What would you get if you mixed Twin Peaks, Stranger Things, and The Haunting of Hill House in a blender? You get a horror story about true love.
Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen
Netflix has been hitting it out of the ballpark with some very quirky series, and I am loving every single show. Written, created, and produced by Haley Z. Boston (Brand New Cherry Flavor and Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities) along with fellow executive producers Matt and Ross Duffer (Stranger Things), Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen kept me invested in the entire eight episode series starring Camila Morrone, Adam Di Marco, Gus Birney, Karla Crome, Sawyer Fraser, Jeff Wilbusch, Ted Levine, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Zlatko Buric. As I binged-watched the series, I was getting some David Lynch’s Twin Peaks and Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House type of vibes…and…I say this as a compliment.
The series begins with a young couple, Rachel (Camila Morrone) and Nicky (Adam DiMarco), at the altar. They are about to say their vows…but we immediately sense that something isn’t right. Through many flashbacks, we learn that Rachel’s mother died during childbirth and that she is estranged from her father. Nicky’s family, who are rich and eccentric, are not so crazy about Rachel. Boris (Ted Levine) and Victoria (Jennifer Jason Leigh) are keeping several secrets from Nicky, while Nicky’s brother Jules (Jeff Wilbusch) and his wife, Nell (Karla Crome), display with their razor-sharp bantering that their own marriage is a disaster. While Rachel tries to understand several strange occurrences that happened on their travel to the cabin, Nicky’s bossy sister, Portia (Gus Birney), plans the couple’s wedding with the determination of a deranged Marine Drill Sergeant. The only likable member of this family is little Jude (Sawyer Fraser).
The Curse
Two strange things happen on that drive to the cabin: a baby is left in a car at an isolated rest area, and Rachel stabs a scary man in a rundown dive of a bar. The man (Zlatko Buric) is actually related to Rachel’s mom. He tells her that a family curse haunts Rachel and that she must be sure Nicky is her true love, or else Rachel will die. While Rachel deals with this unsettling revelation, Nicky learns that his mother is dying from a brain tumour. Rachel realizes that the curse is connected to a horrific event witnessed by Jules when he was only eight years old.
Conclusion
There are so many crazy scenes that I will most likely rewatch this fabulous series, which was recommended to me by our fearless leader, Andy Burns. Ted Levine’s Boris is both the strangest and yet most lovable as a protective husband and father who has a sad secret, and this strange hobby with his pet dogs. Then, in true Twin Peaks style, we have a scene where Rachel discovers, during a séance, a ritual that might protect her during the wedding, involving body parts, body fluids, and stolen hair.
Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen is a little kooky, a little funny, and very scary, but put it all together and you have the perfect series to binge-watch and take your mind off a certain world leader’s attempt to wipe out civilization and send us back to the Stone Age.
