bad Time

BarcelonaAlthough time still has us in short sleeves, many sofas already have a blanket for watching series. And, for Castaween, this blanket can serve as a cover for the most disturbing offerings on the platforms. This is a selection of the most notable horror fictions—in a broad sense—that have premiered since last November.

'Alien: Earth' (Disney+)

After seven films and countless short films and video games, the famous xenomorphs are coming to television for the first time with a live-action series, and also for the first time, they're landing on Earth. This prequel to Ridley Scott's original film features Noah Hawley, showrunner of Fargo, and combines existential moments—it shows how humanity begins to experiment with the possibility of immortality—and intense action scenes. In tone, it connects especially with James Cameron's sequel, which replaced the tension of the first film with a rush of adrenaline.

'Monster: The Ed Gein story' (Netflix)

Following Jeffrey Dahmer and brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez, the third installment of the series Monster focuses on one of the first murderers to achieve popular icon status. Ed Gein only confessed to two murders, but his death toll is believed to be much longer. He also desecrated graves and kept a macabre collection of human births. Over eight episodes, the twisted mentality of the protagonist, born to an ultra-Catholic and repressive mother, is explored, and it is suggested that Hitchcock was inspired by his case when creating the film. Psychosis. After two seasons in which Ryan Murphy was behind Monster, this is the first miniseries that the other co-creator, Ian Brennan, has tackled alone.

'Inside Number 9' (Filmin)

The British independent series of episodes comes to an end with a ninth and final season and a special episode that remains faithful to the premise: telling stories of grotesque and terrifying humor in a single space. The participation of the two genius creators, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, as actors, accompanied by actors, accompanied by BBC television is the icing on the cake for any resume: Derek Jacobi, Gemma Arterton, Fiona Shaw or Helen McCrory are just some of the actors who have appeared as guests in some of the episodes. As for surprising plots, we are not far from that classic Alfred Hitchcock present, and neither of the Unforeseen stories that TV3 initially offered, with an even more sinister twist. The later episodes are full of internal self-homages, metafiction, and formal experiments.

'It: Welcome to Derry' (HBO)

Stephen King's most monumental novel has had two big-screen adaptations. Now it's the series' turn, which refuses to retell the original story and instead opts for a sequel set in the 1960s that explains the sinister origins of the clown Pennywise, who steals the lives and innocence of children. Starring Jovan Adepo, Chris Chalk, Taylour Paige, and Bill Skarsgård, the action centers on the disappearance of a boy in Maine in 1962. This incident marks the beginning of the misfortunes that befall that community on the American East Coast. The creators have already announced that they have planned three seasons to unfold all the elements of this expansion of the universe of one of the American author's most celebrated contemporary horror stories.

'The summer Hikaru died' (Netflix)

Yoshiki and Hikaru are two teenage soul mates. They live in rural Japan, and the exact nature of their feelings is ambiguous. Hiraku dies in a mountain accident, but a supernatural being sucks his soul and takes his form, incorporating his personality and memories. When Yoshiki realizes that the other is not exactly his friend, conflict ensues. He wants to keep him and continues to interact with him. But it won't be easy because a battle breaks out between these supernatural beings and those who want to hunt them down. Based on one of the most successful manga of recent times, Netflix has added the original version to its catalog. anime, a 12-episode series, with a second season already announced. For lovers of soft-core animated horror, focused on all things supernatural, and with an openly LGBT perspective, it explores the themes of teenage platonic love.

'Lazarus' (Netflix)

Prolific mystery author Harlan Coben has decided to write a script directly this time, without first going through the novel format. The result is Lazarus, a series about a forensic psychologist trying to understand his father's suicide. As he does so, he is haunted by disturbing visions that lead him to several unsolved crimes, including the one that resulted in the death of his sister twenty-five years earlier. Bill Nighy, Alexandra Roach, David Fynn, Karla Crome, and Kate Ashfield star in this six-part English series, filmed in Manchester and part of the psychological horror genre, where anguish isn't cooked up with jump scares but rather a broth that gradually and restlessly heats up.

'The last of us' (season 2, HBO)

The second season of one of the platform's star series was marked by the challenge of killing off a key character in the second episode. However, critics have continued to applaud this post-apocalyptic fiction about a group trying to resist the onslaught of those infected with a strange disease that makes them behave like zombies. The secret lies in dense plots and characters with a great deal of psychological depth. Where the genre sometimes stagnates on the superficial side of the endless race to prevent the undead from devouring the staff's guts, The last of us It is an existentialist treatise infused with ecology that allows for many political readings, since the military governments it depicts make us reflect on the loss of freedoms in the name of security and, above all, on the neo-authoritarianism that is ravaging the world.

'Yellowjackets' (season 3, Movistar)

A girls' soccer team traveling by plane crashes and ends up lost in a Canadian forest for nineteen months. Survival is extremely difficult; they must resort to cannibalism, and soon the girls begin to establish a complex social hierarchy, where the best of the human soul is seen, but also the worst. Halfway between The Snow Society and Lord of the Flies, the series mixes this plot, set in 1996, with a timeline that takes place in the present, where the survivors have not yet managed to overcome the trauma they suffered a quarter of a century earlier. Whereas many titles suffer from a decline in audiences as new seasons are released, in this case Yellowjackets has made the third batch of episodes the most watched.

'Black mirror' (season 7, Netflix)

In Black Mirror There are no supernatural elements, but rather it's us humans, lost in our way by technology, who create distressing or, downright, horrifying situations. The latest season of this dystopian series created by Charlie Brooker has it all, including criticism of the very platform that hosts it: the first story is about a company that cures brain tumors remotely by paying a subscription. Of course, if you opt for the cheapest one, you occasionally interrupt your speech and involuntarily start narrating an advertisement. The comic horror, at times, also gives way to tenderness. Paul Giamatti stars in one of the most devastating stories when a company offers him access to the photographs it keeps of the woman he wanted to marry, who has just died. The app allows him to wander around the scene and discover details he didn't know about, which will reveal how that love never came to fruition.

'The Bondsman' (Amazon Prime Video)

Humor and horror often go hand in hand, as is the case in this series starring a bounty hunter who, after dying in a botched heist, wakes up the next day as if nothing had happened. Soon, he discovers he's become undead and now works for the devil. As if the premise weren't bizarre enough, his elderly mother is involved in all this, and the demonic attacks intertwine with the country music scene, as the protagonist had a very brief career as a country singer. The series is a vehicle for its lead actor, Kevin Bacon, to shine, and although critics greeted this lighthearted approach favorably, the network has decided not to renew it for a second season.