Paramount Plus is home to some great stuff, we even crowned it among our best streaming services, but I was left disappointed when they removed one of my favorite shows from their library. I stumbled upon it by pure chance, having seen it advertised on the platform, so it was disappointing to find it’s no longer available there.
But, I come bearing good news. If you want to check out The Burning Girls, you can now watch it completely free on The Roku Channel, which is among our recommendations for the best free streaming service. While it’s my job to convince you why you should watch it, you’ve really got nothing to lose, and you don’t have to sign up for a paid subscription. So, I recommend you give it a go this weekend, especially if you’re in the market for some great supernatural thrills and gothic horror vibes.
The Burning Girls is based on the novel of the same name by C.J. Tudor. It’s a British series featuring two of my favorite actresses, Samantha Morton and Ruby Stokes, the latter was great in Lockwood & Co too (it’s just a shame Netflix canceled that!). Here, they play a mother and daughter who move to the sleepy village of Chapel Croft, where they’re relocating from a bigger city. Morton plays a priest, which ticks all the right boxes for horror fans. Weird new village with a dark past, a priest plagued by equally weird dreams and visions, it’s all here!
Take a look at the original Paramount Plus trailer below, and then read on for more of my thoughts!
Why I loved The Burning Girls
There are so many reasons why I recommend this series. For a start, it’s full of mystery from start to finish and you’re never quite sure who to trust. So if you like a series that keeps you guessing until the very end, The Burning Girls will definitely do that. It’s also very easy to binge, given that there are only six episodes, so if you really want to, you could watch it in a single weekend. Or a single day, in my case! Hey, sometimes you’re just so engrossed in something, right?
It’s a slow-burn horror, too, something I personally enjoy. I like horrors that just make you uncomfortable and don’t need to rely on constant jarring scares. I even cited Woman of the Hour as being my scariest movie of the year. While it’s not a horror, it certainly utilizes some of the techniques that make the genre so fascinating to me. Sometimes, less is more, and there’s pure terror in the subtle nature of it all.
In The Burning Girls, there’s a sense of dread throughout, and you can’t escape it no matter where you are. This village is just plain weird. Even when the horror isn’t happening on screen, your mind can wander and start thinking about what people are up to. What is really going on behind closed doors? What is the truth about this place? You’ll unravel a mystery and feel deeply unsettled, all the while rooting for our two protagonists.
To say more would be me giving away too much, but it creeps toward a gripping finale that will leave you wanting a second season, even if one might never arrive.