Overview (Spoilers Below):
A horror anthology series based on the works of famous European authors that explores dark themes through horror/thriller adaptations of short stories from literature.
Our Take:
I don’t watch as many anthology shows as others. But when I do, I appreciate the genre for allowing many creative artists to showcase their works in one package. Instead of watching them separately, I get to savor each refreshing and visually distinct project in a single series, even though each lasts for around ten minutes. Star Wars: Visions remains one of the finest examples of how an anthology series works regarding its creative visions and world-building. This year, we have the latest addition to the genre that’s finally making its debut in the U.S. since its premiere in February. However, this one appears far less festive and jolly than I anticipated.
Red Iron Road, created by Aljosha Klimov and Iouri Stepanov, consists of six distinctive episodes showcasing horrific and thrilling tales with unique visual presentations by different creators. One of them is “The Forest King”, which involves a young boy being trapped inside a mysterious VR game. Another example is “Lord”, depicting the remaining survivors of humanity’s destruction battling mutants, which is Mad Max in a nutshell. If you’ve watched other horror anthology projects like V/H/S or Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, then Red Iron Road will immediately remind you of them regarding the haunting stories and disturbing visuals.
But the question that needed answering is whether all six of its stories rank high in the scare-o-meter. More importantly, are the episodes compelling enough to match the quality of their scares and visual styles? The scares vary regarding their stories, but for the latter, they’re unsurprisingly sublime regarding the presentations. We all know that multiple countries have provided animated projects that rival the ones made in America, even by Disney. Red Iron Road is one of those cases, particularly in Russia, with its first season providing brief yet gorgeously creepy and stylized depictions of the short stories filled with dark undertones and disturbing imagery.
If I were to pick my favorite episodes, I would choose “The Forest King” as one of them. Regarding its poetic story and mixture of 2D and CGI animation, that episode is a haunting, futuristic outlook of humanity corrupted by wealth and fame. I also enjoyed “The Ratcatcher’s Daughter” for its black-and-white aesthetics and smooth character animations. As for my least favorite, it’s hard to pick just one since they all were well-crafted and compelling. But I would go with “No. 8 Reporting” due to the cell-shaded CGI looking a bit uncanny. However, it isn’t without its amount of tension to keep that train ride from hell moving. While it’s not my favorite anthology series, Red Iron Road is a deeply disturbing and visually stylized compilation of shorts that delivers more frights than holiday cheer, but in the best way.