Because I'd watched Squid Game and Alice in Borderland, and maybe just because of its marketing or popularity, Netflix insisted on pushing Hellbound on me. So I caved and watched it. It's six hour-ish episodes, which I got part of one or two of, every night or so over the last week.

It's a Korean mini-series wherein mystical creatures will appear to warn people that they've been chosen to be culled, and that they're going to hell. They're given a time and day, on which these monsters from hell appear to take them away. The monsters are big ashen Hulk-like creatures, that seem to have a singular focus on their intended subject. They brutally attack, and eventually burn the victim to a charred, partial skeleton, before jumping into a portal back to wherever.

Most of that is in the trailer or can be gleaned from the series intro on Netflix.

The story follows some police as they try to investigate this bizarre series of murders, with these far-fetched stories from witnesses, and the otherwise inexplicable crime scenes. Then one of the people who have been given their deadline, called decrees, agrees to have their event, called a demonstration, in public and on television. The first few episodes bounce around these stories, interwoven with other decrees and demonstrations, building up the mystery and intrigue.

After this public demonstration, a new religion rises, and this New Truth group leads the people to try to live in ways to avoid the sins that result in the decrees. The show shifts quickly to this post-religion world and tells some of the ways that goes awry and also falls into abuses of power. The way families have to deal with these decrees and demonstrations becomes key, and how people try to avoid the shame and ire raised by receiving a decree, even as the result of possibly harmless sins (such as being a single mother). The last half follows the heresy and concerning decree of a newborn baby, which clearly couldn't have meaningfully sinned in its short life. At least not with the definitions set forth by the New Truth. Infighting about whether to introduce original sin, and how that would impact their rule brings the exciting conclusion of the series.

In all, it's a clever new story, with some reflection on religion and society. It is dark and could be disturbing, as some of the demonstrations are a little involved and brutal, but seems in line with how one might expect hell beasts to take you there. No wailing shadows dragging you into the darkness like they do in Ghost. The Korean-to-English is not dubbed and subtitled the same, which is not uncommon, so there are slightly different stories depending on how you view it and interpret those differences. The crux is the same, but some of the detail and nuance is different in moments. The beasts are well-animated, with some exciting chase scenes and detailed demonstrations, and their consistency and focus seems to remain throughout the series. There are some leaps in the story with the rise of the religion and the impact of family shame that show some different culture around what is a sin and what everyone knowing your business reveals about society.

Certainly not one for the kids.