Demons who beat you to a pulp before sending you to Hell, doppelgangers snatching bodies, zombie riffs good enough to bring a dying genre back to life; there are plenty of great foreign horror shows that you can watch right now.
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00:00 Demons who beat you to a pulp before sending you to hell, doppelgangers snatching bodies,
00:05 zombie riffs good enough to bring a dying genre back to life.
00:09 There are plenty of great foreign horror shows that you can watch right now.
00:12 Netflix's Black Spot is a spooky Belgian series that takes place in the Twin Peakish town
00:18 of Villefranche.
00:20 Surrounded by vast and mysterious forests, the town is quiet and remote, making the fact
00:24 that the town's murder rate is six times the national average something of an alarming
00:28 anomaly.
00:29 The town's police, Major Lorraine Weiss, is doing what she can to solve the murders and
00:34 break the mounting tensions between the residents.
00:36 But she has the added complication of newcomer Prosecutor Franck Cyrani.
00:40 While poking around where he isn't wanted, Cyrani uncovers some distressing things from
00:44 Weiss' past that seem to indicate that the town's troubles are longstanding and more
00:49 disturbing than anyone realizes.
00:51 "20 years ago you also went astray in the dark wood.
00:54 It took three days to find you."
00:57 Black Spot is top-notch in delivering a moody, intense atmosphere.
01:01 Everything in Villefranche seems to be hostile to visitors, including the bedraggled locals,
01:05 the damp, depressing weather, a creepy environmental cult, the lack of cell phone coverage, and
01:10 whatever that creepy creature is in the forest.
01:13 The show is packed with mysteries and spooky supernatural elements that will leave you
01:17 wondering whether there's a serial killer on the loose, or maybe, just maybe, the forest
01:21 itself is just fed up with the town-knit citizens.
01:25 But is it with small towns and terrifying secrets?
01:28 Max's Spanish horror series 30 Coins follows the story of Father Vergara, an exorcist with
01:34 a troubled past who is living in the mountaintop town of Pedraza, Spain.
01:38 Vergara's life takes a hard left turn when a local farm reports their cow has given birth
01:43 to a human child.
01:44 From that strange beginning, things only get weirder, as Vergara partners with Paco, the
01:48 mayor, and Elena, the town's veterinarian, to try and figure out what is happening.
01:53 Inside the mystery, they discover one of the 30 pieces of silver paid to Judas Iscariot
01:57 for betraying Jesus.
01:59 These coins are said to give the owner vast power, and a very influential sect of the
02:03 Catholic Church is determined to retrieve the coin at all costs.
02:07 Each episode seems to delve into different horror tropes, yet it all holds together to
02:11 present an ominous story that unflinchingly displays its monsters in broad daylight.
02:16 30 Coins does an excellent job of weaving in lesser-known biblical lore mythology to
02:20 create a believably twisted world that feels fresh and new in comparison to other Christian-based
02:25 horror.
02:26 Loosely based on Slavic mythology, Krakow Monsters is about the cursed city of Krakow,
02:32 Poland.
02:33 The show, streaming on Netflix, posits that in ancient times, an evil entity terrorized
02:37 the city and forced the people to sacrifice children to it.
02:40 Eventually, a hero rose up from the masses and managed to kill the monster and end its
02:44 reign of terror.
02:45 Or so everyone thought.
02:47 In the modern day, we meet a group of medical students led by a mysterious professor that
02:51 are collecting people with magical and otherworldly powers.
02:54 They discover Alex, the descendant of the mythical hero, and seek to help her understand
02:58 her hidden powers.
03:00 Unfortunately, due to cosmic coincidence, a construction worker accidentally digs up
03:04 an ancient artifact that takes control of him and guides him to serve the evil entity,
03:09 who has returned in the body of a young boy and is regaining its strength.
03:12 The fight between the students and the entity's servants leads Alex to learn more about her
03:16 powers and the strange glowing creature that keeps saving her life.
03:21 Also on Netflix, the Dutch horror series Ares takes a look at the societal elite and proposes
03:26 that there might be a sinister reason behind why those people have been so successful in
03:30 life.
03:31 The story follows Rosa, an extremely ambitious first-year medical student who feels held
03:35 back from the life she wants by her lack of wealth.
03:38 After being passed up for an important internship, Rosa is approached by an exclusive student
03:42 society called the Ares.
03:44 Although her good friend Jacob warns her to keep away from the group, Rosa joins the Ares
03:49 and quickly comes face-to-face with just how far she's willing to go to obtain the power
03:53 and wealth she truly desires, and at what cost.
03:56 "Are you sure you want this?"
03:59 Nano, the lead character in the Thai series Girl from Nowhere, seems like a normal transfer
04:05 student.
04:06 She's pretty, affable, and quick to make friends.
04:09 So why is it that she transfers to a new school each episode?
04:12 Well, the problem with Nano is that she is less of a student and more of a malignancy
04:16 that targets troubled students and gives them the opportunity to be their worst selves.
04:21 Each episode begins with Nano starting at a new school and finding someone to terrorize.
04:26 It usually begins with her insinuating herself into their friendship and then encouraging
04:30 them in different ways, fostering their worst impulses, and eventually helping them destroy
04:35 themselves in the process.
04:36 While Nano might seem human to begin with, viewers will quickly realize that she might
04:40 be something much more sinister, capable of spreading ruin wherever she goes.
04:45 This series is on Netflix.
04:46 "Next time, I might be the new student at your school.
04:51 So be prepared.
04:52 See you soon."
04:55 One well-known monster that doesn't often get enough screen time is the doppelganger.
04:59 But in this Italian supernatural drama on Netflix, there are plenty to go around.
05:04 Curran focuses its tale on the titular small town in northern Italy, where two fraternal
05:08 twins have been dragged to their mother's hometown to avoid their father.
05:12 Neither teenager is very happy about having to move into the family's nigh-abandoned hotel,
05:17 nor about transferring to a new school in the middle of nowhere.
05:20 But they're making the best of it.
05:21 The real problem is, everyone in town seems to have a vendetta against their family.
05:26 Add to that a creepy tower in the middle of a lake that supposedly can drive a person
05:30 crazy if they hear its bells tolling, and you have the start of an intriguing story.
05:34 It only gets wilder once the twins realize that some of the people have been replaced
05:38 by their doppelgangers, and they can't afford to trust anyone.
05:42 The twins must try to save their mother from the creatures before it's too late.
05:46 Postmortem No One Dies in Skarnes is a dark comedy from Norway that has arrived on Netflix.
05:51 The main character, Liva HÃ¥langen, is found dead in a field, and without thinking, the
05:56 police phone the local undertaker, her brother, Odd, to come and pick her up.
06:00 Fortunately for Liva, she awakens on the autopsy table with no memory of what happened.
06:06 Hålangen is overjoyed at her second chance at life — everyone, that is, except for
06:10 her father.
06:11 He begins acting strangely around Liva, and eventually knocks her out with chloroform
06:15 and tries to burn her alive in the crematorium.
06:18 Liva escapes, accidentally killing her father in the process, and returns home, unable to
06:23 make sense of what just happened.
06:25 Alongside Liva, we watch as she tries to understand her father's motives, and slowly becomes aware
06:30 of some dark, sinister truth about her mother's supernatural nature, which she now shares.
06:35 Battled with the knowledge of her origin, Liva spends the rest of the show exploring
06:39 the events that led up to her death, as well as the challenge of navigating the real world
06:43 as a supernatural predator.
06:45 Much of the show's horror is intercut with humor from the ridiculous situations the characters
06:49 find themselves in.
06:51 If you love horror but want something a little on the lighter side, Postmortem No One Dies
06:55 in Skarnes would be a great fit.
06:58 The French series Marianne explores the classic trope of a writer whose creations haunt them
07:02 in real life.
07:04 Best-selling author Emma Larzaman wants to be done with writing horror, but it seems
07:08 like her horror isn't quite done with her.
07:11 When Caroline, an old friend from home, shows up at Emma's book signing, it's obvious something
07:15 is deeply wrong.
07:17 Caroline begs Emma to return home, as she believes her mother has been possessed by
07:21 a witch named Marianne, a character from one of Emma's stories.
07:25 Emma, of course, can't believe Caroline's bizarre accusations, but feels compelled to
07:29 search for answers once Caroline hangs herself publicly.
07:33 Emma and her assistant Camille return to Emma's hometown, and realize that it's not just Caroline's
07:38 family that is suffering Marianne's curse.
07:40 As more and more strange things happen, Emma comes to realize that the things she writes
07:44 become reality, and that she must try to stop the witch herself.
07:48 It's on Netflix.
07:49 Ju-On Origins, a Japanese series that presents itself as the true story behind the events
07:55 of the original "The Grudge" films, sets the stage for the iconic horror franchise.
08:00 The show builds slowly, but the brutal violence mixed with the spooky supernatural elements
08:05 make for an intriguing watch.
08:06 Ju-On Origins jumps around in the timeline, but the basic premise is that an actress,
08:11 Haruka Honjo, has experienced a haunting that she believes started with her boyfriend, Tetsuya.
08:16 In trying to find a home for them both, Tetsuya visits a house where he is confronted by the
08:20 ghost of a woman wearing white.
08:22 From that moment, he becomes haunted by it.
08:25 Brutal things happen in that house, and it appears that anyone who visits it winds up
08:28 cursed in some way.
08:30 "Seriously, you think anyone would believe it?
08:33 A house that brings disaster to anyone who lives in it?"
08:37 To solve the mystery behind the curse, Haruka teams up with paranormal investigator Yasuo
08:41 Orojima and child protection agent Kimie Ariyasu.
08:46 Unfortunately for our protagonists, the curse is a powerful, sinister force, and the show
08:50 pulls no punches on just how bad things can get.
08:53 You can watch the series on Netflix.
08:56 Feria, the Darkest Light at first feels like a pretty familiar creepy cult movie, but its
09:01 location in Spain in the mid-'90s gives it some really engaging character.
09:06 Set in a remote village in the Spanish countryside, the local mine becomes the centerpiece of
09:10 a mystery when 23 people are found naked and dead just outside its entrance.
09:16 They have no visible wounds, but a security camera managed to capture footage of the group
09:20 leaving the mine and collapsing as if poisoned.
09:23 The immediate suspects behind this bizarre slaughter are the parents of two teenage girls,
09:27 Sofia and Eva, whose lives are turned upside down by the investigation, and the fact that
09:33 a group of sinister cultists has taken an interest in recruiting Sofia so that she can
09:37 further their dark agenda.
09:39 Feria takes a few truly unexpected twists that will have you wondering just who the
09:43 bad guys might actually be, as an otherworldly threat begins to reveal itself amidst the
09:47 cultish horror.
09:49 It's on Netflix.
09:51 Asia has given us some of the most inventive, terrifying horror from the last couple of
09:55 decades, and the Maxx anthology Folklore illustrates that fact.
09:59 Directors from different countries, including Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, South
10:04 Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines helm each episode.
10:08 Created by Singaporean director Eric Koo, the episodes deliver enough allure to be bingeable,
10:13 but also enough diversity to enjoy as distinct entities.
10:16 Like most anthologies, not every episode rates equally in quality, but they're all intriguing
10:21 — and give you something to chew on.
10:23 One of the best of the group?
10:24 The very first episode, "A Mother's Love," which follows a single mom struggling to support
10:29 her son.
10:30 She decides to squat in an old mansion she's been hired to clean, and discovers something
10:34 much worse than a haunted house.
10:37 Folklore takes ancient stories and applies them to modern situations, a blend of storytelling
10:42 conventions as frightening as it is thought-provoking.
10:45 With so many zombie series out there, it can be hard to wade through the bad to find the
10:49 good.
10:50 The South Korean series All of Us Are Dead, streaming on Netflix, offers a clever take
10:55 on the zombie genre that belongs squarely in the "good" category.
10:58 The series depicts Korean high school as a dangerous, hellish place, even before the
11:03 arrival of the zombies.
11:04 The social hierarchies that define Korea on a national scale intensify at the school,
11:09 and the students deal with terrible conditions like bullying, suicide, stifling pressure,
11:14 and economic inequality.
11:15 "Either I die, or they die.
11:18 It won't get better until someone dies."
11:21 The show is brutal and bloody, as expected, and the social critiques hit just as strikingly
11:26 as the gore.
11:27 Even with the threat of a zombie takeover, the students still maintain their prescribed
11:30 roles.
11:31 Though things get shaken up as the situation becomes more dire.
11:34 Both a coming-of-age story and an undead horror show, All of Us Are Dead rates as an inspired
11:39 take on an oversaturated genre.
11:43 Television shows and films present zombies as a relatively modern phenomenon, but why
11:47 should that be the case?
11:49 Kingdom, Netflix's first original Korean series, investigates this assumption, setting the
11:54 drama in the 16th century.
11:56 The story starts with the mysterious death of the king and his son, Crown Prince Lee
12:00 Chang's, investigation into his father's death.
12:03 He soon discovers the onset of a deadly epidemic that threatens to wipe out the entire country.
12:08 The way Kingdom blends zombie horror with political intrigue makes it ingenious.
12:12 The revelation that the illness that has been ravaging the country is just zombieism isn't
12:16 much of a surprise, but the ongoing reveals will keep you on the edge of your seat.
12:20 The story gains weight with the addition of the political narrative, which involves Lee
12:24 Chang's fight to stay alive after being thrown out of his own kingdom.
12:28 Two forces work against the prince, the zombies and the machinations of the crown, and both
12:33 are deadly.
12:34 The combination of brutal zombie attacks, beautifully choreographed sword fights, and
12:38 political action elevate this one to must-see status.
12:42 There are loads of shows about demon hunters, but Netflix's Diablero is one of a kind.
12:48 The series follows Father Ramiro Ventura, a priest sent to save a girl from a demon.
12:53 He enlists the help of Elvis Infante, a "Diablero" demon hunter, to find the girl.
12:58 Set in Mexico City, one of the most predominantly Catholic cities in the world, the series is
13:03 imbued with social commentary about Mexican culture and the place of religion in the country.
13:08 Diablero contains plenty of gore and visual spooks, but also sprinkles in humor, which
13:12 means it's never downright terrifying.
13:15 The horror tropes are numerous, but the series' playful attitude and attention to cultural
13:19 specificity make it stand out from the crowd.
13:22 The apocalyptic show Sweet Home distinguishes itself from its contemporaries through its
13:27 unique take on social isolation and desperation.
13:30 The Korean Netflix show follows Cha Hyun-seo, a despondent young man who moves into a dilapidated
13:35 apartment complex called Green Home.
13:37 Hyun-seo has lost the will to live, but a series of strange events that occur around
13:41 the complex force him to fight for his survival.
13:44 The other residents of Green Home seem just as lonely as Hyun-seo, and they soon discover
13:48 the apartment is overrun by monsters looking to pick them off one by one.
13:53 What's most interesting about these monsters is that they are all unique.
13:56 We learn that each creature used to be a human who gave in to their innermost desire, and
14:01 the look of the monster reflects whatever desire that was.
14:04 Unlike most zombie or alien invasion stories, these monsters all have their own stories
14:08 to tell.
14:09 The other central component of the series centers on the journey of the survivors.
14:13 Green Home attracts those fleeing tragedy or loss, and most of its residents are wrapped
14:18 up in their own grief or longing.
14:20 To defeat the monsters, they must work together while also deciding if survival is really
14:24 something worth fighting for.
14:26 It's an emotional story about human nature set in a monster-filled environment, and both
14:30 elements have a good deal to offer.
14:33 This first dipped its toes into Indian television with the crime thriller Sacred Games, and
14:38 Ghoul marks the company's second attempt to tap into this arena.
14:41 The three-part miniseries is part horror and part terrorist thriller, and this mix produces
14:46 an intriguing result.
14:48 The series unfolds in a future India, where fascism is the law of the land, and dissidents
14:53 are enemy number one.
14:54 Leading the series is Nida Rahim, a young secret police officer who will do anything
14:59 to prove her loyalty to the regime, even if it means turning on her own family.
15:03 Rahim is sent to interrogate a fearsome terrorist, Ali Saeed, but things are not as they seem.
15:09 The police think they have the upper hand, until Saeed begins exposing his interrogator's
15:14 darkest secrets.
15:15 Rahim starts to suspect that Saeed is more than a human terrorist, and that something
15:19 more demonic is at play.
15:21 At only three episodes long, the show doesn't have that much ground to cover, but the tension
15:26 builds nicely for such a short series.
15:28 "Make the sinner realize his guilt and eat his flesh."
15:33 Hellbound on Netflix depicts a world where people get sent to hell in the most horrific,
15:37 public fashion imaginable.
15:39 Golden holograms, known as angels, show up and tell people the date and time they will
15:43 be taken to hell.
15:44 Then when that moment comes, three enormous gray demons beat the poor soul to a pulp before
15:50 burning them alive.
15:51 A horrifying premise, yes, but the series can search itself more for the events' effects
15:55 on the nation as a whole than the public demonstrations themselves.
15:59 Two cults, the New Truth Society and the Arrowhead, capitalize on the fear these incidents have
16:04 created, and everyone copes with the threat of eternal damnation in their own way.
16:09 The demonstrations have altered the very fabric of society, and no one is free from blame.
16:14 From those who capitalize on this hellfire to those who condemn the supposedly guilty,
16:18 hell seeps into every nook and cranny.
16:21 [music]