Brand New Cherry Flavor is one of the weirdest, most bizarre, and delightful horror shows I have ever seen. Rosa Salazar plays Lisa Nova, a young film maker learning the pretty horrific behaviors of the 1990s Los Angeles film industry. After creating a brilliant new horror short, she ends up meeting with Lou Burke (played by Eric Lange) a Harvey-Weinstein-type sleezebag movie producer. He has her sign a contract with the promise of allowing her to direct the full length feature of her horror short. Of course, in true Hollywood fashion he steals the premise and hires another director. Furious, Lisa Nova ends up partnering with a strange woman named Boro to enact a curse to ruin Lou’s life. However, the bizarre concoction Lisa drinks to start the process has her seeing all sorts of things she really would rather not. There’s also this weird thing where she keeps throwing up kittens, which Boro is all too excited to keep as payment. Things pretty quickly go off the rails with a blend of dark magic and 1990s Hollywood insanity.
I’m going to be honest; the title Brand New Cherry Flavor was not exactly a draw for me. I assumed it was something entirely different from what it turned out to be. Rosa Salazar is getting more and more roles, and they are well deserved. She is like a more emotive Aubrey Plaza, capturing that amused stare with a glint of “what is happening here.” Her work on the Prime show Undone was absolutely fantastic. Brand New Cherry Flavor feels a lot like a David Lynch tv show, but making slightly more sense. The show itself is based on the book of the same name by Todd Grimson. The show is eight episodes, but flows quickly so its easy to accidentally binge. Its one of those shows where just when you think you know what the heck is going on, another bizarre dimension is thrown out.
If body horror isn’t your thing, skip this one. If it tells you anything, I pulled the poster from Netflix that didn’t include an eyeball in Lisa’s mouth. There’s a whole sequence involving Lisa having a gaping hole in her side for kittens to come out of, which becomes something even freakier (like uncomfortable freaky). At one point in time we see someone literally pull out her own eye. Like, I’m not kidding when I give you this warning.
Brand New Cherry Flavor is now streaming on Netflix.
