This Forgotten Supernatural Show With 39.5M+ Streaming Hours on Netflix Reinvents a Classic Horror Icon

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Zachary Quinto hunched and looking disfigured in NOS4A2

Published Feb 1, 2026, 10:20 AM EST

Lloyd 'Happy Trails' Farley: the man, the myth, the legend. What can be said about this amazing - and humble - man that hasn't been said before? Or, more accurately, what can be said in public? Born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Lloyd is a master of puns and a humorist, who has authored one pun book to date - Pun and Grimeish Mint - and is working on a second. His time with Collider has allowed Lloyd's passion for writing to explode, with nearly 1,000 articles to his name that have been published on the site, with his favorite articles being the ones that allow for his sense of humor to shine. Lloyd also holds fast to the belief that all of life's problems can be answered by The Simpsons, Star Wars, and/or The Lion King. You can read more about Lloyd on his website, or follow his Facebook page and join the Llama Llegion. Happy trails!

Collider, as always, is the place to go for suggestions about series for your next Netflix binge. If you're a horror fan, and you'd rather stick pokers in your eyes than watch the romantic drama Finding Her Edge, have no interest in The Upshaws, and might think the Kevin Bacon-led series The Following is less horror, more psychological thriller. Then, we suggest a series that combines murder, kidnapping, a 1938 Rolls-Royce, an immortal antagonist that feeds on the souls of children, and Christmas: NOS4A2, a largely forgotten supernatural horror show that has garnered 39.5M+ hours on Netflix.

What Is 'NOS4A2' About?

If NOS4A2 sounds familiar, it should: it's a phonetic spelling of the titular vampire's name in Nosferatu. Based on the Joe Hill novel, the name "NOS4A2" is purposeful, alluding to its modern reinterpretation of vampire lore. For example, the vampire of the piece doesn't drink blood, but rather feasts on children's souls. New concepts are also introduced, like personalized dreamscapes called "Inscapes," accessed by Strong Creatives through "Knives," personal objects that cut through the real world and into their Inscapes. The novel is a blend of fantasy and the supernatural, creating a truly unique horror work that comes across vividly in the AMC adaptation.

The series introduces Charlie Manx (Zachary Quinto), an immortal 135-year-old "supernatural vampire." He kidnaps children from those he deems as unworthy parents, and takes them to his Inscape: Christmasland, where it's Christmas every day and unhappiness is against the law. Christmasland is far from a magical place, but rather a twisted pocket dimension where Christmas meets horror. The children are brought there via Charlie's Knife, a 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith, where he keeps his immortality by feasting on their souls, leaving them to turn into mindless, vampire-like creatures who find their legally-mandated happiness in killing and cruelty. Meanwhile, the parents of the children are left to Bing Partridge (Olafur Darri Olafsson), Charlie's "Renfield," a serial killer who helps Charlie abduct children before sexually assaulting the parents and killing them afterward.

He's challenged by Victoria "Vic" McQueen (Ashleigh Cummings), an 18-year-old Strong Creative and aspiring artist whose Inscape is an old bridge torn down long before, known as "The Shorter Way," which she initially accesses through her Knife, a red motorbike. She's also able, inexplicably, to track Charlie and enter Christmasland. From another Strong Creative, Maggie Leigh (Jahkara Smith), she learns that she, too, is a chosen one, destined to find and rescue the lost children kidnapped by Charlie. Charlie senses it, however, setting up a long-running battle between the two that takes its toll on each of them.

'NOS4A2' Challenges Horror Conventions in the Best Way

And that only scratches the surface of the rich, deep mythology created for NOS4A2. The Knives of the Creatives come at a cost whenever they're used: for Charlie, he is deeply connected to his Wraith, and when the Wraith is damaged, so is he; for Vic, she suffers debilitating migraines and her left eye bleeds; and for Maggie, the use of her Scrabble tiles causes her at first to stutter, and eventually turns to seizures. The Christmas ornaments that hang on the trees near the Sleigh House represent the souls of the kidnapped children (think Lord Voldemort's horcruxes), and if they're destroyed, the children revert to normal. Plus, so much more.

But it's the stellar cast of NOS4A2 that keeps the series' fantastical elements grounded and instills the characters with a deepness that challenges the black vs. white convention of the genre. Quinto is masterful as Charlie Manx, invoking the chilling energy he brought to the villainous Sylar in Heroes while adding the complexity the series brings to the character. He truly believes he is, in his own way, protecting the children from the horrors that he himself endured at the hands of a pedophile when he was younger, but is lost to how his actions take away their innocence all the same. Cummings, too, is fantastic, navigating Vic through discovery, loss, crippling fear, and vengeful determination. The supporting cast, led by Ebon Moss-Bachrach's must-see performance as Vic's father, is also strong.

Thematically, too, NOS4A2 rises above its station. Family dynamics, the power of addiction, the dangers of emotional distance and isolation, and the effects of childhood trauma in adulthood, among others, are themes NOS4A2 addresses in ways both subtly and overt. It's not rare that a horror series might address one or two, but NOS4A2 stands out from its peers in addressing them all. Exceptionally well, at that, with writing that is smarter, and more profound, than most. The series also benefited by having an end goal in sight, wrapping up after two seasons, having adapted the entire storyline of the original novel. It's well worth the binge — you can trust your friends at Collider.