Netflix is unleashing Reality Z, a Brazilian horror series influenced by Charlie Brooker’s (Black Mirror) British horror miniseries Dead Set, according to Variety. Producer Cláudio Torres (The Man from the Future) challenged himself to utilize Brazil’s obsession with pop culture and reality television for this show. The show will be set in Rio de Janeiro with a zombie apocalypse forcing the participants and producers of the Olimpo reality show to take shelter in the self-sustaining bespoke set.
Torres took inspiration from traditional Brazilian art movements while shaping this show, using these movements with his inspiration from Dead Set to capture this world. “The first five episodes are Dead Set seen through a tropical mirror,” Torres told Variety. “From episode 6 to 10, the material is totally new and, I hope, honors the critical soul, humor and violence of Charlie’s original.”
Netflix is teaming up with multi-Emmy winning Brazilian production house Conspiracao, (Rio, I Love You) with the production house currently developing 6 more shows, all while following COVID-19 quarantine guidelines. Netflix also announced last year that it had about 30 original series and films in varying phases of production in Brazil.
“The zombie genre is still new for Brazilian cinema, so we had to learn and reinvent ourselves a lot to deliver a show with great production values,” Torres noted to Variety, adding that more than 1,000 scenes featured special effects. “The VFX with greatest complexity were the aerial shots where we created a destroyed Rio de Janeiro with 3D elements, fire and smoke.”
Reality Z will be released across all areas where Netflix is available on June 10.