Reviews
Netflix’s ‘Nightmares of Nature’ Hits Greater Heights With “Lost In The Jungle” [Review]
Nightmares of Nature continues to find the perfect balance between entertainment and education with an engaging look into a South American jungle’s predators and prey.
“Nature is full of wonder and beauty, but for the creatures who live in the wild, it’s also full of monsters…”
Nightmares of Nature’s first “Cabin in the Woods” season got a lot of mileage out of a mouse, bullfrog, and raccoon’s survival mission through the forest. Season 2 attempts to properly up the ante in “Lost in the Jungle.” It’s genuinely more exciting and diverse than the first season, whether it’s the central prey protagonists, the nature of their predators, or the unpredictable South American jungle environment. “Lost in the Jungle“ looks at an opossum, a baby iguana, and a mother spider who are heading to an abandoned lab – all separated from their families, alone, and frightened. This culminates in extra environmental dangers as a storm bombards the vulnerable creatures as they desperately try to get back to their natural habitats.
Adding to these dangers are a formidable array of predators, which include a venomous snake, cagey crocodiles, patient hawks, and so much more. These are intriguing creatures that are highlighted as efficient killing machines when they’re just depicted in their natural environments. The predators in “Cabin in the Woods“ were still effective and intimidating, but “Lost in the Jungle“ is more successful with its deadlier caliber of creatures. These episodes craft compelling showdowns between these animals, whether it’s an opossum’s pursuit to survive against a snake or iguana siblings who band together against a vulture. They’re just generally higher stakes and a more satisfying proof of concept.
It makes sense that the series would try to escalate its storytelling with each season, and season two feels like the proper evolution, rather than if these seasons had been flipped. It’s exactly what a second season should be doing now that the audience is better acclimated to Nightmares of Nature’s premise and structure. It’s heightened in a manner that teases the show’s future and where else this concept could go.
In addition to being what feels like a grander and more diverse terrain, this season also trumps the last at its own game in many respects. Some of the most entertaining material from the first episodes involved the exploration of insects and their ability to collectively band together against other predators. “Lost in the Jungle“ also showcases a wide range of insects, but they’re even more intimidating because they’re vicious praying mantises, resourceful tarantulas, or gigantic South American millipedes that are more than capable of killing small rodents. There’s just a lot more to unpack, and, if anything, it feels like this season could have added another episode or two to the mix.
The jungle itself is a compelling location, but these episodes heighten things a little further by keying into an abandoned science lab that’s located deep in the heart of the jungle. It’s such a cool, weird location that’s reminiscent of something like Resident Evil. It’s a lot more exciting and stylized than the slightly more generic forest setting from Nightmares of Nature’s first batch of episodes. These episodes don’t shy away from aerial creatures like parrots and bats, but there’s still a lot more that could be done with them. The jungle is just such a dense environment that’s made up of all these smaller ecosystems that could sustain even more stories. “Lost in the Jungle’s” brevity works in its favor, and these episodes will leave the audience wanting more and eager to dig deeper. A “Lost in the Jungle II” season would certainly be warranted.
The animals are the highlight, yet Maya Hawke‘s observant narration continues to be a subtle secret ingredient to the show’s success. There’s just enough detachment to Hawke’s musings to help complement the visual storytelling without ever feeling too intrusive. Her work in the first batch of episodes was solid, but she feels even more comfortable in this role, and her narration properly amplifies the subject matter.
Maya Hawke doing voiceover narration for Netflix’s Nightmares of Nature.
Nightmares of Nature finds the perfect balance between sensational and educational. There’s such an ornate and meticulous eye that’s applied to all of the footage and the grandiose set pieces that are featured as these creatures fight for their lives. At the same time, this production doesn’t let its Blumhouse sensibilities run unchecked and lacks any greater substance. This is more than just a creative spin on the slasher genre, and each episode will leave the viewer genuinely smarter, more informed, and empathetic to nature, even if they don’t realize it. Nightmares of Nature just casually drops incredible info nuggets, like how opposums have been around for as long as dinosaurs, while it maintains momentum. It’s such a natural pairing of entertainment and intel that will sneak up on skeptical viewers.
“Lost in the Jungle” solidifies that Nightmares of Nature isn’t just some flash-in-the-pan trend and that there’s a significance to its storytelling and structure. The series will hopefully be given even more room to grow and the opportunity to drop several batches of episodes every year or two. Netflix needs more odd, awe-inspiring programming like Nightmares of Nature, especially when there are over 30 episodes of Is It Cake? to binge through.
Nightmares of Nature: Lost in the Jungle is available to stream on Netflix on October 28, 2025.
Movies
‘Recluse’ Review – Harrowing Haunted House Horror With Lots Of Skeletons In Its Closet [Tribeca 2026]
A haunted house story is tense, terrifying storytelling when it’s properly executed. There’s been a growing tendency in horror to blend together harrowing haunted house stories with traumatic homecomings. A family member’s illness or death triggers a return to something dark that was intentionally left behind. Recluse hits all the tropes that one expects to find in this type of horror film, yet it manages to push this story in a daring, disturbing new direction that uses sound as a superpower.
It’s a unique lens to experience a familiar story about family secrets, generational trauma, unresolved grief, and the importance of not just legacy, but preservation. It’s a hell of a directorial debut from Henry Chaisson that’s guaranteed to get under the audience’s skin as they’re dragged through this painful, toxic tale.
Recluse is a gothic haunted house story where an isolated audio engineer, Joan (Sasha Frolova), returns to her family’s estate to check in on her father after he suffers a terrible accident. Joan suddenly discovers something much more sinister that paints her family’s tragedies in a very different light. Chaisson’s debut functions as a fascinating companion piece to this year’s undertone, which does a lot of the same things.
These two films make for a fascinating case of parallel thinking that tackles comparable subject matter through a similar lens, albeit in a bigger, less claustrophobic story in Recluse’s case. In fact, it’s the perfect horror film for anyone who was let down by undertone and didn’t feel like it brought enough to the table. It’s a considerably more conventional horror film, but this isn’t meant to denigrate its high quality. Recluse may hit some familiar notes, but it’s a scary, well-crafted haunted house horror story that goes for the jugular.
A gripping mystery that involves the tragic, unresolved circumstances that surround Joan’s mother teases a chilling connection to the recent horrors that have afflicted her father. Joan desperately tries to put these pieces together and give her family some sense of grander peace before she’s pulled under and becomes another victim of this festering curse that’s systematically worked its way through the Wyatt family. By doing so, Recluse digs into some deeper commentary on collective trauma, a very literal look at the “sins of the father” adage, and how one selfish decision can ripple through generations and fracture off into different dilemmas. By the end, Recluse has brilliantly flipped the powerful concept of legacy on its head by illustrating the horrors and sense of entitlement that can be born out of this idea.
A legacy is just another name for a curse under the right context.
”Listen” is a simple but powerful command from Joan’s father that she briefly obsesses over. In a way, it becomes Recluse’s grander mission statement, whether it’s in response to Joan listening to the people in her life, the signals that her body and mind are telling her, or the world’s greater whims. It’s important to reconnect with these grounding pillars, especially when it feels like control is slipping away.
Recluse excels with how audio and soundscapes can create entire universes that are full of rich details that transport individuals to these environments. There’s also a level of objectivity when it comes to audio recordings and the evergreen permanence that they’re able to provide. Joan’s career as an audio engineer makes sense for someone who wants to cling to hard evidence and proof of existence. It provides great insight into Joan without ever getting lost in contrived exposition.
Joan’s entire life is built around audio engineering, and so it makes sense that Recluse features excellent sound design that really goes above and beyond with its production elements. All of the sound design is expertly handled and turns the film into something special. These auditory elements intuitively keep the audience on edge so that they’re more susceptible to the actual scares that eventually strike. The smallest sound effect gets turned into a crushing, cacophonous assault. It’s a really effective way to build terror. Writer/Director Chaisson also handles the film’s music, which achieves a sublime, unnerving dissonance that further heightens the free-floating anxiety.
The story at the center of Recluse is slightly generic in some respects, but the film’s visual language and tone make it feel distinctly memorable. It also doesn’t hurt that the home that Joan returns to is basically an eerie art studio that’s full of contorted paintings. Recluse never struggles to generate mounting dread and terror that pump through every scene. Powerful, thoughtful cinematography consistently reinforces the film’s themes. Joan is constantly reflected in different surfaces or viewed through mirrors. She’s also often confined to tight, constricting framing that all speaks to her refracted identity during this moment of loss and her attempts to regain agency and control by making sense of something that’s seemingly unexplainable.
Recluse is full of truly disturbing visuals that make it seem like Joan is lost in a dream that turns out to be an extended nightmare. It’s a surreal journey reminiscent of invasive psychological horror like Silent Hill, with a touch of Sinister and Hereditary thrown in for good measure. There are so many individual frames that could endlessly fuel urban legends and creepypastas.
It does a great job with how it presents Joan’s fragile state of mind, where chilling flashes of the past sneak up on her and unresolved trauma manifests into unsettling imagery. There are endless shots that are obscured in darkness, or shadow is creeping in from the corners of frames like a suffocating force of nature. It’s very rare that a scene is fully lit. It leads to a very lonely, isolating atmosphere that’s easy to get lost in.
Chaisson’s debut stands out from the many other high-minded haunted house horror films without succumbing to the same pretensions that often drag down these stories. It’s a grief-stricken character study that’s full of upsetting visuals that scratch at something visceral and raw. The horror elements connect, and the answers to its grander mystery provide an appropriate and believable sense of closure. Those who are looking for an atmospheric horror film that isn’t afraid to be different while still channeling something real will appreciate Recluse.
Recluse made its world premiere at Tribeca; release info TBD.
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