High Anxiety
Matt and Ross Duffer, the brothers best known for creating Stranger Things, exited their deal with Netflix for a first-look arrangement at Paramount Pictures because of their desire to make theatrically-bound features. Their ambitions were anticipated, given that the final installment of Stranger Things was hyped as a cinematic event, and brought in a significant box office gross when it debuted in theaters on New Year’s Eve. Strapped to the parameters of a film is in the best interest of the Duffers, whose work on Stranger Things’ last few seasons indicated that they’d become too powerful to take notes from any detractors in their writer’s rooms. While it’s unclear what they will do when forced to start a new story from scratch, Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen is an argument in favor of their deal with Netflix; although the Duffers loaned their names to the eight-part horror series, the show was developed and created by Haley Z. Boston.
The Duffers presumably gave tips in regards to aesthetics and format to Boston, a first-time showrunner, but Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen is concise in a way that Stranger Things hadn’t been since its inaugural season a decade prior. The series is the story of two lovers, Rachel Alexandra Harkin (Camilla Monroe) and Nicky Cunningham (Adam DiMarco), who’d become engaged months after a chance encounter at an airport. Rachel has an estranged family whom she hasn’t communicated with, but Nicky’s part of an eccentric lineage that’s insistent on being the host of his wedding ceremony. In the classic form of a folk horror story, Nicky’s family is held up in a mysterious cabin in the middle of the woods. It’s after being introduced to her fiancée’s extended family that Rachel has cause to think she might be in danger; not only are Nicky’s relatives hostile, but enigmatic hints pop up that suggest a family curse is in play.
The horror genre is sustainable because it’s thrived on simplicity. Horror films are profitable, by and large, because they don’t usually cost much, and require little incentive for fans of the genre to seek them out. The danger of extending a 90-minute premise into a Netflix miniseries isn’t one of budget, but content; a few well-timed jump scares might be enough for an audience to justify a night at the theater, but an eight-hour show can’t be reliant on the occasional disturbing gimmick. The success of Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen isn’t that it's consistently scary, but that the sense of safety is slowly depleted as Rachel’s case has grown worse. Every decision Rachel has made is logical initially, but once she’s become too adjusted to playing by the Cunningham family’s rules that her window to escape has disappeared.
Each of Nicky’s relatives is given more than a single defining trait, and feels like they believably had a history together. The biggest name in the supporting cast is Jennifer Jason Leigh as Nicky’s mother, Victoria, who’s offered Rachel no warmth or understanding. A more generic “cursed family” set-up would’ve positioned her as completely opposed to the notion of Rachel’s wedding to her son, but Victoria doesn’t show any concern for anyone’s happiness. What’s unnerving is that she’s framed the wedding as simply the next step within the chess game of protecting the family lineage; any baffling or bizarre experiences suffered by Rachel are expected. Leigh can often feel like she’s acting in a different plane of existence than any of her co-stars, but it’s effective in Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen because Victoria’s the assumed authority figure in the household.
Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen could be viewed as a “feminist” show, but not in the sense that its intention is to score social points. The Cunningham household is one where the women are the primary decision-makers in their respective marriages; Victoria has tasked her husband Boris (Ted Levine) with laborious feats ahead of the wedding, and Nicky’s brother Julian (Jeff Wilbusch) is a repugnant bully who’s reined in by his younger bride, Nell (Karla Crome). The culture of the Cunningham family is reliant on the women’s understanding of the unspoken rituals that have been part of their heritage for generations, and it’s a closed circle that Rachel has to fight to learn more about. However, Nicky’s seen as such an irrelevant decision-maker that he can’t properly equip his fiancée for the potentially demented traditions that await them; if anything, Rachel’s given a greater burden because she has to awaken Nicky to the brainwashing by his mother.
Boston has an understanding that any story that's revolved around a wedding will have some component of awkward comedy, whether the social satire of Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner or the gross-out shenanigans of Meet the Parents. In Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen there’s a definitive framing device in which each day until the wedding is counted down, so that any of the subplots are extraneous. Still, there’s room for humor within the week leading up to the main day; the episode "I Think You Just Saved My Life" is a take on a nightmarish wedding rehearsal reception, in which Rachel’s forced to tell the same story to Nicky’s skeptical relatives.
The biggest difference between Boston’s approach and the Duffers is her restraint. Trapped within an unknown environment, far removed from any outside assistance, is scary enough, especially for a character like Rachel who has the motivation to “fit in.” Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen has walked a careful line in which the supernatural’s lightly implied, but never confirmed in a way that would break the suspension of disbelief.