As I've been doing for the last few months, and plan to continue doing moving forward throughout the next year, I've been working my way through both the current and past seasons of Hulu's horror anthology series, Into the Dark, which comes to us via Blumhouse Productions, of Get Out, The Purge and Insidious fame. I've seen some of the past episodes already, but I'll be reviewing them for the first time here.
As some of you already know, each episode is tied into a specific holiday, which means, for the most part, one new, feature-length episode per month- with the notable exception of this month, which features two: one for Christmas and another for New Year's Eve/Day. That means, of course, you'll be getting two reviews of two episodes each twice this month. Here's the first, starting with last year's Season One episode...
Pooka! is the first Christmas-themed episode of Into the Dark, and it's a real doozy. It revolves around an actor who gets his big break with the dubious prospect of filling the sizable shoes of the new Pooka doll: a hideous, nightmare fuel-fodder, stuffed AI-driven critter that huckster Finn (Jon Daly, The Kroll Show, I'm Dying Up Here) is determined to make the next big thing for Christmas.
As part of the campaign to make that happen, he's positively drenched the TV, radio, web and neighborhoods with relentless advertising of the ugly little creature, which is known for having two "modes"- "Nice" and "Naughty." The hook is that Pooka stores everything people say around him and randomly spits it back out at people in either a cutesy "nice" voice or a demonic "naughty" voice.
To help spread the word, he hires a desperate, out-of-work actor, Wilson (Nyasha Hatendi, Replicas, The Front Runner) to "play" the character, which basically consists of occupying a pop-up store that sells the toy and various other Pooka-centric stuff. He meets with the kids, Santa Claus-style, for a photo op and he also leads the kids in a little dance. Over and over again, day-in-day-out. He also does the occasional children's party.
Unlike Santa, though, Wilson is the only licensed actor allowed to play the character, which means he reaps all the benefits. And- at first, at least- the benefits are considerable. The money is solid, the kids love it, and it gives him an "in" with a sexy local real estate worker, Melanie (Latarsha Rose, The Hunger Games, Being Mary Jane), who has a child that desperately wants a Pooka doll, but has come up empty thus far. (To keep the product in high demand, it's only sold at the pop-up store and in limited supply on a daily basis, so if one strikes out one day, they're forced to return the next.)
However, just as things are seemingly going swimmingly, Wilson starts to lose time. Is it his drinking? Is he mentally imbalanced? Or might Pooka be taking control, forcing him to do "naughty" things without his remembering exactly what they are until the damage is done? Or is it all some twisted fever dream, brought on by exhaustion? I won't ruin the surprise, but suffice it to say, to paraphrase the catchphrase of another popular toy, there's "more than meets the eye," that's for sure.
Written by producer Gerald W. Olson and directed by the talented Nacho Vigalondo, of Timecrimes, Extraterrestrial and Colossal fame, Pooka! is a unique spin on the whole Child's Play/Annabelle/et.al. "doll gone wild" subgenre that is cross-pollinated with something like Barney the Dinosaur or Big Bird (RIP Caroll Spinney), via the heebie-jeebie-inducing sports mascot Gritty. Here, it's not so much the doll itself that's evil, as it is the costume worn by the actor, which influences him to do bad things- or does it? Or was the evil within him all along? Or is any of what we see actually happening in the first place?
It's the fun of guessing just what the hell is going on in the first place that makes Pooka! so enjoyable, to say nothing of the impressive visuals, strikingly shot by cinematographer Scott Winig, who, in addition to having shot Into the Dark's 1st season Halloween episode, The Body- which was likewise visually impressive- is perhaps best known for having shot the lion's share of episodes for the last two seasons of American Horror Story (Apocalypse & 1984) and most of Season One of Doom Patrol.
You won't soon forget the sight of Wilson costumed as Pooka, roaming the streets, riding the bus and just causing general mayhem, as his costume eventually is torn to shreds in the process, making him half-Pooka and half-man, which may well be the case IRL, at least within the context of the story. The surreal quality of it brought to mind a creepier version of that old Daft Punk video for "Da Funk," which had a guy in a dog costume getting into decidedly less-violent shenanigans.
I have to say I really dug it, and though I was in the general vicinity of figuring out what was really going on, I can't say it affected my general enjoyment level of the episode. Also, clocking in at only around 80 minutes, it certainly doesn't overstay its welcome, nor try to drag things out more than it should. And, like I said, the visuals alone are worth seeing this one for- good luck getting that damn Pooka jingle out of your head, though! 😂
Next up is this year's episode, A Nasty Piece of Work, which more than lives up to its name. It's closing in on Christmas, and two ambitious office worker drones are more than a little miffed to discover that the company did not deliver on the bonuses that year, which has left them both in awkward positions, financially. However, a seeming light at the end of the tunnel emerges when they are invited to an after-party get-together at the bosses' house, with him telling them a promotion may be in order... for one of them, at least.
In short order, it becomes readily apparent that the whole exercise is a sort of oddball job interview, in which the idea is to see just how far each of the men will go in order to secure the job. There's Ted (Kyle Howard, Royal Pains, The Drew Carey Show), a perpetual overachiever with a temper he keeps shoved down as much as possible- but does he lack the verve to be a cutthroat executive? On the other hand, there's Gavin (Dustin Milligan, Schitt's Creek, A Simple Favor), a total suck-up that projects wealth and success- but does he actually have it?
Backing them up are their wives: Ted's wholly supportive wife, Tatum (Angela Sarafyan, Westworld, Paranoia), a girl from the country made good, who may be more ambitious than she seems; and Missy (Natalie Hall, Charmed, True Blood), a total smokeshow that Gavin readily dismisses as a trophy wife, and is given to rattling on about astrology and spiritualism- but is there more to her than meets the eye as well?
The boss, Steven, is perfectly cast, with actor Julian Sands knocking it out of the park, even if this sort of low-life is the kind of thing he could do in his sleep by now. I'm a longtime fan of Sands, perhaps best-known to horror fans from the Warlock series, as well as Ken Russell's wonderfully surreal Gothic, the underrated Siesta, Arachnophobia, Cronenberg's Naked Lunch, The Turn of the Screw, Tale of a Vampire, Dario Argento's The Phantom of the Opera, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and plenty more movies and TV shows where that came from.
As his own semi-supportive wife, Kiwi, there's the wholly underrated character actress Molly Hagen, who first caught my eye in the also-underrated John Hughes flick, Some Kind of Wonderful, and then the Molly Ringwald vehicle Fresh Horses. She is perhaps best-known to a certain contingent as one of the stars of the 90's sitcom, Herman's Head, which featured Fright Night star William Ragsdale. She was a TV fixture from there on out, though she occasionally cropped up in low budget horror movies like The Dentist, Sometimes They Come Back... Again, Red State, Beneath, Navy Seals vs. Zombies, as well as the cult hit show, iZombie.
Basically, once the two viable candidates arrive at Steven's lavish mansion, things almost immediately go off the rails, as Steven and Kiwi endlessly snipe at one another, and things almost inevitably get violent as the two men vie for Steven's respect and attention. There also seems to be other people lurking about- and not just the servants. Who are they, what are they up to, and why does Steven keep acting like they don't exist? In the end, much like Highlander- which gets a shout-out here- there can only be one... and it may not be who you expect.
The end result is sort of like Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, with Sands and Hagen in the Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor roles, and the rest as their horrified party guests, unsure of whether to tough it out or get the hell out of dodge before someone really gets hurt- or possibly even dead. Given the competitive office politics element, it's also reminiscent of such (literally) cutthroat office-based horror flicks like Mayhem, The Belko Experiment and Severance, but mostly set in the aforementioned mansion, so it's definitely its own thing.
The end result isn't as holiday-centric as Pooka!, making it more like Flesh & Blood (the Thanksgiving episode from the first season- see here for a review) in that respect, but it's definitely better than that episode, if not quite as memorable as Pooka! Pooka! sticks with you- I'm still thinking about days after watching it- but A Nasty Piece of Work is more the kind of thing that's enjoyable as you watch it, but I'll probably have forgotten about it in the weeks to come.
That said, it is exceptionally well-acted, and Sands and Hagen in particular are just fantastic, so it's definitely worth watching at least once, especially if you're a fan of any of the actors, as everyone concerned is just great in it. It may not have much going for it in terms of a Christmas vibe, but it's a fun, twisted little ride, with some solid twists and a great ending. But in the battle of the holiday episodes, Pooka! is the clear winner here.
Check them both out, nonetheless! 😃
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