Netflix's new sci-fi thriller avoids a pitfall even Steven Spielberg fell for

Netflix reimagines a Toho cult classic with an unforgettable new twist With Hollywood running out of interesting ideas, nostalgic remakes are a dime a dozen. Disney is the biggest culprit, reproducing animated favorites in live-action form almost beat-for-beat with little to no emotional resonance that made those films special in the first place. But even the best directors fall prey to the legacy reboot trap, like Gus Van Sant’s Psycho (1998), Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story (2021), Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest (2025), and Edgar Wright’s Running Man (2025). The revival of The Human Vapor as a TV series had me worried Netflix would fall down the same path as so many before it in this adaptation of a Toho cult classic. (After all, the streamer has released plenty of breathless adaptations that miss the point entirely in the past.) The story takes inspiration from Ishirō Honda and Takeshi Kimura's groundbreaking 1960 tokusatsu film — a Japanese sci-fi spectacle like Godzilla (1954) built around practical special effects — but the plot is entirely different, and it's all the better for it. The original thriller focused on a tragic science experiment that transforms a down-on-his-lu