We first meet Rachel (Camila Morrone) and Nicky (Adam DiMarco) on their wedding day. The couple are meeting at the end of the aisle, but it hardly looks like a joyous day. She pulls up her veil, a look of terror on her face, something very bad is going to happen.
Created by Haley Z. Boston with Stranger Things‘ Hilary Leavitt, Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer on board, Something Very Bad is Going to Happen is an eerie psychological horror that slowly creeps into bloodshed as events unfold.
A Meeting With The In-Laws Goes Very Wrong
Flashback five days earlier, and the couple are heading to Nicky’s family vacation home, where Rachel will meet her in-laws for the first time. Things get suitably weird on the way after the couple finds a baby left in a vehicle at a parking lot and end up on a trippy exploration of an out-of-town diner. This eccentric out-of-body experience is only a small indicator of the messed-up experience Rachel and Nicky are about to have.
It doesn’t stop getting stranger when they arrive at Nicky’s family home, and she meets his family. His mother, Victoria (Jennifer Jason Leigh), father, Boris (Ted Levine), sister, Portia (Gus Birney), brother, Jules (Jeff Wilbusch), and his wife, Nell (Karla Crome), are all eccentric creatures. They initially seem like sinister caricatures of a heavily medicated, rich family, but there is more to this wealthy clan than meets the eye.
None of them are too warm towards Rachel, immediately scaring her by relaying the family lore of the Sorry Man, who kills brides and turns them inside out. The lack of welcoming party gets under Rachel’s skin as she starts to become concerned about the family she is marrying into.
Rachel becomes convinced that his family doesn’t want her to marry him and instead wants to sacrifice her to the devil. She finds dead animals, graves in the surrounding forest, and her wedding dress hanging from a tree. The bride-to-be is introduced as a woman prone to paranoia and believing in superstitions, so there is a real uncertainty about what is real and what is her mind is playing tricks on her.
Think Get Out meets Ready Or Not, as a bride battles family lore, complicated inter-dynamics, and that relentless feeling that something bad is going to happen…
When Foreboding Doubts Meet Eerie Coincidences
Something Very Bad is Going to Happen is more about atmosphere than it is about plot. The idea is a simple one, is Rachel going crazy, is it pre-wedding jitters, or is there something else larger and more sinister at play here? For a significant part of the show, you genuinely won’t know, and it’s this question that will have you coming back for more.
Midway through the season, there is a flashback, and all the plot threads suddenly click together. The show unexpectedly shifts gears as it creates lore and builds its world. It’s a relief to have something to cling to, but the show was much more engaging when you didn’t know what was real and what was a paranoid delusion from the mind of a stressed bride.
The unsettling atmosphere, cinematography, and soundtrack do much of the heavy lifting of Something Very Bad is Going to Happen. Not to name-drop Lynch and Twin Peaks, but there is a sense of the auteur’s signature filmmaking on show here. It’s a shame the show ultimately doesn’t quite have the story to match the visuals and ambience.
Mostly shot in one house, usually in dim lighting, like there is a permanent rainstorm, Something Very Bad is Going to Happen knows how to make you feel as paranoid as Rachel does. Camila Morrone, off the back of The Night Manager, could be a new scream queen for the 21st century. She is wonderfully expressive, taking audiences on this distrustful journey into marriage. She is joined by a supporting cast who completely understand the assignment is acting uncanny and shifty.
Where the plot isn’t enough to warrant the 8-episode runtime, the spooky twists and turns add mileage and force you to click to watch the next episode. There is something about Nicky and his family which gets under your skin, perhaps because we’ve all been in situations where we’ve been the outsider, paranoid that those around us don’t like us.
The Journey Is Better Than The Destination
Much like Rachel and Nicky, the journey is more successful than the destination when it comes to Something Very Bad is Going to Happen. The series has some genuinely spine-tingling moments, some real shocks and twists you won’t see coming, but it ultimately comes together in a predictable ending.
The finale goes in a very generic direction, favouring traditional blood and guts over the more intelligent beats of earlier episodes. Something Very Bad is Going to Happen felt like something special, but the blood lusty ending almost cheapens the entire series. Still, there are numerous haunting moments throughout that will stick with you long after the credits roll to The Waterboys.
Haley Z. Boston effectively uses the horror genre to unpack big concepts like marriage, soul mates, and the fact that you’re not marrying just your partner but their family. It’s a shame the show didn’t dare to stick to its weird, psychological horror and resorted to a cliché slasher horror finale.
Something Very Bad is Going to Happen is now playing on Netflix.
Learn more about the show at the Netflix site for the title.
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