New Netflix Show ‘Terrorism: Close Calls’ Infuriates Viewers

Netflix is certainly no stranger to controversy, but the streaming company’s new series, Terrorism: Close Calls, is not just controversial, it’s also infuriating viewers.

The series is described as being designed to reveal “deadly terrorist attacks that almost happened or were not as deadly as planned,” with each episode exploring “a recently declassified terrorist scheme intended to cause mass casualties.”

However, viewers have noticed some discrepancies when it comes to the facts of the series and the footage that it depicts.

“That new Netflix show Terrorism: Close Calls is a tasteless money-grab,” one Reddit user wrote in a review of the series. “I just stopped it after 10 minutes because it lost all credibility and left a bad taste in my mouth.”

“In the first episode, which is about thwarting an attack on the New York Subway, they say ‘terrorists have attacked this soft target before: London, 2005.’ They then, inexplicably, cut to real footage of the Madrid Train Bombings of 2004 (complete with fake screams edited over) as if it were footage from London,” the user added.

“I have no doubt they knowingly used the on-screen deaths from one terrorist attack—which also took place in Europe and killed about three times as many people—as lazy stock footage for a separate terrorist attack a year later. That felt deeply wrong to me,” the Reddit user continued. “If you’re going to show us footage of these people dying, at least give them the dignity of recognition, and tell the audience what we’re seeing.”

“That’s not stock footage for whatever terrorist attack you’re talking about because your editing room got lazy,” the Reddit added. “Those were people’s families and friends. And it cheapens the London bombings by suggesting all these people and attacks are more or less interchangeable, and not immense, individual tragedies.”

At this time, Netflix does not appear to have publicly commented on the concerns of viewers and the accusations that the footage used in Terrorism: Close Calls does not match the events addressed.