I've been watching A LOT of crap, mostly youtube. But I have found a couple of things to comment on on Netflix. Because my GF's nephew comes over often we find ourselves watching "kid" stuff. In fact, one of the shows I'll comment on was because my GF purposefully wanted to watch kiddie content. Before commenting on the content itself I have to say I am impressed with Netflix's dubbing work. It is amazing. Because her nephew doesn't speak English (yet), and my GF's fluency is at a 70%, I find myself watching A LOT of stuff dubbed in Spanish. The voice acting is great, the emotions come through the accents, like that of a valley girl or redneck are replicated well and most, though not all, the jokes work.
The first one was the Christmas themed Klaus. What a beautiful movie. It is funny, moving, the artwork is great and the story is a wonderful retelling of the Santa legend. In this version a mailman convinces, and partners with an old woodsman to deliver toys to the children of a town divided into to spiteful clans due to an age old grudge. Highly recommend it.
As much as a surprise as Klaus was it pales to the next one. As my GF was browsing the KIDS Netflix profile I saw a creepy thumbnail of a nightmarish, mechanical Santa. The show is appropriately named Creeped Out. Curious, we both decided to give it a watch. HOLY CRAP, what a great show. It is a mix of The Twighlight Zone and Goosebumps. While the episodes due vary in quality, few dissapoint. We recently watched Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and it sucked nuts. the Goosebumps movie was fun, but it felt so.... watered down compared to the books, it wasn't... scary. These episodes give the title justice and at the very least creep you out. I'm still surprised it is aimed at kids. I'm a grown adult feeling tense, I can imagine my 8 year old self being TERRIFIED at some of these episodes. The references to the Twilight Zone and 80s horror abounds, from Firday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street to Poltergeist and ET or older like invasion of the body snatchers or slightly newer like The Blair Witch Project. Some have "happy" endings, some, bittersweet, some down right horrifying or shocking, yet consistently satisfying. Aliens, multiverses, mysterious powers, ghosts, you name it. We spent most of Saturday watching it and we didn't see the whole season.
For those that like old school horror I recommend it. Since it's for kids there's no gore, but that's what makes it really spooky, it relies on good story, atmosphere and very basic effects. The CGI sucks, flat out lol, but it's part of the charm really.