What if I told you there was a terrifying Twilight Zone riff streaming free on Netflix right now that you haven’t heard of? While, if you thought that was too good to be true, I have fantastic news for you—there is. Joko Anwar’s Nightmares and Daydreams, whose title is no doubt playing with Stephen King’s Nightmares & Dreamscapes, is presently streaming on Netflix. The Indonesian horror series was released earlier this year, though it unexpectedly failed to chart in the United States. While it performed considerably better in Indonesia, Western audiences have likely missed out on the latest from one of the strongest voices working in horror today.
Per Netflix: Takes of supernatural sci-fi phenomena unfold in this collection of seven mind-bending, interconnected stories imagined by writer-director Joko Anwar.
Horror fans might remember Joko Anwar from Satan’s Slaves and Satan’s Slaves 2: Communion. In my review of the latter from 2022, I wrote, “Anwar is as assured a horror master as any contemporary in the West, and Communion relishes his visual and narrative grandeur. Even when it risks derailing itself, there’s no denying Communion is a frightening return to one of this century’s best haunted houses.” Communion was one of that year’s best horror movies, and Joko Anwar’s Nightmares and Daydreams is one of this year’s best series.
The Netflix original follows strange nursing homes for the uber-rich, abandoned movie theaters, and hypnotists grappling with the consequences of their abilities. The anthology format means there’s something for everybody, and it’s Netflix’s best slice of vignette horror since Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities.
Fans online have been loving the series. Check out what the chorus of positive voices have to say below:
What do you think? Do you have any plans to check out Joko Anwar’s Nightmares and Daydreams? What other Netflix originals should I be watching? Let me know over on Twitter @Chadiscollins.
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