Netflix’s Creepy 4-Part Supernatural Thriller Is the Perfect Weekend Binge

Published Oct 9, 2026, 7:20 AM EDT

Molly DeCastro is a New York-based emerging film and entertainment journalist with a personal passion for poetic prose and impactful storytelling. She graduated from Pace University with a degree in English and a concentration in creative writing. While film analysis is at the heart of her work, she is especially interested in exploring cinema through an anthropological lens and in examining how creative themes reflect cultural identity. She aims to forge a deep connection between audiences and film through thoughtful and evocative writing.

She also enjoys keeping up with all things film! That means specializing in industry news, emerging directors, and stand-out projects.

For fans of other Netflix thrillers, alongside the likes of Baby Reindeer, Fool Me Once, and Mindhunter, the next big thriller series has just arrived. From the mind of director Pablo Larraín, My Sad Dead is a four-part Argentinian-Chilean psychological horror mini-series. The show is a truly gripping combination of expertly crafted, disturbing cinematography, and incredibly gripping performances from the show's star, Ema, portrayed by Mercedes Morán.

In short, Ema is a recently retired doctor who, up until now, lived an ordinary life despite one extraordinary ability. This all comes to a head with the recent loss of her mother and the decaying house of horrors she left behind. Sergio Armstrong, the cinematographer onboard the show, has received praise for his ability to capture its uncanny, melancholic, modern-gothic atmosphere. It should be noted some critics found the pacing to be a fault of the series, claiming the sloth-like speed of the story was rather boring. Adversely, fans found it to be one of the notably positive qualities of the series.

What to Expect from Pablo Larraín's 'My Sad Dead'

The series has been received immensely positively. On Rotten Tomatoes alone, it earned a very warm 88%, with critics revering the show's thoughtful portrayal of grief. Notably, My Sad Dead is a horror series that doesn't rely on cheap jumpscares and other fear tactics to be frightening. Rather, it uses thoughtful storytelling, exquisite performances, and artful directorial touches, to create a bone-chilling watching experience. Thus, this manufactured feeling of unease grows and crescendos throughout the series, making it incredibly difficult to put down.

The imagery of the series can most accurately be expressed through analyzing the opening scene, in which, before the audience sees an old woman dying in her sick bed, they hear her. Sick, quiet, stomach-turning moans. It's Ema's mother, at the end of her line. She's allergic to morphine, so as she writhes in pain all Ema can do is watch. So, that's exactly what she does. In a matter of seconds, her mother passes, with both of her hands clutching her daughter's wrist. A blurred version of her appears out of her body, a ghostly undead version of herself that Ema can see. In this way, it appears grief in this series is a two-way street. The dead mourn the living, and the living mourn the dead. Each desperate for one to notice the other.

Interestingly, unlike other more cliché versions of the classic story in which a protagonist realizes they can see ghosts, her ability didn't start with the death of a loved one. Ema has been able to see the dead for her entire life. As a doctor and a woman of science, she tells herself that they're just hallucinatory manifestations of PTSD or sleep deprivation. All the while, from when she was only 5 long before she stepped foot in a hospital or watched a patient die, she could communicate with the dead. Then, cut to present day, living in her mother's home, she is inundated with the dead. They're everywhere. Roaming the streets she sees victims of gun violence, robberies, addicts, aimlessly walking repeating their last movements just before dying. Similar to series like The Haunting of Bly Manor, My Sad Dead captures the deep sadness of the ordinary ghost story.

In summary, the series adapted from a short story by Argentine author Mariana Enriquez, is a true must-watch. Just in time for fall, the series brings all the fun of the horror genre with a genuine heart-stirring twist. The cinematography alone will keep one gripped, especially so with Armstrong's expert use of light. A ghost story has never felt so ethereal and haunting. The series is currently available on Netflix.

Cast

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  Mercedes Morán

  Ema

• Alejandra Flechner

  Lidia

• Carolina Sánchez Álvarez

  Julie

• Dolores Fonzi