Goedam consists of 8 episodes that are only 7-15 minutes each. They apparently draw from folklore or urban legends - I didn't know enough to be able to recognize any of the story details.

The first episode features a tense girl, one of her class's top students. In the second episode, a taxi driver picks up a terrifying passenger. The third episode focuses on a livestreamer. The fourth episode has a creepy doll. The fifth episode seems to take place in the same classroom as the first, although it has no other connection to that episode - it stars a girl who seems to have taken the death of one of her classmates badly. In the sixth episode, a cop investigates an urban legend about an elevator that's supposed to be able to take you to another dimension. In the seventh episode, a husband doesn't listen to his wife's request that he not remove the talisman hanging above their bedroom door. The final episode deals with a shaman who kidnaps and starves children and then kills them so that she can use their souls.

Many of these shorts are excellent in their first few minutes and then rapidly fall apart, relying heavily on blood and gore for their scares. My favorites, as far as the initial setup went, were episodes 1, 3, and 6, but I didn't actually like any of the episodes as a whole and hated the reliance on gore. Episode 3 was particularly worthless in that respect - its ending wasn't so much scary as just gross.

Most of this series felt pointless, and there was a surprising number of wasted moments and details. Episode 1 appeared, at the beginning, to be a story about evil twins, but nothing was ever done with that detail. Episode 2 had what appeared to be multiple unconnected horror elements. Episode 3's conclusion was confusing and felt senseless. Episode 7 had me wondering "why this house?" - there was almost no buildup. And episode 8 felt vaguely out of place.

All in all, not recommended, and if a second season is ever added to Netflix, I don't plan on watching it.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )