Netflix suggestions based on a short list of weird-fiction-ish shows?

December 31, 2023 9:35 PM

All the shows I've recently liked are in a similar vein, with supernatural or science-fictiony goings-on, a bit of humor, and as little actual horror as possible. List below the fold.

The short list of things I've recently liked:
-Dark and 1899 (listed together because they have creators and cast in common)
-Black Spot
-Brand New Cherry Flavor
-Cracow Monsters

Despite the fact that some of these are sort of horror-adjacent, I'm a huge chicken and tend to dislike and avoid actual horror shows. (Honorable mention, for instance, to Katla, which seemed merely offbeat for the first couple episodes but lost me when it started to seem creepy.)

Also, I really appreciate it when the cast members look like actual people and not movie stars, and European shows seem to be better at this than American shows.

Thanks in advance! Gimme what you got!

posted by Sing Or Swim to Media & Arts (20 answers total)

How about the recent Netflix series Bodies, which I would maybe call Diet Dr. Dark. Not scary; leans more towards the police procedural.
posted by bcwinters at 9:55 PM on December 31, 2023

Hi, Sing Or Swim, I have no idea which of the following are on Netflix versus another source, but here is a looooong list of great shows that might scratch your itch. Some might be too cheesy for your taste, others might be a tad too intense, but they are all sure to meet your needs based on your four examples.

It will be hard to beat Dark, though, what a fantastic show!

There is a lot there, I suggest you start by choosing the ones whose themes intrigue you and reading more about them. You have your work cut out for you!

Enjoy....

Bigbootay. Tay! Tay! Aargh...

30 Coins (Absolutely gonzo Spanish parody of the Omen et al, hilarious!)
A Murder At The End Of The World (procedural from the directors of Sound of my Voice and the OA, both highly recommended)
Archive 81 (From the Benson brothers, a blend of supernatural and historical investigation, fantastic!)
Beacon 23 (mystery…in Spaaace!)
Counterpart (A mirror universe opens in the middle of East/West Berlin, great)
Cult (If you can find it - it’s from 2013 - it’s a cult TV show about a cult TV show who is also a real cult. Very meta in a photo internet kind of way)
Dark Winds (Native Americans solve supernatural crimes)
Dispatches from Elsewhere (Lovely, sweet show based on a real life role playing game in San Francisco, sending players on wild goose chases to solve a complex riddle while falling in love!)
Evil (Already on Season 4, fun show about a team of church investigators trying to prove/debunk miracles, a priest, an atheist hacker and a troubled psychologist fall afoul of the devil and his minions, hilarious and compelling)
From (like Lost as a horror show)
Hello Tomorrow! (A David Mamet play about salesmen meets the Jetsons)
Invasion (on Apple +)
La Brea (über-cheesy)
Legion (The X-men’s professor Xavier’s son meets One Flew Over A Cuckoo’s Nest, visually very cool)
Los Espookys (Spanish team of dysfunctional Millenials tries to set themselves up as supernatural investigators. Like a horror version of Almodovar)
Lovecraft Country (Lovecraftian goings on in the racist South from the perspective of an African American family)
Monarch - Legacy of Monsters (Kaijus)
The Nevers (Victorian England sees the rise of superpowered women, hijinks ensue)
Night Sky (Sissy Spacek has a portal to outer space in her attic, very good)
The OA (confusing, compelling and confounding, this is one of Britt Marling’s finest, addictive ambiguous mysteries)
Open Your Eyes (what is going on in this Polish asylum? If you liked Cracow Monsters, you may like this one)
Outer Range (a family of cowboys finds an inter dimensional hole in the prairie, great actors and a compelling atmosphere)
The Outsider (Based on a Stephen King story, autistic detective pursues mysterious shapeshifting devil like killer)
Penny Dreadful and sequel City of Angels (if Mary Shelley’s characters came to real life)
Quantum Leap - the remake (cheesy and silly)
Silo (intriguing mystery, compelling actors)
Severance (fantastic surreal version of the office - bureaucrats meet Borges)
Station Eleven (Shakespearian post apocalyptic fantasy)
The City & The City (Borgesian story about two overlapping cities bound in one investigation)
The Fall of the House of Usher (Succession meets Edgar Allan Poe)
The Lazarus Project (very British, time traveling, anti-terrorist squad meet Groundhog Day)
The Returned (les Revenants) (Dead people come back to life and come home in a French lakeside town. If you like Black Spot you may like this one)
posted by Bigbootay. Tay! Tay! Blam! Aargh... at 11:22 PM on December 31, 2023

Cracow Monsters is also one of my favs so we have adjacent tastes. I was ready to suggest Katla before I even opened the thread but that's right on the edge for you. With that in mind...

Copenhagen Cowboy - Absolutely no humor but my very favorite watch the last year. This is an immersive experience. Love/hate.

Curon - Similar in tone to Katla

Equinox - Some elements of Dark and a bonkers adults-only scene that isn't Cronenberg-ish like Cherry Flavor but in the same area code

ETA: all were on netflix in this last year
posted by lescour at 12:49 AM on January 1

Seconding Los Espookys, except that the horror level is basically 0 - the characters are a bunch of horror fans who do (occasionally gory) freelance special effects, not horror investigation, for weird clients. I was worried before I watched it and needn't have. It's very surreal and sweet.

Maybe The School Nurse Files? Also very surreal.
posted by trig at 1:24 AM on January 1

Seconding Bodies. Science fiction-esque, time travel, intriguing storyline, hard to work out who the bad guys are until the last couple of episodes.
posted by essexjan at 2:23 AM on January 1

American Gods?
posted by A Blue Moon at 2:44 AM on January 1

Perhaps a tad far afield but may I recommend Mhz Choice? Used to be it was a subchannel option on some PBS stations after broadcast TV went digital.

By day, it was European news in English from the likes of Deutsche Welle and France 24 by day and by night European murder mysteries, cop and historical era detective shows like Nicolas Le Floch in original languages with subtitles. Then it went and turned into a pay streaming service.

It's choices are near endless and it rotates shows on and off its roster. My back in the day faves were Maigret with Bruno Cremer -- best Maigret ever in my humble opinion, Detective Montablano, Beck and Look of a Killer aka Tappajan näköinen mies, to name but a few. Agatha Christie's Criminal Games and Bukow & König were others. Unfortunately Look of a Killer is unavailable on Mhz these days as is the wonderful first Wallander with Rolf Lassgård but still the choices otherwise available are more than legion.
posted by y2karl at 3:56 AM on January 1

Have you already seen School Spirits? It's pretty cheesy but is horror and sci-fi adjacent and is new on Netflix.
posted by Eyelash at 5:47 AM on January 1

I've only seen Brand New Cherry Flavor on your list, but based on that I'd highly recommend Russian Doll. It's funnier and less (viscerally, bodily) horrific, but it has that paranoid feeling where there's a glitch in the matrix and only the protagonist can see it and they have to navigate a normal world full of self-absorbed people as they desperately tackle their mystery.
posted by fountainofdoubt at 7:56 AM on January 1

I didn’t love Bodies but it definitely fits the bill. A third time-travel series (along with that and Dark) is Travelers, which ran for 3 seasons.

Seconding Russian Doll, at least the first season. The second season is... ok.

I’ve been avoiding watching the Snowpiercer series until they manage to release (on Netflix or elsewhere) the completed-but-never-aired 4th and final season, but it looks promising.

Beyond Netflix: Watchmen, Pushing Daisies, The Leftovers (Max); Mrs. Davis (Peacock); Severance (Apple TV+)
posted by staggernation at 11:30 AM on January 1

Severance was freaking amazing and I'm hoping like hell they stay with it.
posted by Thistledown at 1:59 PM on January 1

Oh my God, watch Fall of the House of Usher ASAP.
posted by DarlingBri at 8:07 PM on January 1

Thanks! I will look into all of these, and remain interested to hear more. Bigbootay, thanks particularly for your exhaustive list; I was grimly amused to see that Netflix had, like, three of those.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 8:09 PM on January 1

[[btw, Bigbootay's list has been added to the sidebar and Best Of blog]]
posted by taz at 2:41 AM on January 2

Ghosts, both the original BBC version and the CBS remake. They're on the CBS and Paramount+ apps, though the BBC one is catching up, at season 2 of 5. My apologies if Netflix is a hard requirement.
posted by Pronoiac at 11:28 AM on January 2

Crazyhead is a delightful (but sadly short-lived) Buffy-esque series that might be a bit too scary, but it is also very funny, so maybe that helps?

Post Mortem: No One Dies in Skarnes is a Norwegian horror comedy that never gets too scary, if I remember correctly.

I Am Not Okay With This is not horror, but there is a dark supernatural element.

(All three are at the moment on US Netflix)
posted by Rock Steady at 1:21 PM on January 2

Don't know if these are what you're looking for, but TV series:
Red Dwarf
Lexx
Both SF, both funny, both available as boxed DVD sets so probably streaming somewhere.
Also, this is very tangential to your request: The Prisoner (The original McGoohan -- the remake didn't work. SF spy stuff spiced with deadpan Brit humor)
posted by CCBC at 10:47 PM on January 2

I'm a big fan of Dark also.

Seconding Mrs. Davis, Beacon 23 and Dispatches from Elsewhere. Maybe also try Lodge 49. La Brea does indeed have a certain cheesy appeal.
posted by gudrun at 4:16 PM on January 4

Delicious in Dungeon just started on Netflix! It's an anime based on a charming manga. It's a fantasy foodie comedy, with the premise: "What if your Dungeons and Dragons party could only eat whatever they kill on their perilous quest?" To say it overthinks the ecosystem of dungeons is an understatement.

Also, I enjoyed the first ep of 30 Coins, thx, Bigbootay.
posted by Pronoiac at 1:31 PM on January 6

So not yet mentioned: Carnival Row (Prime Video) - steampunk fairies and faefolk, Sweet Tooth (actually on Netflix, huzzah) - postapocalyptic genetic modifications with cute kids and a weird plot, War of the Worlds (MGM+? Never heard of it...) - There's a war, see, and it's between worlds, right, but _not the worlds you expect_. Half-ish in French, if that's a problem.
posted by Kyol at 6:38 PM on January 8