Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen (Haley Z Boston, 2026)

Horror television is hard to make effective. Sustaining tension, suspense, dread over the length of a season is very different from the ninety minutes to two hours of the average film. Additionally, the history of the medium, in relation to broadcast standards and censorship, meant it wasn't a destination horror creators were often interested in. They tended to neuter the genre, not just in what would be allowed on screen, but the subject matter a story could be founded in. Until the period when cable and pay subscription channels like AMC, FX, HBO and Showtime started getting into horror television, the beauty of horror on television was always the creativity that resulted from the limitations the medium imposed.

The streaming era has meant an exponential expansion in the history of horror television, in a relatively short time. With horror continuing to demonstrate it's ability to draw audiences in theaters and on the small screen, Netflix, Amazon, as well as the networks streaming services have been cranking them out regularly. We now have a number of different horror series in progress and/or debuting each year, demonstrating the variety the genre has shown on the big screen throughout the history of movies.

In 2021, Netflix debuted Brand New Cherry Flavor, created by Nick Antosca and Leonore Zion. Haley Z. Boston was one of the lead writers on that series. It was a strange mixture of Hollywood satire, folk horror and supernatural/cosmic horror. If you have any taste for horor, and you love stories centering on the experiences of women, I would recommend it. It's a little bit uneven, but overall, it's a satisfying, interesting and captivating watch. The supernatural world it creates, and the way it interacts with the more "real" world of the film, are innovative and fascinating by themselves, and the story of its main character's attempts to make her way in Hollywood is compelling too. None of that comes to fruition without good writing, and Haley Z. Boston, as one of the lead writers would have had significant responsibility for what works in that series.

Now, Boston has the reigns as creator and show runner for Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen. The ability to create and understand how to reveal the supernatural aspects of a story's world, in a way that's compelling, interesting and keeps the audience hooked into feeling they need or want to discover more, were clearly among Boston's contributions to Brand New Cherry Flavor. All of that works as well, if not better here.

Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen follows Rachel as she is headed with her fiancé to his family's vacation home for their wedding. As the title suggests, things don't go as planned. At base, this is a story about the fears and experiences of women related to the concept of marriage, what it means for them, for their lives, for their futures, and for who they are as human beings. Boston's imagination and talents for externalizing, creating symbolism for, and putting together a team that can best execute on that vision are substantial. What they've brought to the screen carries emotional heft, deftly managing layers in tone, complex and compelling character development, with a visual style that adds a sense of fun and propulsion to material that could have been suffocating in the bleak frankness of its perspective on the themes and ideas.

The cast and the casting for the series are up to the caliber of the writing. Camila Merrone gets the responsibility of playing Rachel, who is the emotional center of the show, and the character whose perspective we experience the events through. She is in nearly every scene, and for me, was a revelation. She was nominated for an Emmy for her work in Daisy Jones & The Six, which I have yet to see, and though I did see The Night Manager, I don't remember her role in it at all. Here, she is carrying eight hours of storytelling, and doing it in a way which evokes a sense of genuine care and loyalty from the viewer. She embodies the complexities, idiosyncrasies, the waves of discovery and revelation unfolding across the story and makes Rachel feel whole. This is a well written, well developed character, and Merrone brings layers of authenticity, intelligence, vulnerability, insecurity and hard nosed will that sets the series up for success, but also presents a challenge to everyone else involved. It's the kind of performance that insures the other actors, and all the other departments responsible for getting the script to screen, have to bring their best. If they don't, it's going to be noticeable next to the work Merrone has done. This is a memorable performance.

Fortunately for everyone involved, and for us as an audience and viewers, everyone across the board has come to this project with the same level of talent and dedication Haley Z. Boston and Camila Merrone have. Ted Levine and Jennifer Jason Leigh play the parents of the Cunningham clan Rachel is marrying into, and as would be expected of two veteran actors who've given excellent genre performances in the past, their contributions are outstanding. Adam DiMarco plays Nicky, the would be groom, and demonstrates he's capable of rising to the level of the superb performances surrounding him. Gus Birney plays Portia, Nick's sister and Rachel's soon to be sister in law, who vacillates between carrying off some of the series best comedic moments and being disorienting, at times disturbing, in just how unhinged her desire to insure this wedding is everything she believes is must be. Zlatko Buric will be familiar to movies fans as a character actor who shows up in all manner of different things, but he gets a crucial part, and demonstrates that any time someone wants to cast him in more than a bit part with a few lines, he's capable of bringing emotion and pathos to a role that would be one note in the hands of a lesser talent.

Visually, everything about the series is as good as the performances and writing. The set and costume design come together to present a world that feels lived in and real, but can also support the more fantastical elements of the story, and gives further support and depth to the characters. The cinematography is also excellent. It is fluid, nimbly switching between feeling as if we the audience are a fly on the wall, to producing a feeling of engagement as if we are members of this ensemble, in the midst of the scenes and action. There is a sense of intention about when the camera should be moving and when it should be still, not to evoke a recognition of the artistry, but to fit the emotional foundations of the scenes, and how each shot contributes to those. In congruence with the set and costume design, the cinematography produces some gorgeous imagery throughout the series. For those who have a particular interest in cinematography, this is worth the watch alone.

There is a commingling of sound design and score which also meet the high standard of the rest of the work, and help elevate the overall success. Both are suffused with a sense of rhythm to the scenes and the series overall, that serve to disarm, unnerve or outright inspire terror depending on which is needed. The way the two bleed together also helps to create the sense of the fantastic, supernatural aspects of the story bleeding into a more real world we inhabit as an audience.

It's hard enough to get all of these elements to work together in supporting a story and emotional intent in a run time of ninety minutes or two hours. To get them all to work this well, this consistently over eight hours is a creative achievement worth recognizing and celebrating. I don't write much about horror television, because it's difficult to try to interrogate eight, ten or twelve hours of story in a way that does it justice, and especially when it's good, gives it the respect it deserves. It's been about a week now since I finished Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen, and it's stuck with me to a degree I decided I needed to give it its due respect. Between Merrone's performance, the supporting cast and the degree to which everything else is so well calibrated to support a well conceived and written story, I couldn't help but want to sing its praises and give a hearty and enthusiastic recommendation to anyone looking for a quality limited series.

You can catch it streaming on Netflix right now.