Netflix has unleashed so many original shows in such a short span of time that many of them have inevitably fallen through the cracks, but the brand spankin’ new “Love, Death & Robots” is one series that most definitely stands apart from the pack thanks to fantastic episodes that are brimming with creativity, sexiness, fun, extreme violence and total insanity.
Each of the series’ 18 “episodes,” actually, are short films, brought to life with various different animation styles. Some are of the “Saturday Morning Cartoon” variety, while others are photo-realistic, looking like high-end video game cut scenes that blur the lines between animation and reality. The series, created by Tim Miller (Deadpool), is one of Netflix’s most exciting and bingeable to date, and the good news for folks like us is that “Love, Death & Robots” is *extremely* horror-heavy, loaded with monsters and splattered with the red stuff.
Which horror episodes should you be watching? Here are 5 of the first season’s best.
“Sonnie’s Edge”
Easily the coolest episode of the season, “Sonnie’s Edge” introduces us to Sonnie, a scarred up badass with a rough past. The photo-realistic short is set in the world of underground monster fights, where Sonnie and her fellow fighters mentally link up with monsters and use them to battle to the death for prize money. But Sonnie has a special edge, as the title suggests, making her (and her monster) the most dominant fighters in the game. When Sonnie is offered big money to throw her next fight, we learn precisely what that competitive edge really is.
The episode is highlighted by a three-minute monster fight that is one of the coolest, gnarliest things you’ll see this year, and like all the best episodes of “Love, Death & Robots,” it presents a main character you’ll care about as well as a world you’ll be begging to see more of.
“Beyond the Aquila Rift”
Fans of Event Horizon will surely love the space-horror episode “Beyond the Aquila Rift,” another photo-realistic short that centers on the crew of a spaceship. When he wakes up after traveling light years off their intended course, the ship’s captain is reunited with an old flame, but he soon realizes that all is not as it may seem. It’s sort of hard to talk about these shorts without spoiling anything, but let’s just say that the twist in this one is a standout highlight of the wildly imaginative creativity that’s proudly on display throughout “Love, Death & Robots.”
Again, you’ll be left wanting more from this episode’s world.
“Shape-Shifters”
Literal dog soldiers are the subjects of the werewolf episode “Shape-Shifters,” set in Afghanistan. For an advantage in the war, shape-shifting werewolves have been brought in to take out the enemy forces in a way human soldiers cannot in this photo-realistic short, which pits one of the American dog soldiers up against not one but two enemy shape-shifters.
Every good werewolf movie has a killer transformation scene, and “Shape-Shifters” is no exception. The transformations, wherein human skin cracks, peels and is ultimately ripped away, are exceptional, and the aforementioned fight scene is gruesomely violent and so damn cool. Animation allows the limits of gore to be pushed, and “Shape-Shifter” pushes them.
“Helping Hand”
The Oscar-winning film Gravity introduced the terrifying premise of astronauts being stranded in space, and “Helping Hand” takes that whole idea to an even more horrifying level. After a freak accident, astronaut Alex is left completely alone, floating in space and with a fast-depleting oxygen tank. In order to survive, well, she has to take extreme measures.
*That moment* of the episode is extremely brutal, but the entire thing is rich with tension and dread. One of the most impressive things about “Love, Death & Robots” is the way that each episode really makes you care about the plight of the central character(s), no small feat given none of them run longer than 16 minutes. The photo-realistic “Helping Hand” is only 9 minutes, but you’ll likely find yourself rooting for Alex’s survival and feeling her pain when she’s forced to do the unthinkable. I’ve cared less about characters I’ve spent 2 hours with. Go figure.
“The Secret War”
Lifelike animation is again the style present in the final episode I want to spotlight here today, “The Secret War.” Otherworldly demons rise from the depths of Hell and do battle with the Red Army in this one, which is a must-watch for gorehounds and creature lovers. The monsters are nightmarish and the mythology fascinating, the episode highlighted by an extended “humans vs. monsters” battle sequence that’s crazy, bloody, and truly epic.
Last year’s “Overlord” proved that the blend of war and monster horror can be a very entertaining one, and “The Secret War” will leave you begging for a feature length expansion.
There are only a couple episodes I didn’t much care for in the debut season, so I’d personally encourage you to carve out a little bit of time and watch the whole damn thing. “Three Robots,” “Suits,” “The Dump,” “Lucky 13” and “Ice Age” are other standout favorites of mine, but as a whole, the series is proving to be a huge win for both the animated and bite-sized artforms.
This is what creativity fully unleashed looks like. And it’s one hell of a treat.