After watching countless movies from director Tim Burton, I have grown to love his oddball, gothic film style and Netflix’s “Wednesday” executed this flawlessly. Released Nov. 23 (which was conveniently on a Wednesday), the Addams Family is back in a modern era, filled with gore and teenage drama.

Set in New England, Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) is shipped off by her mother, Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and father, Gomez (Luis Guzmán), to Nevermore Academy — a boarding school which was founded in 1791 to educate and “nurture outcasts, freaks and monsters.” 

After arriving, filled with darkness and wit, Wednesday shows little interest in her peers and she schemes to escape, but she soon realizes there is much more to the school than it appears. With her emerging psychic abilities, she begins to unpack an unsolved mystery that occurred 25 years prior. 

Without hesitation, I knew I would like this show. Ortega rocked her role and I enjoyed the modernity of the setting and their attempts at making it not too Gen-Z niche specific, (writers please stop referencing Instagram, Snapchat or TikTok). Ortega’s chemistry with her castmates worked perfectly, even with her deadpan deliverance of lines and no nonsense mindset as Wednesday.

Along with the current-day storyline, Colleen Atwood did an exceptional job at articulating each character’s aesthetic and distinct quirks through their clothing in a contemporary fashion. I especially enjoyed Wednesday’s roommate Edin Sinclair (Emma Myers) poke at her to break out of her shell and you can visually see it through her wardrobe choices as the story progresses. 

A fun directing choice was including the original 1991 Wednesday Addams (Christina Ricci) casted as the Nevermore herbology professor. Her appearance in the show made it much more enticing to watch because of the nostalgia factor. 

The only real critique I have for the show is that some of the CGI looked very unrealistic and made me giggle about the quality because of how well done the rest of the production was. Other than that minor detail, I thoroughly enjoyed this haunting show. 

If you’re looking for a hair-raising but humorous show loaded with dark twists and turns, I recommend checking out this series on Netflix. 

“Wednesday:” ★★★★★