Netflix’s New Stephen King Meets Lovecraft Horror Series Debuts To Solid Rotten Tomatoes Score

Published Oct 8, 2026, 9:27 AM EDT

Felipe Rangel is a Movie and TV Journalist ScreenRant. He has been writing about movies and TV since 2021. Felipe joined ScreenRant in 2022, working across different teams, covering everything from breaking news to features to reviews and more.

Felipe is a writer who is an avid film and TV fan, with superhero movies and series being his biggest passion. He graduated from college in 2019, having studied Journalism. Before college, he spent a month studying at the Oxford English Centre. His superhero knowledge expands to the comics, with his undergraduate thesis being "Politics Reflected In American Comics."

Netflix's new horror thriller series is off to a solid start with critics.

As the streaming service enters the Halloween season, with several horror projects coming to Netflix in October, the streamer is pushing forward an intriguing new show. Netflix's list of new series in 2026 has yielded excellent results for the streaming service, particularly when it comes to thriller and horror shows. For instance, Netflix limited series on the thriller genre, like His & Hers and I Will Find You, broke into its all-time charts. Of the horror variety, Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen was a global streaming hit.

Now, Netflix's new horror thriller series Below has debuted with a solid 80% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing. It is important to know that this score is subject to change, as Below only has 10 reviews logged so far, having debuted on Netflix on Thursday, October 8, with all of its six episodes being dropped at once as a binge release on the streamer. Given how the new Netflix thriller series has only just debuted, its Rotten Tomatoes audience score has yet to be revealed, and its critics' score should fluctuate over its first week of availability.

Below adds to the long list of Netflix limited series with positive reviews. Some of the other noteworthy shows in that group include Anya Taylor-Joy's The Queen's Gambit, Margaret Qualley's Maid, Mike Flanagan series like The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor, and more. Below's release also comes with an interesting timing for its lead star, Josh Hartnett. After all, the actor is currently in theaters with the Colleen Hoover thriller novel adaptation Verity, which also stars Dakota Johnson and Anne Hathaway, and has brought in $68.5 million worldwide so far after its October 2 theatrical debut.

In Netflix's Below, Hartnett gives life to Calvin Penney, who believes he saw a monster underwater when he was a kid, and now must face what that means as a mysterious iceberg makes its way to the island of Newfoundland, bringing with it plenty of mystery and danger. The thriller series also features a major star Netflix subscribers know well, as Charlie Heaton, who plays Wade, Calvin's son, in Below, became famous for portraying Jonathan Byers in Stranger Things. The same can be said for Mackenzie Davis as Fonda Howander, as the actress starred in Black Mirror's iconic San Junipero episode on Netflix.

Scratch & Peek

Scratch& Peek

Identify the cover art while scratching off as little foil as possible.

Netflix's new 6-part horror thriller series combines elements of genre favorites like Stephen King and H.P. Lovecraft. When it comes to the first, Below evokes King's classic small town mysteries with a building sense of dread and a focus on families and childhood trauma. As for Below's Lovecraftian connections, the new Netflix thriller series is all about danger lurking underwater, with the same build-up to ancient monsters and local folklore playing a role. Netflix's Below was released a day after Flanagan's Stephen King adaptation, Prime Video's Carrie, dropped on that streamer. It remains to be seen what Below's audience score will be.