Editorials
Netflix’s “Black Mirror” Season 6: Ranking All 5 Brand New Episodes
After several years of waiting, Black Mirror finally returned with its eagerly anticipated sixth season. Charlie Brooker’s anthology series has reflected on contemporary society’s complicated relationship with technology since 2011. Interestingly, though, three of the five episodes in this installment occur somewhere in the past, be it distant or nearby. And even more intriguing, not every entry this time around is bent on delivering techno-dystopian dread. In fact, multiple tales are devoid of terror brought on by our overreliance on gadgets, science, and artifice.
Black Mirror was previously concerned with the immediate present or the conceivable future. However, based on this season’s episodes, the creator has perhaps grown weary of the “now.” The world that Brooker envisioned — not to mention warned us about — has, in some ways, come to fruition. These past couple of years, reality has proven to be more unsettling than whatever Black Mirror can cook up.
This latest Black Mirror season turned out to be a real jumble. It starts off in expected territory before promptly detouring. It’s definitely not the most cohesive season so far, yet Season 6 offers a healthy amount of variety as well as a few genuine surprises.
Read on for Bloody Disgusting’s Black Mirror Season 6 ranking.
5. Mazey Day
Set in the early 2000s, “Mazey Day” remembers the days of celebrities being hounded by paparazzi. Brooker naturally adds a sinister element to an already uncomfortable phenomenon, and the end result gives new meaning to the phrase “feeding frenzy.” The initial predators in this story are indeed Zazie Beetz’s character and her fellow photojournalists, but things change when they all bite off more than they can chew.
Black Mirror viewers will wait for but never find the science element in “Mazey Day.” Without spoiling the bizarre ending, this episode sidesteps the series’ standard motif and serves up something more tangibly horrific. Had this entry been a part of another genre anthology, particularly something like American Horror Stories, maybe it would have been less out of place and also better received.
4. Demon 79
The season finale is the first (and, hopefully, not last) episode to be released under the “Red Mirror” label. This experiment in genre removes the typical dangerous-science theme altogether. The shift in genre notwithstanding, the series’ trademark weirdness remains intact as a department store clerk is handed a bizarre task; Anjana Vasan’s character must sacrifice three people in order to prevent the apocalypse. And guiding the skeptical protagonist on her dark, world-saving mission is a novice demon (Paapa Essiedu) who only she can see.
In “Demon 79,” the series shakes off its sci-fi confines and jumps somewhere into the horror arena. Sad to say, this high-concept story is carried out too simply for a show like Black Mirror. From the distracting, Death Note-esque guide to the predictable outcome, “Demon 79” is as uninspired as its faux ‘70s aesthetic. Brooker shouldn’t be discouraged from adding to the “Red Mirror” label, but future horror ventures would benefit from more demanding stories and executions.
3. Joan is Awful
While Season 6’s goofy opener might seem like Black Mirror biting the hand that feeds it, this increasingly hilarious episode doesn’t quite leave enough teeth marks. Sure, “Joan is Awful” takes a prominent swipe at Netflix by introducing Streamberry, a recurring analog for the streaming giant. However, with Netflix evidently in on the gag — the streamer going so far as to lend its own interface and signature “tudum” sound — “Joan is Awful” only delivers half-effective commentary about A.I., data collection, and deepfake technology.
Annie Murphy and the show-stealing Salma Hayek are well cast in this cautionary tale that feels even more punctual now that real-life screenwriters are fighting for better treatment and pay. “Joan is Awful” openly points out the prevalent trends that are endangering the entertainment industry without also getting too cross with its obvious target. And compared to what all followed the season premiere, this episode is rather optimistic. That in itself is strange in the world of Black Mirror.
2. Beyond the Sea
The third episode is set in a retrofuturistic version of 1969 where America is studying the impact of space on humans. Josh Hartnett and Aaron Paul’s characters are this important mission’s guinea pigs who manage to stay in contact with their loved ones on Earth via artificial replicas. Eventually, a personal tragedy back home triggers something disturbing inside one of the two astronauts.
“Beyond the Sea” is the only feature-length episode here, and its slow-burn pacing may turn off impatient viewers. Of all the stories in Season Six, though, this one uses its technological component to flesh out the characters and study their relationships. The startling ending won’t please everyone, but it is guaranteed to stay with you.
1. Loch Henry
The sinister science aspect is also absent from “Loch Henry,” but even so, this episode doesn’t steer off course as much as, say, “Mazey Day.” Streamberry returns in a much smaller capacity than before, although Brooker deems the platform and others like it a symptom of a bigger problem. In a bid to make money and gain exposure, the two young filmmakers (Samuel Blenkin and Myha’la Herrold) here set out to make a true-crime documentary about an old case. Just when they think they’ve found everything they can about these crimes, they dig up something both new and shocking.
By now, the true-crime wave has experienced more than its fair share of criticism, so Black Mirror’s own takedown is belated. And to some, maybe even unnecessary. The episode’s commentary about exploitation and profiting off of personal trauma is nothing new, however, the story’s twists and turns are what make “Loch Henry” so memorable. It leaves on a sad and sobering note like a lot of other episodes, yet it also gives you a real case of the creeps.
Black Mirror Season 6 is now streaming on Netflix.
The problem with filming sequels back-to-back is that, unless you can afford expensive reshoots, there’s no easy way to adjust course in between movies if fans react badly to where the story is headed. That’s why it’s important to have a complete narrative thought out well in advance lest you accidentally kill a budding franchise.
However, this isn’t always the case. Every once in a while, it seems like the cinema gods smile upon certain chaotic productions and gift moviegoers with complete franchises that feel like more than the sum of their hastily produced parts. Ted Nicolaou’s Bloodlust: Subspecies III is precisely one of these miraculous pictures, with the raw talents of the artists involved (as well as the continued support from Romania) turning the feature into an effective conclusion for a series that kind of made things up as the filmmakers went along.
That’s why I’d like to invite my fellow readers to join me on this third part of our journey through the Subspecies franchise as we look into Bloodlust and talk about how it remains a surprisingly satisfying finale to the original trilogy.
A Trilogy Planned on the Fly
Released only a year after Bloodstone found plenty of success in rental stores and mail-in VHS catalogues worldwide, 1994’s Bloodlust was produced at the same time as its predecessor in (mostly) the same locations and with the same team. This means that the movie benefited from all the same upgrades as Bloodstone, with the crew now being more experienced with the ins and outs of surviving a low-budget Romanian production and the cast really settling into their characters.
At this point, everything from location scouting to the makeup process had been streamlined, with Wayne Toth and Norman Cabrera, the main duo behind special effects, even switching out time-consuming prosthetics for latex gloves in order to speed up Anders Hove’s monstrous transformation. The titular “subspecies” demons were also once again relegated to a mere cameo appearance due to the laborious puppetry required to bring them to life.
The only real hiccup came from the fact that actress Denice Duff had replaced the first film’s Michelle (Laura Mae Tate) and was immediately expected to portray the character as both an innocent victim in part II and as a secondary villain in part III. According to behind-the-scenes interviews, the hectic production schedule that blended two different movies meant that Duff would often find herself having to alternate between two incredibly different versions of Michelle during the same shooting day – though it’s obvious that she’s having more fun with Bloodlust’s more traditionally vampiric version of her character.
In the finished film, we pick things up immediately where the previous entry left off as Rebecca (Melanie Shatner) is forced to leave her vampire sister Michelle (Duff) behind in the dungeons of Castle Vladislav due to the rising sun. This allows Mummy (Pamela Gordon) to use Michelle’s blood to revive the vicious Radu (Hove) so that he may continue his quest for the coveted Bloodstone – a magical artifact that perpetually drips the Blood of Saints.
Meanwhile, the dreamy US embassy agent Mel (Kevin Blair) agrees to help Rebecca plan a rescue mission, though they’re unaware that Radu has become infatuated with Michelle during his attempts to guide her growing bloodlust. This all culminates in a climactic confrontation meant to tie up all of the series’ loose ends in one of Full Moon Pictures’ most ambitious productions.
The Evolution of Radu
Like its predecessor, Bloodlust: Subspecies III was also warmly received by fans who argued that the series was an even bigger success than Full Moon’s other major horror franchise, Puppet Master. This praise wasn’t unanimous, however, as 1994 had seen the rise of a more modern breed of sexy vampire popularized by Anne Rice, with old-school Nosferatu like Radu being viewed as obsolete when compared to the likes of Lestat and Gary Oldman’s take on Dracula.
In a way, one might argue that Nicolaou’s film is something of a swan song for the classic vampire story, as Bloodlust combines all of the traditional elements we tend to associate with these tales into a single tragic yarn that ties a neat little bow on Radu’s story as well as the old-fashioned monster movies that he represents. The finale remains shocking despite the fact that this is the third time we see Radu get brutally killed onscreen, with the brief tease that he may one day return feeling more like a nod towards the nature of evil rather than sequel bait.
The film dabbles a bit in gothic romance and even explores the inherent power fantasy behind transforming into an immortal creature of the night, but the filmmakers never lose sight of Radu as a demonic force even when he’s willing to betray his beloved Mummy for Michelle’s sake. In fact, his twisted “love” for his fledgling makes him even creepier as we get the feeling that his passion comes from a dark and disturbing place.
Anders Hove is at his absolute best in this film, with the effects department boosting his moments of what the younger generation would call “aura farming” whenever Radu emerges from shadows like a 90s version of Count Orlok. There are even a couple of surprisingly effective jump-scares here, which is why I’d argue that Bloodlust cements Radu as one of the most memorable cinematic vampires of all time despite his humble origins.
Subspecies Saves Its Best For Last
Nicolaou and Vlad Panescu also saved the best for “last” (more on that in a bit) regarding the film’s visuals, with the cinematography and overall atmosphere of Bloodlust absolutely surpassing what we saw in the previous films. Everything feels appropriately climactic this time around (including the wonderful soundtrack that was co-composed alongside an authentic Romanian orchestra), and I appreciate how this is the fastest-paced entry in the trilogy since the film doesn’t need to waste time setting anything up.
Bloodlust still suffers from some of the same low-budget blemishes as its predecessors, but there’s so much creative passion here that no amount of wonky effects work or stilted dialogue can get in the way of appreciating the flick’s gothic grandeur. That’s why it’s not surprising that the movie’s definitive(-ish) ending would later be retconned as fans begged for more Radu.
Of course, the next entry in this series would be a different kind of vampiric endeavor altogether, with the filmmakers attempting to engage with the same trends that ultimately killed Radu and his antiquated kin. That, however, is a story for another time. For now, I’ll merely insist that Bloodlust: Subspecies III remains a highlight of Full Moon’s expansive catalogue and is definitely worth seeking out today.
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