Netflix has gone out of its way to create numerous new original shows and movies. One of which is the “Santa Clarita Diet.”
It follows the lives of the Hammonds, a typical timid suburban realtor couple that goes out one night at a local restaurant. Then, their lives change forever because of the contents of one bowl of clams, as they force Sheila Hammond into a new life as a member of the undead.
Sheila was a meek person with a small personality, then one day she suddenly shifts into a confident outspoken woman and leaves everyone in her life shocked. The most shocking thing about the new Shelia is her diet.
The Hammonds find out later on in the first season that Shelia ate some infected clams when they went out to dinner at a restaurant in their town. These clams killed the people that ate them and brought them back as zombies.
Not the typical mindless creatures running around in search of brains, but more enhanced versions of the people they used to be. They of course still have a diet consisting only of human flesh, but they still have their minds fully intact.
Zombies in this show become fearless more confident versions of their former selves. The daily anxiety that used to hold them back disappears with this new mindset of self confidence. The diseases or ailments that used to impair their lives are gone. It even gives immortality and youth if they get the special serum that the Hammonds found.
Sheila and Joel have found out what they need to do in order to keep the undeads’ bodies from deteriorating. They created the serum with the help of a super scientist and continually fought off all of the things threatening to tear apart their family.
This new Sheila has created many problems for the family. Most of the problems entail keeping her new condition a secret and successfully hiding the family’s murders from the police.
The family goes through many trying moments together and actually end up becoming closer to each other as a result of all the criminal activity. The daughter, Abby, has even found some criminal calling of her own. Granted they are not nearly as extreme as murdering bad guys, but they family bonds over them.
“Santa Clarita Diet” is a mix of comedy and horror. It is full of jokes and laughable moments, but also has lots of blood and gore; Sheila sinking her teeth into someone’s neck and ripping out their throat is a pretty common scene.
However, I would not say that it is a scary show. There is absolutely more comedy than anything else in the show. It does not give me nightmares and I don’t have to take breaks to calm down in between episodes.
Usually when Sheila is eating someone Joel is doing something funny or cracking a joke to take the horrific edge off of the gory scene.
The show so far consists of three seasons. Each episode is only half an hour long which makes it perfectly binge-able.
Briana Spurlock
Reporter