Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen review: Marriage is a killer

Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen's title is a bit of an undersell. Many very bad things happen over the course of eight episodes, but thankfully the experience of watching the show is not one of them.

From creator Haley Z. Boston (Brand New Cherry Flavor) and executive producers the Duffer Brothers (in their first project since Stranger Things), Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen is a deliciously atmospheric horror series that unpacks all the things that could go wrong before an engaged couple walks down the aisle.

What's Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen about?

That engaged couple is Rachel Harkin (Camila Morrone) and Nicky Cunningham (Adam DiMarco), two lovebirds headed to upstate New York for an intimate wedding at Nicky's parents' remote cabin.

The presence of a "remote cabin" in a show called Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen should already be setting off alarm bells. Those will only get louder once you learn that Rachel has never met any of the other Cunninghams, and that she's plagued with feelings of dread about the wedding.

Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen builds that sense of dread expertly throughout its first episode, directed by Weronika Tofilska (Baby Reindeer). Set almost entirely during Rachel and Nicky's road trip upstate, the episode throws bad omen after bad omen at us: tales of missing dogs, bloody hangnails, a lone baby trapped in a car, a frightening man peering over bathroom stalls... Some of these will return in later episodes; some are more for vibes; all are chilling in the best way possible. Watching it feels like submerging yourself in a murky pond, dipping in one toe after another until you're totally immersed in the unsettling, frigid world Boston and her team are whipping up. Small details, from unfriendly bartenders to haunting local frozen custard chains, turn this cursed wedding destination into a surreal, unique ride.

Once Rachel and Nicky arrive at his parents' place, Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen begins to tread familiar ground. Nicky's affluent family are an odd bunch, both giving Rachel the cold shoulder and getting claustrophobically involved in every aspect of her wedding, right down to replacing her engagement ring. Between their overbearing behavior and menacing whispers from behind closed doors, it seems like the family is planning something sinister. A Ready or Not-style sacrifice comes to mind, and Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen plays up audience expectations that Rachel's in-laws are downright evil.

However, Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen turns those expectations on their head, going in a different direction that focuses more on Rachel's troubled family and her own anxieties about marriage.

Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen will make you think twice about soulmates.

As Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen draws closer and closer to Rachel and Nicky's wedding day, it unveils a devastating truth about Rachel, complete with a brief, disquieting detour into found footage. No spoilers, but it soon becomes clear that her marriage to Nicky isn't just a commitment she'll be making to someone she loves: It's a matter of life or death.

Here, Boston plays with the terror of marriage and the pressure to get it right with your "soulmate." Rachel must ask herself, over and over, if Nicky truly is the one for her, for eternity. (She's not the only one asking: A spooky interloper, played by a terrifically menacing Zlatko Burić, also takes it upon himself to question the upcoming marriage.) Are she and Nicky together because of fate? Or because of convenience? And how well does she really know him? Morrone is compelling as a woman spiraling before her marriage, while DiMarco continues his hot streak of playing cringe-inducing boyfriends whose nice exterior masks some concerning qualities. (See also: The White Lotus, Overcompensating.)

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With the fear of her wedding day hanging over her, Rachel must go through the motions of pre-marriage rituals: dress fittings, rehearsal dinners, a bachelorette party. Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen adds its own frightening twist to each, be it supernatural, like a séance, or something real, like an earth-shattering revelation about your partner. Each step toward the aisle feels like you're being zipped into a too-tight wedding dress, until you're just as constrained as Rachel.

Unfortunately, Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen does begin to lose a bit of steam as the truth of what's happening to Rachel comes to light. These reveals have to happen eventually, yet they rob the show of the same mystique that makes the first few episodes so tantalizing. They also devolve into some repetitive, exposition-heavy discussions of Rachel's core dilemma, which has a few frustrating "solutions" that never get considered.

Still, Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen is less interested in solving the problem it sets for Rachel and more in watching her panic as she inches closer and closer to the altar. For the most part, it's a captivating success, and even though we know something very bad will go down, that doesn't make the journey there any less perturbing.

Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen is now streaming on Netflix.