For all those (and by that I mean almost everyone) who, at some point, has felt that marriage is a death sentence, the experience is quite literal in the ominously named Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen. Events that fall in the very, very bad category — and that is putting it mildly — do take place in this fresh-off-the-block Netflix series, all of which has to do with its protagonist’s decision to marry her “soulmate”.
When we first meet Rachel (Camila Morrone) and her fiance Nicky (Adam DiMarco), the couple is on a road trip to his parents’ secluded abode in the wilderness where not only will she meet his family for the first time, but also get married within the week. That, in itself, should set off alarm bells, but Rachel and Nicky don’t allow anything to get in the way of that heady feeling called love. Not even when they chance upon an abandoned baby in a car at a rest stop, or when she encounters a mutilated fox in a public toilet or a stranger (Zlatko Buric) at a shady bar asks Rachel out of the blue if Nicky is “the one”.
Successfully building an atmosphere of dread which multiplies during the course of its eight episodes, Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen is not a series that will have families gathering together for a joint watch, but it is definitely about a family (and perhaps, more than one).
A moment from the series, streaming on Netflix
Rachel’s initial brush with horror is only the beginning of a series of never-ending peculiar incidents. For starters, Nicky’s family is not quite what it seems to be. There is the overbearing matriarch Victoria (Jennifer Jason Leigh), her sinister husband Boris (Ted Levine), their unfriendly older son Jules (Jeff Wilbusch) and his mysterious second wife Nell (Karla Crome), with their son Jude (Sawyer Fraser) feeding generously into the ‘creepy kid’ stereotype. Then there is Portia (Gus Birney), Nicky’s younger sister who makes it clear, in ways more than one, that she isn’t over the moon with the idea of this marriage.
Rachel is greeted by a family portrait, flanked by taxidermied pet dogs, with an empty chair standing in for her. By Day Two, her wedding dress has gone missing and a letter saying “Don’t marry him” has arrived in the mail. That sets off a chain of rapidly escalating horrors that taps into urban legend (a form of the bogeyman here is called “Sorry Man”), supernatural events that can unnerve even the biggest non-believers and a horrific back story tied to Rachel’s own tragic past, including her birth.
The latest offering from Stranger Things men The Duffer Brothers — attached to this project as executive producers — Something Very Bad is Going To Happen is created by Haley Z. Boston who melds the maternal, the marital and the macabre through the story of a young woman whose marriage to the man she believes is her true love proves to be decidedly unholy. Rachel, hurtling from one rattling revelation to another, soon realises that Nicky’s family, though a very odd bunch, is the least of her problems. What starts off as a “very bad feeling” for the bride-to-be ends up in grisly fashion — buckets of blood are par for the course — on what should have been the most perfect day of her life.
Discomfort and dysfunction lie at the heart of Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen, a worthy addition to the growing sub-genre of relationship horror. Even as it relies more on building a feeling of foreboding, the series doesn’t shy away from amping up the blood and gore when the script calls for it. Parts of it will remind you of Get Out as well as I Am Thinking of Ending Things, with Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen reinforcing some genre tropes — mysterious house, menacing characters — while upending a few others.
What I particularly liked is Rachel’s back story — that changes the course of the narrative as soon as we get into Episode 4 — being relayed through the medium of a home video, which somehow makes the horror feel more raw and visceral. The series, in the garb of a ghoulish thriller, also raises pertinent questions about marriage, trust and the psychological, emotional and structural aspects of commitment.
However, it is not without its share of flaws, some of which have an impactful role to play in diminishing the overall viewing experience. The horror — especially towards the penultimate stages — feels a tad overcooked. There is also a kitchen-sink approach towards the latter half, with the feeling that the series is too caught up in patting itself on the back for its twists and turns rather than focusing on tying things up compellingly and conclusively. A string of increasingly absurd situations — despite the suspension of disbelief that the viewer quite often willingly submits to — also unravels Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen, veering it off course from the 10/10 experience we had cheered it on to be.
However, it is the chaotic, claustrophobic vibe of the series that stands it in good stead, along with Camila Morrone, whose career-defining act keeps you invested in Rachel, even when you sometimes dial out of the series as a whole.
Priyanka Roy
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