Alita’s Rosa Salazar tries Brand New Cherry Flavor horror series for Netflix

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL star Rosa Salazar has landed the lead role in a horror-thriller series that's in the works at Netflix. Based on a novel by Todd Grimson (you can pick up a copy of that HERE), this one has quite a tasty title: Brand New Cherry Flavor.

Netflix and UCP are producing the eight episode series, which will tell the story of 

Lisa Nova (Salazar), an aspiring film director in the sun-drenched but seamy world of 1990 Los Angeles who embarks on a mind-altering journey — from the streets of Beverly Hills to the forests of Brazil — of supernatural revenge.

Going by that description, I would have been on board for this even without the supernatural revenge element, but that part just enhances my interest.

The description of Grimson's novel digs even deeper into the horror: 

In the world of Hollywood’s panderers, philanderers, has-beens, and sycophants, aspiring screenwriter and director Lisa Nova considers herself a rising star who can transcend the lies, cheating, and hypocrisy for the sake of her art. When she is coldly betrayed by one leering producer too many, she turns to Boro, the enigmatic leader of a local biker gang, to exact vengeance—and she gets more than she bargained for. It begins with the strange tattoos that appear overnight on her skin like stigmata, followed by the hallucinations of ancient cults of the undead. Lisa soon finds herself contending with white jaguars and cannibalistic demons rising from the grave, and the lines between dreams and reality quickly dissolve in this surreal and exhilarating blend of satire and the macabre.

Salazar is joined in the cast of the series by Catherine Keener, Eric Lange, Jeff Ward, and Manny Jacinto.

The series is being written and executive produced by Nick Antosca and Lenore Zion, who previously worked together on Channel Zero. Brand New Cherry Flavor will be directed by Arkasha Stevenson, who directed the third season of Channel Zero.

Salazar is no stranger to Netflix projects; she had roles in BIRD BOX and THE KINDERGARTEN TEACHER, and does voice work on their animated show Big Mouth. She also starred in the eight episode Amazon series Undone.