NOS4A2
NOS4A2
Vic McQueen, a young working-class artist uses her supernatural ability to track the seemingly immortal Charlie Manx—who preys on children's souls.
Callum reviewedNovember 3, 2025
⭐⭐⭐½ (out of 5) NOS4A2 – Christmasland, but Make It Cursed
NOS4A2 (read it as “Nosferatu,” because subtlety died somewhere around episode two) is a chilling blend of psychic horror and dark fantasy. It takes the vampire myth and drains the blood right out of it — literally — replacing fangs and coffins with stolen innocence and psychic hunger. The result is something uniquely unsettling: a story about hope weaponised, dreams twisted, and the terrible price of eternal youth.
Zachary Quinto’s Charlie Manx isn’t so much a vampire as a parasitic Peter Pan, feeding on the energy of children to keep his Christmasland paradise alive. It’s bright and festive on the surface — all eternal cheer and candy canes — but the longer you stay, the colder it gets. The show lives in that space between nostalgia and nightmare, where the snow is sugar-dusted dread.
It’s not the bleakest horror out there, but it lingers. The sentient car adds a surreal touch, a mechanical familiar that blurs the line between machine and malice. The finale aims for hope but lands somewhere bittersweet, the light flickering in the dark rather than banishing it.
Pairing: A mug of mulled wine — sweet, spiced, and warm on the tongue, yet leaving a faint metallic taste that reminds you not all Christmas miracles are pure.