What’s it called?

October Faction

What’s it about?

One the face of it it’s a drama about married couple Fred and Deloris Allen, their two teenage children Geoff and Viv and the adjustments they all have to make when Fred’s father dies and the family are forced to move from their home in Osaka to the massive Allen pile in a small town in upstate New York. The twist is that Fred and Deloris aren’t the boring insurance company representatives they pretend to be, even to their children – they’re actually highly-trained killers employed by a shadowy organisation called the Presidio to hunt down and kill the monsters which roam the world mostly unseen by human eyes. And yes, it is based on a series of graphic novels: The October Faction, by horror writer Steve Niles.

Who’s in it?

Canadian actor JC MacKenzie is Fred, Deloris is played by fellow Canadian Tamara Taylor (who also played Dr Camille Saroyan in the long-running Bones) and the roles of Viv and Geoff are taken by Aurora Burghart and Gabriel Darku respectively.

What’s so good about it?

Perhaps good isn’t quite the right word. But the combination of bloody horror, black comedy and family drama makes the Netflix series an oddly compulsive watch.

Fun fact …

The series is shot in Cambridge, Ontario and if viewers recognise the location it’s because it also provided the backdrop for The Handmaid’s Tale.

For fans of ...

Men In Black, Ghostbusters, Hart To Hart.