Days before they are about to tie the knot, Rachel Harkin (Camila Morrone) and Nicholas Cunningham (Adam DiMarco) visit the latter’s cloistered family home situated in the snow-covered woods of Upstate New York. Instead of wedding bells, the couple soon hear the death knell of a bleak future as a series of peculiar events starts to unfold.
This is the premise of Haley Z Boston’s Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen, an American horror miniseries on Netflix. However, this isn’t a conventional tale about spectres and other supernatural creatures frequently churned out by Hollywood for decades. The eight-part series stands out for its originality and relies on a storyline that is, by turns, chilling yet absurd.
The plot shifts continuously at an almost unsettling pace. At the outset, viewers are immersed in a bone-chilling account laced with the trappings of an archetypal horror story. The first episode has a deceptive quality, leading some viewers to assume that they are watching a modern-day version of Jeepers Creepers. Once the protagonists are drawn away from the eeriness of a dark highway to Nicholas’ secluded family home, the oft-repeated, wildly popular tropes of Victorian Gothic narrative begin to hold sway. A seemingly hapless Harkin confronts the chaos of an unfamiliar house and its dubious inhabitants, all of whom threaten her well-being in the most unexpected ways. After a few episodes, the gothic elements gradually fall away, and a lingering curse soon surfaces as the new danger, one that possesses the ability to annihilate an entire bloodline.
Through its reluctance to adhere to genre conventions, the series emerges as a counter to the formulaic approach to horror fiction. At critical points, the events unfold at a dizzying, farcical pace, lending the miniseries a distinctly parodic quality. Even so, it is the plot that comes through as the saving grace of Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen, elevating it from the glut of series based on a similar genre and concept.
On a thematic level, the Netflix miniseries offers a powerful critique of rigid notions of romantic love embraced by many naive young people, especially in the Western context. Harkin’s key predicament involves the pressure to marry her soulmate. If she fails to fulfil this condition, she will have to face drastic consequences that will reshape her future. Some viewers might find this concept richly imagined, while others may regard it as exaggerated and a tad bizarre. Be that as it may, the miniseries attempts to expose how the growing preoccupation with love can often verge on an unhealthy obsession that steers us towards unsettling choices.
A critical dimension of Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen is its evocation of America’s rural backwaters, which are frequently portrayed as sites of injustice and violence. Amid the political tensions in the US, the miniseries reveals the extent of the social decay that has seeped into a once-cherished land of opportunity.
The crowning glory of the eight-part piece is a cameo by Victoria Pedretti, which will undoubtedly invoke spine-tingling memories of her acclaimed performances in The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor. Furthermore, the entire cast brings a compelling blend of poise and nuance to characters who are intriguing, complex and vastly entertaining.
Above all, the series largely avoids meaningless jump scares and clichéd narrative arcs. However, the story is often propelled forward by gratuitous displays of violence, which may act as a deterrent for faint-hearted audiences. The emphasis, too, serves as a significant device in the narrative, reminding viewers of how powerful storytelling can often assume unusual forms.
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