The upcoming Netflix series Ratched is not for the faint of heart. Starring Sarah Paulson (The People v. O.J Simpson: American Crime Story) as the titular role, she portrays a sadistic nurse on the loose in a psychiatric hospital. This is where the violence and lobotomies start. With the reveal of the final trailer on Tuesday, it insinuates disturbing operations depicting a once promising young woman turning into a monster via Entertainment Weekly.
From the twisted mind of Ryan Murphy (Glee), comes a new strain of terror. No stranger in making audiences squirm, Murphy kickstarted the horror television mania by creating American Horror Story in 2011 and hasn’t stopped since. He also created the slasher satire Scream Queens which ran for two seasons on Fox. Murphy then signed a 5-year contract with Netflix in 2018 said to be worth up to $300 million dollars, and has already created shows The Politician and Hollywood. With Ratched, his newest endeavor is an adaptation from one of America’s most beloved films.
The 1975 classic film One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest serves as the inspiration for Ratched. Starring Jack Nicholson (The Departed) as a patient in a mental ward and Louise Fletcher (Firestarter) as the cruel Nurse Ratched, they won Best Actor and Best Actress at the Academy Awards. It also won Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It was then added to the National Film Registry in 1993 for its impact on culture and society. To say that the upcoming series has some big shoes to fill is an understatement.
In the last trailer before Ratched hits Netflix on September 18, it teases the origin story for one of the most notorious villains in cinematic history. A clean cut nurse named Mildred Ratched arrives at the Lucia State Hospital in 1940s California and the bloodshed begins. Paulson is Murphy’s go to muse, and she is breaking bad as she preys on vulnerable, mentally unstable patients. The show will also star several household names including Sharon Stone (Casino), Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City), and Finn Wittrock (American Horror Story) as a new prisoner for Ratched to torture.
One particular event that is featured throughout the trailer has to do with Nurse Ratched becoming fascinated with a specific procedure. Going into detail depicting the birth of lobotomies in order to “cure” mania, youth in revolt, and other sins, gore is around every corner in the final preview of Ratched. All that darkness is combated with an elegant set painted in cheer with colorful wardrobe. Paulson as the evil nurse is always perfectly groomed with stylish yellow suits, eloquent vocabulary, and neat hair. But, under that perfect veneer, the trailer warns us that the sweetest things can be rotten underneath.
Watch the trailer below if you dare: