Bloodride – Netflix Season 1 Review

Episode Guide

Ultimate Sacrifice | Review Score = 4/5
Three Sick Brothers | Review Score = 3.5/5
Bad Writer | Review Score = 4/5
Lab Rats | Review Score = 3.5/5
The Old School | Review Score = 4/5
The Elephant in the Room | Review Score = 3/5

Anthologies series are fast becoming popular on the small screen. From the famous Black Mirror to Inside No 9 or even Apple+’s Little America, this ever-growing trend doesn’t look like it’ll be slowing down any time soon. Bloodride is the latest Netflix anthology from Norway to creep its way onto the streaming platform. With 6 episodes clocking in at around 30 minutes each, the series offers up some clever and twisted tales in the process, even if some can feel a little familiar to what we’ve seen before.

Each episode starts in much the same way; a creepy bus driver enters his vehicle in the middle of a rainy night. At first the bus seems empty but as multiple characters appear, each chapter acts as a stop for one of our protagonists to exit as the camera focuses on each of them. Along with this, there’s also a small clue about what has happened. This acts as the “wraparound” of the anthology and ties all of these tales together. While it is never fully explained why they are on-board the doomed bus, it could be interpreted as the different people on their way to purgatory.

Bloodride is the ideal horror series to binge-watch, thanks in part to the aforementioned short episode length and the great variety each offers. While some twists and themes can feel a little familiar and predictable, the show has enough interesting and thrilling stories to keep you entertained throughout.

Like other anthologies, some chapters are stronger than others; Ultimate Sacrifice, Bad Writer and Lab Rats are the stand-outs here, showcasing some interesting themes around greed, hatred and revenge. Old School is certainly the creepiest one of the the series while The Elephant in the Room is arguably the weakest, feeling a little slower than the rest.

What Bloodride manages to do well though is spinning its stories in a clever way, full of twists at the end while keeping a high dose of dark humour and suspense throughout. We often get little clues during the episodes as well as some good bits of foreshadowing, which make each instalment really engaging and stand up to repeat watches.

The cast offer up some good performances too, with Lab Rats the perfect example of this during the tense interactions during dinner, then in the glass room later on. By contrast, Ultimate Sacrifice’s cast manage to infuse some real creepiness into its character performances.

Bloodride may not be the strongest anthology out there and may not reach the same heights that some episodes of Black Mirror or Inside No 9 have reached, but it’s a solid enough watch nonetheless. With plenty of variety, Bloodride should please anyone looking for a decent horror anthology and whether it’s a creepy paranormal tale or a different take on Pet Sematary, this is one ride that’s almost certainly going to stop at your chosen destination.

Click Here To Go Back To Our TV Show Reviews