4 Years Ago, Netflix Quietly Released One Of The Best Body Horror Thrillers Of The Century

Netflix has made a lot of horror TV shows over the last ten years, exploring everything from classic ghost stories to suspenseful thrillers and slasher films. They’ve covered a wide range of horror subgenres, but one type still seems to be missing from their original shows.

Although films like The Thing and the recent The Substance have made body horror a celebrated genre, Netflix rarely features it in its TV series. This is odd, considering Netflix has the resources, creative liberty, and viewership to explore it. Unfortunately, shows focusing on disturbing physical changes, bodily invasion, and intense physical discomfort are still uncommon on the platform.

As a huge movie and TV fan, I was really surprised by something Netflix dropped in 2021. It’s called Brand New Cherry Flavor, and honestly, it was a wild ride! Created by Nick Antosca and Lenore Zion, it didn’t get a ton of hype, but it quickly stood out as one of the most disturbing and genuinely unsettling body horror shows I’ve ever seen on TV. It’s not for the faint of heart, but it’s incredibly effective.

Brand New Cherry Flavor Is Deliciously Gross

The 2021 Netflix Show Turns Bodily Transformation Into Its Primary Source Of Horror

The series Brand New Cherry Flavor immediately dives into intense and disturbing body horror. It quickly establishes that physical discomfort isn’t just a consequence of the story, but its central focus. The show features bodies changing, breaking down, and failing in ways that are deeply unsettling and personal, rather than simply trying to shock the audience.

The series revolves around Lisa Nova, a driven and angry filmmaker who finds herself in increasingly shocking and disturbing situations. Her body is repeatedly subjected to strange and frightening experiences, and the show connects these events to her emotional pain, making the horror feel justified and deeply unsettling.

The most shocking images in Brand New Cherry Flavor – like people throwing up kittens or bizarre, fleshy growths – aren’t just meant to be shocking for shock value. They’re presented with a raw, almost physical intensity that makes the viewer truly uncomfortable. The camera doesn’t look away, instead focusing on these moments long enough to make sure the feeling of disgust really takes hold.

Unlike typical horror that relies on shock and gore, Brand New Cherry Flavor focuses on the unsettling process of change. It emphasizes lasting consequences and the loss of control over one’s own body, making the horror stem not from immediate death, but from the terrifying experience of feeling trapped within a body that’s no longer your own.

Even in calm scenes, a subtle physical discomfort remains. These lingering feelings hint that the horror hasn’t truly disappeared, even when nothing frightening is actually shown. This ongoing sense of dread prevents the show from ever feeling completely secure or peaceful.

If you enjoy unsettling and extreme horror, Brand New Cherry Flavor doesn’t hold back. It fully commits to being shocking, disturbing, and emotionally raw, and doesn’t try to soften any of its intense moments. This makes it a surprisingly bold and challenging show for Netflix.

The Shocking Imagery Doesn’t Dilute Brand New Cherry Flavor’s Themes

Beneath The Gore Is A Focused Story About Power, Abuse, And Obsession

Even though Brand New Cherry Flavor is known for being shocking, it always stays focused on its core message. The Netflix series uses unsettling imagery to examine difficult topics like sexual assault, exploitation, and the damaging side of chasing success in Hollywood. The show’s most frightening scenes are directly connected to these issues.

Lisa’s story starts with a painful betrayal and abuse by Lou Burke (Eric Lange), a producer who uses his influence to harm her. The series takes this trauma seriously, and its emotional consequences drive the entire plot. Instead of being about gaining power, Lisa’s quest for revenge is shown as a way for her to cope with what happened.

As a huge fan of horror, I was really struck by how the show visually represented Lisa’s decline. It wasn’t just about scares; the increasingly disturbing physical changes she went through perfectly mirrored how her drive for success was actually destroying her. Each transformation felt like a visible consequence of a piece of herself she’d sacrificed to get what she wanted – a compromise she made for control and to be recognized. The body horror wasn’t just shocking; it showed her internal pain, making it impossible to look away from the trauma she was experiencing. It was a really powerful way to tell her story.

The show portrays Hollywood as a ruthless and superficial place. It suggests the industry’s allure of artistic success hides exploitative practices, especially for young women. The unsettling body horror in Brand New Cherry Flavor powerfully emphasizes this point, making the metaphorical critique shockingly real.

Even the show’s most controversial moments, like a well-known sex scene in episode four, actually serve a purpose in the story. The graphic imagery in Brand New Cherry Flavor isn’t just meant to be shocking; it emphasizes ideas about control over one’s own body and the dangers of being forced to do things. The show aims to make you feel uncomfortable, not just to show something sensational.

Instead of relying on shock value alone, Brand New Cherry Flavor uses its disturbing imagery to enhance its characters and story. This prevents the show from feeling empty, a common problem with extreme horror. Each unsettling image has a clear purpose, driving the plot and adding depth to the show’s themes, rather than simply being shocking for its own sake. It demonstrates that body horror can be both challenging and thought-provoking, using discomfort to enrich its message.

Netflix Should Make More Shows Like Brand New Cherry Flavor

No Other Netflix Horror Series Uses Body Horror This Fearlessly Or Effectively

Netflix has a lot of good horror shows, but “Brand New Cherry Flavor” is still unique. It really embraces disturbing and graphic body horror, which is different from most of their popular horror titles. Years after its release, nothing else on Netflix quite feels like it.

Mike Flanagan’s Netflix series are known for building tension slowly and creating a creepy, gothic atmosphere. Meanwhile, many Korean horror shows on the platform focus on suspense, sadness, and shocking bursts of violence. Both styles work well, but they generally avoid the intense physical transformations and gore that characterize body horror.

I was completely captivated by Brand New Cherry Flavor, but it’s not a comfortable watch. It doesn’t rely on building suspense and then letting it go; instead, it just keeps you feeling unsettled, and honestly, that’s what makes it so powerful. It’s a show that really stays with you, and I was surprised by how willing it was to push boundaries and even risk losing viewers. The fact that Netflix hasn’t followed it up with anything similar is really noticeable, it was something truly different.

It’s been almost five years since Netflix released a horror series that focused on disturbing physical changes like the one it did then, and they haven’t tried anything similar since. Considering how much Netflix invests in original content, this seems like a strange oversight. Body horror works especially well in TV series because the slow, unfolding changes can really get under your skin and build suspense over time.

The series Brand New Cherry Flavor successfully showed how captivating this type of horror can be. Its devoted fanbase proves there’s a real desire for unsettling and unique scary stories. Viewers looking for horror that’s truly different and challenging often consider Brand New Cherry Flavor a standout example.

Netflix frequently promotes itself as a platform for daring and original stories. Bringing back a show like Brand New Cherry Flavor would strengthen that image. Horror on TV is most captivating when it’s willing to push boundaries, and few things are more impactful than well-executed body horror. Even after four years, Brand New Cherry Flavor stands as an example of what Netflix can accomplish when it fully embraces the unsettling and graphic in its original horror series, instead of avoiding it.

2025-12-14 01:30