Reviews

I found every episode sort of watchable and was curious what happens next so I ended up watching the entire season. After entire season, I am confused about the genre (this is not a comedy), title (this is not about title) and intro (intro and title go together well but not connected to series). I can say this is not a comedy, black or otherwise, doesn't even have comic scenes. If I had to pick a genre, I would say drama parody of me too moment and New Age philosophy? Everybody in the series is an archetype, apart from the main character, Joy Nash. I found her acting believable and could sympathise with her. The rest were mostly two-dimensional so I don't think acting them was a challenge. Since the only thing that could make somebody watch the entire season is being able to sympathise with the main character, I think this would appeal only to women. Perhaps I am wrong.

There were only 10 episodes in the series, but they seemed confused like it started in one direction then ended somewhere else. And why call this Dietland when the key perspective is women and patriarchy?

I was expecting to see some great designs, interesting ideas... I did know this was a reality show but really, interior design should have been more prominent. Part with sob stories was too long. During the challenge, the only things that were shown were for shock effect - being cut, stumbling, breaking... During the challenge, it was simply a collage of scenes, not really anything that will make you think 'I wonder how this will end up'. The part with judging was another disappointment: I expected judges to go into each room and as camera goes around it, they comment on various parts. Instead, judges are sitting on a bed, there is brief scene of the room and then judges talk about it, and the camera shows them and we can look at their faces instead of the room they are discussing. I don't know about other reviewers, but I really do not care what the judges look like/their sparkling wit etc. The timing provided for the challenges is off: less than a day. Not a lot can be done for that time. The rooms are huge and empty. I don't find that particularly challenging, there are no restrictions imposed by the environment. Perhaps I am used to a different type of interior design shows. Contestants are very pretty (e. g. Miss Indonesia and Runner Up) and/or have sob stories. I guess they had to have some inclusion criteria. I would have expected their background stories to be something like 'I always redecorate my rooms' instead of 'I am/will be homeless'. Oh well.

I gave 2 stars because I liked some rooms (I think, they went by too fast).

I think you can tell I didn't like this :) I watched only 1 episode before giving up so my review is going to be based only on that.

Actors doing the teenagers are overacting every scene, it is really painful to watch. I am not expecting Oscar worthy performances but every time they are in scene, they display one emotion in a very exaggerated manner. There are several scenes where the girls push each other against the wall and getting into each other faces. Considering that this was the first episode and that they just met I found this quite weird. I assume this is what director wanted. I just don't find this style of TV show appealing. Scenario is interesting as an idea, this is sort of 21st century take on Frankenstein/another take on zombie genre. It also shows understanding of how teenagers behave, but due to all exaggerations I found it difficult to watch. If it was a graphic novel, I would have found it enjoyable. That is why I am giving it 4 stars.

In terms of horror, this is a different style of horror than the one I am used to. I noticed it in some other Japanese horror movies: no suspenseful music, or any added camera suspense. The horror that is happening is clearly showed, not much left to imagination.

It is not all as bad as I make it sound, I managed to watch the entire episode before giving up. For example, I couldn't watch a whole episode of The Rain due to being annoyed with the script... At least here, the script is interesting.

I must admit I didn't see trailers or was aware that it was based on the comics before watching the movie. Usually in this genre (sci-fi, creatures), the story is explained in the beginning and certain rules are established early in the story. As the movie progresses, main protagonists work within their set limits and come up with solutions to whichever problems they face, their self identity, evil force taking over the world etc. It is formulaic but expected. I was hoping for a bit more (note to self: always watch trailers before the movie!). Well this movie started like that and... kept on adding some things that were previously not mentioned, every problem has a new inventive solution. The main character 'won' in the end because of something freshly added to the story. Maybe it makes sense to somebody who read the comic. I didn't and because of that, I don't think this movie deserves 5 stars it currently has on imdb.

Visually it looks dark and broody, quite similar to Underworld. I wasn't particularly impressed by action scenes, I am generally not a fan of them, so my opinion could be biased. However, in some action scenes, they were cut very fast and unless you are concentrating a lot it will be difficult to notice how somebody died (death of one person was discussed a bit later and I couldn't recall what happened to that person). Maybe that is just me.

I can only recommend this to fans of Aaron Eckhart, he looks quite handsome here :) Everybody else, waste of time. It is ~ 90 minutes hours long, at least the torture didn't last long!

This is a Netflix series, and like most users who liked it, I binge watched it. Usually, I don't like slow pacing series (hated last Twin Peaks series), but this one kept me on the edge of my seat. Slowly unfolding, there is a feel of recent Scandi noir series about it. If at all possible, watch it with German audio and subtitles. I feel dubbing made acting seem bad. This is a mystery, sci-fi, drama and many other things with incredible characters that seem incredibly real - writing is superb. Casting is unbelievable - we are seeing characters when they were children and later when they grow up. There is an uncanny resemblance.

If you liked The Killing, Bridge and similar, you will enjoy this very much! It really bears no resemblance to Stranger things (which I also liked and binge watched).