If a seriously creepy, twist-filled horror is what you're missing in your viewing schedule, look to Netflix's dread-inducing new series, Something Very Bad is Going to Happen.
The eight-part series has generated a lot of buzz thanks to the attachment of Stranger Things creators, the Duffer brothers, who serve as executive producers. But if you're expecting anything that resembles Netflix's smash-hit sci-fi drama about a group of small-town, monster-hunting teens, you might want to reconsider.
The story begins four days before the wedding of lovebirds Nicky (Adam DiMarco) and Rachel (Camila Morrone), who are on a long car journey to the groom's secluded family cabin in the woods, where they're planning to hold their intimate nuptials.
© COURTESY OF NETFLIXBut while en route to their snow-covered destination, a series of seriously unsettling events begins to unfold. Within the first few hours of the trip, they find an abandoned baby in a car, a disembowelled, maggot-infested fox and encounter a creepy old man who peeps on Rachel in the toilet of an empty roadside bar.
So yes, it would appear that something very bad is going to happen indeed. At least that's the feeling paranoia-prone Rachel can't seem to shake.
© NetflixAnd if things aren't creepy enough, when the couple eventually arrive at Nicky's parents' cabin (which is actually a humongous, mahogany-covered house with never-ending corridors and a central atrium), it's clear that his family is far from normal.
A sinister, unhappy family portrait hangs at the cabin's entrance. An empty chair waits for bride-to-be Rachel to be painted in, while an ex-wife has been erased from the frame. Standing guard are two of the family's dead, taxidermied Irish wolfhounds, whose eyes Rachel has been instructed to avoid looking into ("It's disrespectful after they're dead"). Not creepy at all!
© COURTESY OF NETFLIXShe later meets Nicky's brother Jules (Jeff Wilbusch), his wife Nell (Karla Crome) and sister Portia (Gus Birney), who, seconds after meeting her sister-in-law-to-be, welcomes her into the family by sharing a terrifying and traumatic tale from their childhood.
She tells Rachel about Jules' encounter with the 'Sorry Man', a petrifying murderer who believes his lost wife is trapped inside the body of another bride. "Don't let the Sorry Man see your insides," she calls out to Rachel before the group heads to bed.
The creepiness continues later that night when Rachel finds Nicky's mother, Victoria (Jennifer Jason Leigh), in a trance-like state, facing the large glass doors that look out into the snowy wilderness. "There she is, the next Mrs. Cunningham," she softly murmurs, before Nicky's unfriendly father, Boris (Ted Levine), quickly swoops in and carts her off to bed.
© COURTESY OF NETFLIXIf that isn't enough to convince Rachel to get back in her car and drive far, far away, the next morning she finds a wedding invitation with an ominous message written on the back that reads: "Don't marry him."
What follows is a twisty and terrifying tale that will, in parts, have you watching through shielded eyes.
The performances are brilliant, particularly from Camila Morrone as Rachel, who is totally relatable as an anxious and increasingly terrified bride doing her best not to spiral amid the mounting terror that surrounds her.
© COURTESY OF NETFLIXThis spine-chilling and relentlessly tense horror is a masterclass in building dread. It blends dark humour with family drama and intense paranoia, taking inspiration from classic horrors like Carrie and Rosemary's Baby.
Strap in for twists and turns as Rachel, who by some miracle doesn't flee the cabin within an hour of her arrival, prepares for her ill-fated nuptials.
This review was first published in HELLO!'s What to Watch newsletter. Subscribe here to read our reviews early.
