"Katla" Series Review: If You Loved "The Returned", You Must Check Out This Icelandic Offering

"Katla" is a NetFlix Original series that takes place in Iceland. The show was created by Baltasar Kormakur ("Trapped", "Everest"). He also co-directed the series. The tiny community of Vik has been barraged by ash from nearby volcano Katla for the past year. While everyone else evacuates, a few brave souls remain behind. They must wear respirators outside in order to breath. The landscape is barren and otherworldly.

We meet Grima (musician GDRN Guorun Eyfjoro) who is searching for her missing sister Asa (Iris Tanja Flygenring) .She disappeared the day the eruptions began. Grima is married to Kjartan (Baltasar Breki Samper). Her father Thor (Ingvar Sigurdsson) is a mechanic.

Eyja (Aldis Amah Hamilton) and Leifur (Bjorn Ingi Hilmarsson) monitor the volcano. The call for volcanologist Darri (Bjorn Thors) from Reykjavik.He specializes in such things. One day a figure encrusted in ash appears. They call police chief Gislo (Porsteinn Bachmann) and rush the woman to the hospital. Who is she and how did she get there? She says she is a Swedish tourist named Gunhild. But she looks 20 years younger than she should. Also that woman is alive and well. She is living with son Bjorn in Sweden. Yes, that is Skarsgard brother Valter playing Bjorn.

I dont want to give away the details but more and more people emerge from the ash. Each has a connection to people left in the community. Icelandic/Nordic folklore contains a phletora of unexplained creatures such as fairies, elves, trolls and changlings. These are collectively known of as Huldufólk or "hidden people'. Could these people be changlings and, if so, why have they arrived?

Grade: 5 Monsters (out of 5). Excellent! I love everything about "Katla". A small group of interconnected people are isolated from the rest of the outside world. The ash covered post-apocalyptic landscape adds to the eerieness of the show. Strange things start to happen. And you'll have to watch to learn the rest. The show is a bit of a slow burn but definitely worth it in the end. "Katla" very much reminds me of the French series "The Returned" (which was my favorite series of 2015).