Viewers unanimously place it alongside David Lynch's "Twin Peaks" and "The X-Files" for its hypnotic neo-noir, where the steppe landscapes of Kazakhstan become a portal to the hell of Turkic mythology, and instead of cherry pie—there is the sinister beshbarmak with blood.

The main character is the stern investigator Birzhan Temirbaev, who arrives in the remote Karatas to investigate a series of horrific murders at a maternity hospital: infants are disappearing, mothers are going insane, and demons like Albasta (a barren witch avenging rapists) and Su-Peri (a winged creature from legends) roam at night.

Director Adilkhan Yerzhanov (known for "The Black Sky") creates an atmosphere where realism blends with folk horror: black humor in dialogues with the pathologist and fortune-teller Sara, naturalistic monster makeup (blood spurts so much that festivals in Montreal were hesitant to show it), and visuals that send shivers across the steppe. The series tackles painful topics—gender violence, corruption in the provinces—but through the lens of ancient folktales, making it not moralizing but pure thriller.