Really scaryNetflix’s new docuseries, created by James Wan, breaks the rules of the genre from its first episode. Most paranormal documentaries fail when they try to present the events they report. Re-enactments often resemble high school theater on a cafeteria budget: clunky direction, forced acting, and photography that kills any atmosphere. But the production avoids this usual disaster. And this happens thanks to intelligent staging and visual processing that surprises with its care.
Of course, the series has a decisive element in its favor. James Wan, creator of such sagas as Warren File And Insidiousunderstands the language of visual fear and applies it here to turn a format that usually feels cheap into a visually polished horror film. Netflix has found a way to improve on its supernatural formula without giving up what audiences are looking for: ghost stories that feel real but feel like a midnight movie. From the first episode, the docuseries stands out for its cinematic finish and ability to maintain suspense without losing its documentary tone. It is at this point between the real and the recreated, Really scary considers his territory more interesting.
Moreover, Netflix has proven that it has a loyal audience for stories about the inexplicable. Previous experiments such as pursued or 28 Haunted Dayswhich, despite their dubious authenticity, caused seasons and rage on the networks. Really scary follows this line, but changes the rules of the game by prioritizing aesthetics and atmosphere over evidence. The result is not trying to convince you of the existence of the supernatural; rather, he wants you to feel it within half an hour.
Terror in a short and understandable format
Each episode works like a short story with expert pacing and precise editing. In particular, the production seems to be aware of the average viewer’s disbelief. Instead of forcing authenticity, he leans into his production, a stylized horror that aims not to scare with stunts, but with a visual composition that can stand up even without the spirits. This formal intelligence sets it apart from the rest of the platform’s paranormal catalog.almost always mediocre.
The series is divided into two arcs. Creepy hallDirected by Neil Rowles, the film consists of three episodes that follow the haunting of a university building as Chris (played by Jamie Parker) and his classmates experience increasingly disturbing events. Researchers Ed and Lorraine Warren (Tom Weston-Jones and Amy Nuttall) They act as advisors, introducing history.
A collection of horror stories for Truly Horrifying
But, without a doubt, the most interesting chapters are those that relate to the police sphere. This house killed me directed by Luke Watson, a darker story about a house marked by crime, in which the violence of the past corrupts life in the present. Both parts share the same visual language: light that seems to breathe, suffocating frames and silence that turns the everyday into menace.
The stories are structured like mini-movies, using short running times to maintain precise pacing, with no filler or lag. Wang observes everything with his usual clinical eye, with the terrifying tempo evident even in the cuts and texture of the sound.
An interesting production for fans of the genre.
One of the most interesting advantages Really scary is that, unlike other series of this style, it doesn’t try to aggressively scare, scare, or gore. Fears exist, but they do not dominate the experience. What really dominates is the atmosphere of the story told in the dark, as if the interlocutors were sharing their experiences around a digital fire. This decision makes it more interesting than scary. Fear is instilled, not imposed.
The re-enactments serve as an echo of the testimony, and although they seem theatrical, the production is elegant enough to not break the immersion. In a genre saturated with easy stunts and shaky cameras, the restraint is refreshing. This is the type of breathing horror that prefers slow chills to shock. In the end, it’s not the ghost on the screen that grabs you, but rather a narrative coherence that unites documentary and fiction under one aesthetic.
James Wan’s mark runs through the entire production like an invisible signature. Although he does not direct the sequences directly, his influence is felt in the visual language, use of voiceover space, and the construction of space as a source of unease. The camera never looks for the obvious: it glides, watches, waits.
For their part, directors Neil Rowles and Luke Watson are good students of the director and are up to the task of giving the series its own personality. And this is without falling into the harshness of a classic documentary. Hence Really scaryIts purpose is not to prove the existence of ghosts, but rather to remind us of something more disturbing: stories about them never die.they just change shape every time someone retakes them.
Source: Hiper Textual
