Streamer’s meme-magnet horror has spawned a Spanish edition and while it loses out from a lack of Sandra Bullock, it gains a nifty, nasty twist
With the overwhelming majority of Netflix films now being tossed into the ether without even the faintest of fanfare, it’s hard to remember just what a stir the streamer’s slick survival horror Bird Box caused back in December 2018. It was the platform’s first genuine blockbuster, racking up record views (it remains the fourth most watched film ever on Netflix) and becoming a shock pop culture phenomenon spawning countless memes and the dreaded, deranged Bird Box Challenge. Yet as loud as the chatter might have been at the time, it went quiet just as fast, talks of a sequel fading as star Sandra Bullock soon spoke of temporary retirement.
A barely visible cultural imprint and a disinterested leading lady be damned with the streamer hoping that almost five years later, enough people are able to remember a universe that most critics were happy to repress. For all of its viral bluster, Bird Box was a sorry, sloppy spin on A Quiet Place with a far less effective sense-based danger and never quite working as a horror, a fantasy, a family drama or a survival thriller, parroting the work of others without bringing any sense of distinctive personality of its own.
