The Netflix seriesBrand New Cherry Flavoris alimited horror seriesstarring Rosa Salazar as Lisa Nova, an aspiring filmmaker with a bold and striking talent that everyone around her is trying to take for themselves. After a producer named Lou Burke options her incredible short filmLucy’s Eyein the hopes of riding her coattails to make it back to the top of the Hollywood food chain, he betrays her and hires a music video director to helm the feature-length adaptation of her work. Starving for revenge, Lisa strikes a new deal with a witch named Boro (incredibly played by Catherine Keener), who agrees to help her set Lou’s life on fire. What Lisa doesn’t know is that the process will bring all of her personal demons to light and destroy her identity in the process.
Created by Nick Antosca and Lenore Zion (who previously collaborated on the delightfully creepyChannel Zero) the series explores the dangers of obsession, sacrificing art for commerce, and the physical toll changing your life can take. Seemingly inspired by the works of David Cronenberg and David Lynch, it combinesvisceral body horrorwith surrealistic touches that can make you laugh and terrify you at the same exact time. That’s not an easy feat, and there are several moments of suspense and tension that keep you glued to the screen, never quite knowing what will happen next. Below, we have ranked the most intense moments the series has to offer by focusing on the biggest moments from each episode. Some are graphically violent and others are more subdued, but all of them get deep under your skin.
8A Down Payment
The premiere episode ofBrand New Cherry Flavorsets up the world and characters without sacrificing the pacing or atmosphere. There are quite a few intense moments sprinkled throughout, like Lou choking and beating Lisa after she accuses him of being washed up, but by far the moment that stands out above the rest is when Lisa agrees to pay Boro anything she wants for her help. Until now, nothing overtly supernatural had taken place, although the show certainly hinted that something extraordinary was going on behind the scenes. After Boro informs Lisa that she will need her first payment for helping set Lou’s life on fire now, Lisa doubles over with severe abdominal distress. She begins to cough and heave before something large and white emerges from her mouth. That is enough to make you hold your breath in suspense, but when it’s revealed that she has justvomited up a white kitten, you may’t help but either gasp or laugh with shock.
Related:Best Horror TV Series to Watch on Netflix, Ranked
7The Binding Ritual
Almost the entirety of the second episode could be listed as one of the most intense moments because it isrelentless. Picking up immediately where the previous episode left off, Lisa has no time to adjust to what just happened before Boro concocts a vile stew made of terrible things. In order to effectively ruin Lou’s life, Lisa will need to complete a binding ritual that requires funky ingredients like a family photo and Lou’s pubic hair (of all things). She also needs to consume the nasty stew in 24 hours, which disorients her and makes her feel high. The first 20 or so minutes are shot to demonstrate how distorted and frightening the world appears to her at that moment. Beings from the spirit world occasionally pop out as she tries (and fails) to pull off the perfect heist. You know something is going to go wrong, and the suspense is in witnessing the quick flashes of horror she witnesses while struggling to complete her demented task.
6Family Dinner
There are two big moments in the fourth episode that could have been included here. The obvious one is the ending where Mary (the actress from Lisa’s movie) watches the finished film and learns that she removed and devoured her own eyeball while elsewhere Lisa is being murdered only to come back to life moments later. However, the show is filled with that kind of horror so by the time all this goes down, we’re sort of used to it. The other scene sees Boro sitting down to dinner with a family who believes she is their missing matriarch. As she explains to Lisa and the family that she is actually a supernatural consciousness inhabiting this woman’s body, we get the sneaking suspicion that something is about to go terribly wrong. During her monologue, we look for signs of what she intends to do when suddenly, one of the kids faints into her pasta. Boro admits she poisoned her food before the other teenager also passes out followed by the patriarch. She then extracts and eats their memories in a grotesque fashion. Later on, the father and son awaken with no memories of who or where they are. It’s just more confirmation that we need to always be on our toes when Boro’s around.
5We’re Just Getting Started
Episode three ofBrand New Cherry Flavoris all about casual weirdness being treated as mundane. Your threshold on how intense such things may be could vary, but no one would argue that the episode’s finale isn’t suspenseful and shocking. While attending a screening at Lou’s house in hopes of getting him to consume a potentially dangerous worm found on her strange houseplant, Lisa agrees to snort cocaine with the man who stole her movie from her. Boro already said that the worm will accelerate Lou’s suffering, so we are on the edge of our seats as the disgusting little thing is vacuumed up his nostril. Moments later, he begins itching himself as if experiencing an allergic reaction. Just when we think he is finally going to pay for his crimes, something totally unexpected happens: Lisa uses her mind to set a man on fire. He is the director hired to spearhead the adaptation of her short film, so she is understandably angry, but we had no idea that her emotion could manifest in such a pyrotechnic way.
4Consequences
For a show soaked in blood, it’s fascinating that one of the more intense moments isn’t about violence at all. Instead, it comes from how individuals react to it. After Lisa is healed by Boro following her attempted murder, she returns home to find the killer waiting for her. Outside, her friends Code (played by Manny Jacinto ofThe Good Place), Christine, and Roy wait for her. She emerges with blood all over her and says she needs help. We then see the group discussing what to do with the body of the man she just killed in self-defense. As they talk, Mary is hiding in the closet and could emerge at any second. Everyone goes to dispose of the body, but Code stays behind to get high. When Mary reveals her presence, they talk about how they both used to be in relationships with Lisa. Across town, movie star Roy Hardaway (who is sort of a love interest, but not really) tells Lisa he can’t be around her. This moment is quiet and real with nothing out of the ordinary going on, but it makes us uneasy anyway as if Lisa could lash out. The final image is Lisa discovering Code’s corpse in her apartment having been killed by Mary. What this ending is telling us is that the consequences of Lisa’s actions are about to explode, and it isn’t going to be pretty. Knowing that makes these seemingly ordinary scenes thick with dread and foreboding.
Related:Netflix: Some of the Weirdest Horror Movies you’re able to Watch Right Now
3Symbiosis
Once Lou realizes that Lisa is slowly tearing apart his life, he threatens her indirectly by explaining how he could pay money to hire men to find out who is messing with him and hurt them. Taking the hint, Lisa goes to Boro and demands she stop the curse. When Boro refuses, Lisa then demands that she stop throwing up kittens. Boro agrees to this, but the alternative is much worse. Towards the third act, a wound begins to form in Lisa’s side. She hops in the tub to ease the pain while Lou is simultaneously reeling from the terrifying visions in his head. They’re so intense that he can only silence them by ramming a q-tip deep in his ear. After emerging from the tub, Lisa investigates her wound and finds that touching it is akin to a sexual experience. Akitten emerges from it, and she is forced to tell Roy what’s been going on. What follows is a scene of such erotic body horror it belongs in aDavid Cronenberg movie. It subverts (and perverts) our expectations for where Lisa and Roy’s storyline should be at this point in the series and that’s what makes it so intense.
2Meeting the White Jaguar
When Boro explains her backstory, she mentions that there was a white jaguar hunting her to get vengeance for her betraying it. Throughout the series, we see flashes of this terrifying entity from the spirit realm occasionally stepping out of the shadows to scare Lisa. After Boro and Lisa attempt to complete a blood ritual, the entity emerges again and grips Boro by the face. At the same time, Ralph (a hitman) arrives at Lisa’s apartment. To escape her potential killer, Lisa flees into the mysterious trapdoor in her bedroom. It is here that she officially meets the white jaguar. What’s so intense about this moment is the fact that this subplot is finally merging with the main plot, and we’re expecting something climactic to happen. This is one of the moments we’ve been waiting for, even though we didn’t know it. Also, the fact that this entity has a void where its face should be is incredibly creepy.
1Farewell, Roy
Of course, the finale would feature the most intense moment of theNetflix original series. After having her final confrontation with Lou and finally understanding his petty reason for stealing her movie, Lisa goes to tell Boro their deal is done. As they discuss the end of their arrangement, Roy is called forward. He was only there to help Lisa and what happens to him is tragic. We don’t know a ton about Roy, but what we have been told paints the picture of a man on his road to redemption. However, because he got involved with Lisa, that road has become foggy and confusing. Being around her makes him feel alive, but he knows she’s bad news. So, to see him stand up to support her, only to have zombie servants remove his head and feast on his flesh is heartbreaking and so intense you can barely look at the screen.
