Netflix’s ‘New Cherry Flavor’ Is Definitely ‘Channel Zero’ Season 5

This week, Netflix debuted Brand New Cherry Flavor, a horror series from the creator of Syfy’s Channel Zero, a rather fantastic but often overlooked horror anthology.

After watching all eight episodes I still can’t tell you Why it’s called Brand New Cherry Flavor, and yet I can say that yes, it absolutely sounds like Channel Zero Season 5, another twisted and surreal tale added to the other four.

Brand New Cherry Flavor features Rosa Salazar, a name and face you might recognize but correct can’t place, and I finally realized she was the wide-eyed star of Alita: Battle Angel. The show runs mostly thanks to the performance trio of Salazar, Eric Lange and Catherine Keener, all brilliant in their respective roles.

Salazar is Lisa Nova, a short filmmaker who catches the eye of shady producer Lou Burke (Lange), who takes her under his wing, and then when she rejects his romantic advances, he steals her film and gives it to someone. another to make it happen. an adaptation of functionality. An enraged Salazar turns to a local witch named Boro (Keener) who promises to curse Burke, but at an unspecified cost to Lisa.

What I like here is the frankness of it all. He doesn’t take himself too seriously. Lisa Nova bluntly tells Burke that she intends to curse him. The Witch is a multidimensional character with her own compelling story and reveals a story more complicated than just a “deal with the devil” as Lisa sinks deeper and deeper.

When it comes to the horror aspects, I don’t know how “scary” Brand New Cherry Flavor is. Channel Zero has always been baffling rather than big hopping moments. And there is nothing more annoying than seeing someone repeatedly vomiting newborn kittens as payment for the continued manifestation of a curse. Yes, that is exactly what it sounds like.

We see the Channel Zero creature design returning here, both in a nervous spirit that haunts Lisa as she becomes entangled with the curse. We see a woman with a crater for a face who lives under Lisa’s apartment which is deeply unpleasant to look at.

Brand New Cherry Flavor almost plays like a horror comedy. It’s dark and twisted, but due to the flexibility with which it deals with its subject matter, it’s sometimes allowed to be absurd and funny.

I’m not clear on what the plan is for the show. It’s supposed to be a “miniseries,” but it definitely ends in a way that looks like it could continue for a second season. And not just with a new, unrelated chapter like Channel Zero did, but with those same characters. That said, if that doesn’t happen (and I don’t expect this extremely weird series to climb exactly to the top 10 on the Netflix charts), it’s not enough of a cliffhanger to feel unsatisfying, and ultimately I would recommend it to any horror fan, or especially any Channel Zero fan.

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