Have you ever wondered what makes a villain a villain? Or a monster a monster? Thanks to Netflix, movie fans–and especially horror fans–will have the chance to delve into the past of one of cinema’s most vile miscreants: Nurse Mildred Ratched of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest infamy.
Ratched–which will serve as a prequel to the 1975 multiple Oscar-winning classic–stars Sarah Paulson (American Horror Story) as the titular nurse, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
The series–debuting on Netflix on Sept. 18–is set in 1947 and follows Ratched as she looks for a position at a California psychiatric hospital where “new and unsettling experiments have begun on the human mind,” according to the official synopsis.
Ratched presents herself as an ideal, dedicated nurse, “but the wheels are always turning and–as she begins to infiltrate the mental health care system and those within it–Mildred’s stylish exterior belies a growing darkness that has long been smoldering within, revealing that true monsters are made, not born.”
Paulson, during an interview, said the series is “complicated and dark…and totally terrifying. It’s more psychological than murder-scary. It’s sort of a meditation on someone’s psychological strengths or weaknesses.”
The cast also boasts Cynthia Nixon, Judy Davis, Sharon Stone, Jon Jon Briones, Finn Wittrock, Charlie Carver, Alice Englert, Amanda Plummer, Corey Stoll, Sophie Okenedo and Vincent D’Onofrio.
Ratched–which hails from Fox 21 TV Studios–was created by Evan Romansky. The laundry list of executive producers includes Ryan Murphy, Paulson, Michael Douglas (who produced the famous film), Ian Brennan, Alexis Martin Woodall, Aleen Keshishian, Jacob Epstein, Jennifer Salt, Margaret Riley, Robert Mitas and Tim Minear.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest–directed by Milos Forman from a 1962 novel of the same name by Ken Kesey–starred Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher (as Nurse Ratched), William Redfield, Will Sampson, Danny DeVito and Christopher Lloyd (in his film debut). The movie–which tells the story of a criminal who pleads insanity and is admitted to a mental institution where he rebels against an oppressive nurse and rallies the scared patients–won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actor (Nicholson) and Actress (Fletcher).
Keep reading Horror News Network for any updates on Ratched on Netflix.
