If you feel like you’re stuck in a viewing rut, there’s nothing better than watching something legitimately weird to snap out of it. Sure, you could rewatch Seinfeld for the umpteenth time, but buried deep within Netflix’s library is an original series that you probably missed when it debuted in 2021. Five years later, there’s never been a better time to watch this deeply weird horror miniseries, which has the added benefit of being an extremely bingeable eight-episodes long. Perfect for a lazy weekend at home, or even a late-night marathon.
Let’s make one thing clear: Brand New Cherry Flavor is a strange show, made for people who like their TV strange. Most importantly, though, it has a stellar cast and incredibly well-written dialogue, which goes a long way in making all that weird work and keeping you engaged even as the story goes delightfully haywire.
What is Brand New Cherry Flavor about?
Brand New Cherry Flavor was created by Nick Antosca and Lenore Zion, with Zion having worked as a screenwriter for Antosca’s prior effort, Syfy’s Channel Zero, an equally moody TV series based on creepypastas. Here, they take a little-known avant-garde horror novel from 1996 by Todd Grimson and turn it into a modern-day parable about exploitation in the movie industry. Focusing on the surreal fallout that follows a harrowing instance of sexual harassment, Brand New Cherry Flavor walks a fine line between detached humor, Cronenbergian visual themes, and deadly serious observations.
Rosa Salazar stars as Lisa Nova, the writer-director of a buzzy indie flick with a mysterious, disturbing finale. Moving to Los Angeles with dreams of making it in the big city, Nova soon encounters producer Lou Burke (Eric Lange), who offers her the proverbial deal she can’t refuse. It’s not long before he shows his true colors and steals Nova’s film, which sets her on a grim path of revenge after making an inadvisable deal with the witch who practices black magic, Boro (Catherine Keener).
What makes Brand New Cherry Flavor stand out is its willingness to go completely off the rails while its central characters remain chronically underwhelmed. Amid zombie hitmen, witch’s curses, romances gone awry, and ample body horror, Lisa Nova’s deadpan acceptance of a warped reality is delightful.
Importantly, Nova is deeply flawed. As her desire for revenge wreaks havoc on her friends and loved ones, her troubling record of disregarding the needs of others becomes vital to the plot. Nova’s villains are far worse than she is, but she shares their ruthlessness. By the time she realizes what she’s wrought, it’s much too late to take it all back. Therein lies much of the horror of the series.
Why Brand New Cherry Flavor is a perfect binge-watch
So, what makes this a perfect weekend binge? Well, Salazar, for starters. Best known for playing the amnesiac cyborg Alita, here she portrays a deeply flawed protagonist with a natural flair for killer line delivery. Meanwhile, Keener was practically born to play the weird, monstrous Boro. Keener’s lengthy history of choosing off-kilter roles in indie productions informs her excellent work here.
The support characters are a highlight as well. Code (Manny Jacinto) is extremely underused as Nova’s tragically ride-or-die friend, but his scenes do a lot for the show. Jeff Ward is suitably charming in his role as Hollywood heartthrob Roy Hardaway. Lange plays Burke as uncomfortably sympathetic, then just pathetic, as his trashy behavior comes back to destroy him.
In the end, it’s just nice to see weird things getting made in an era that prioritizes media intended to appeal to everyone. Brand New Cherry Flavor’s plot runs a little thin by the eighth episode, but its sheer style carries it all the way to the final credits. Despite any minor pacing flaws, this is an easy series to fall in love with.
Antosca’s equally trippy and ominous Cape Fear is set to debut June 5, 2026, on Apple TV, so why not binge Brand New Cherry Flavor? It’s creepy, it’s funny, and most importantly, it’s something uniquely its own. It’s also the only show that comes to mind in which the protagonist repeatedly vomits (live) kittens, and that has to count for something.
