As of this writing, I couldn't find any indication that production would resume on the final two episodes of that season. The only thing I do know is that the penultimate episode was entitled Tentacles, which sounds like a Creature Feature throwback, being as how that was also the title of a 1977 horror flick about a killer octopus. No word on if that is the case on the ITD episode, but, at the very least, it's probably a monster-themed entry of the series, I should think.
Anyway, as I was only two episodes away from completing the first season of the show, I decided to go ahead and wrap things up, especially since we have no way of knowing when and if production on the second season will resume. They may just opt to cut their losses and skip ahead to season three, assuming the show will be renewed. I will keep you posted, but until such a time, here goes a review of the last two episodes of season one, beginning with...
Stop me if you've heard this one before: a victim of a prank gone horribly wrong returns years later to enact their revenge on all the "bad kids." (See The Burning, Terror Train, The House on Sorority Row, Urban Legend, etc.) Okay, how about this one: a group of high school kids with little in common are forced to attend weekend detention for doing something or the other wrong, where they are overseen by a grumpy, foul-mouthed authority figure who clearly hates kids in general, as their secrets come out one by one over the course of the afternoon.
Are you with me? So, yeah, what we've got here is basically a horror version of The Breakfast Club. And yes, there was another horror film with essentially the same premise about a decade ago, called Detention, with a pre-Hunger Games Josh Hutcherson, which is WAY better and more original than this, despite the seemingly derivative origins. You should definitely check that one out.
The reason being, it didn't just stick to the Breakfast Club format and went off in decidedly strange and unexpected directions as it went on. School Spirit does not, really, though it does have a few twists towards the end, most- if not all of which- longtime horror fans will see coming a mile away. That said, I've seen worse, TBH.
So, here's the general plot-line, in more detail. Our main heroine is Erica (Annie Q., The Leftovers), a straight-A student who is sent to weekend detention for unspecified, but very serious reasons, according to the Vice Principal, Mr. Armstrong (Hugo Armstrong, of Christmas Nightmare, Fear the Walking Dead), who clearly doesn't want to be there any more than Erica, and not just for the obvious reasons, but because he's just gone through a nasty break-up.
Joining her are the mostly usual suspects: the geeky Brett (Corey Fogelmanis, of Girl Meets World and Ma), outcast Lizzy (Jessi Case, of Mother's Day- the 2016 rom com, not the horror cult classics of 1980 and 2010, respectively), perpetual hoodlum Vic (Julian Works, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones) and Russ (Philip Labes, of The Thinning: New World Order- interestingly, he was also in a horror comedy called School Spirits).
Popping in to add to the body count- sad but true, and that's not a spoiler, because you can see it coming a mile away- is Erica's ex-BF, Jason (Jordan Austin Smith, of Alexa & Katie), a basketball player that still wants to get back together. So basically, you've got a place-marker for every Breakfast Club member: Erica is Clare (Molly Ringwald), Brett is Brian (Anthony Michael Hall), Lizzy is Allison (Ally Sheedy), Vic is Bender (Judd Nelson) and Russ, with an assist from Jason, is Andy (Emilio Estevez). And obviously, Mr Armstrong is Richard Vernon (Paul Gleason).
Now, to be fair, it's not exactly the case- each character has a little something something going on that is different from their prior counterparts. Screenwriters Pat Casey and Josh Miller (Golan the Insatiable, the Sonic the Hedgehog movie), with an assist from director Mike Gan (who also wrote season two's Crawlers, which is much better than this entry), do, to their credit, try to flesh out the characters in interesting ways, so that they're not just complete retreads of the Breakfast Club characters most of us all know and love.
For instance, I liked that Erica wasn't as much of a goody-two-shoes as she initially seems- there's a lot more going on there than meets the eye, and I don't just mean the reason she's there in the first place, which is fairly predictable. What isn't is the type of person she actually proves to be, which is decidedly not what one would expect. This is a much-more layered character than one might think. Ditto the seemingly dorky/charming Brett, as her potential love interest.
Now, don't get me wrong- it's not exactly reinventing the wheel here. As I said, School Spirit is nowhere near as good as the revisionist take of Detention, and it's certainly not a top-tier slasher, even in terms of the FX, which seem a bit too restrained at times, as if the filmmaker was afraid to really go for it. Don't get me wrong, there are a few good effects, notably a decent decapitation and even a double foot amputation, but overall, the episode just doesn't go for the jugular in a way that might have made a difference if all else failed.
As such, it's basically a second-tier slasher, along the lines of something like Final Exam or maybe Silent Madness, though the denouement is nowhere near as bonkers and out of nowhere as it is in that somewhat underrated flick. But the acting is decent, especially the two main leads and the "adult in the room," Mr. Armstrong; and the writing and direction are steadfast and get the job done. But overall, it's just not one of the better entries in the series, unfortunately.
Fortunately, I still had one more episode to go, and it was a good one to go out on, as it turns out. Unlike School Spirit, the season closer Pure is pretty original- though obviously not completely without precedent- there is, as they say, nothing new under the sun. But points for bringing to my attention, for better or worse, to a cultural movement, for lack of a better way of putting it, that I wasn't the least bit aware of: the so-called "Purity Retreat."
Yep, for those for whom a gay conversion camp wasn't gross enough, I give you the so-called "purity camp," which fathers and their daughters attend together, participating in various barf-inducing festivities, ending with a "purity ball" dance, culminating with the signing of a contract in which said daughters promise their fathers to remain "pure" (aka a virgin) until they are married, typically to an approved boy of the father's choosing. Can you say ick? 😨
Against my better judgment, I did look into the matter, thinking: there's no way this could be a real thing, right? Wrong. It's real, and it is very much a thing. I don't know why I'm surprised. That's Trump's America for you. Then again, to be fair- not that he deserves it- these things have been around for decades, as it turns out. Since at least the 80's, believe it or not, and it's every bit as disgusting as one might think, if not more so. You can read more about it here, but don't do it until you've seen the episode, as spoilers abound.
Here's the storyline: Shay (Jahkara Smith, aka YouTuber-turned-actress Sailor J, of NOS4A2 fame) is a teenager who just lost her mother and has finally been introduced to her father, Kyle (Jim Klock, Scream Queens, Massacre on Aisle 12), who didn't know she existed until her mother's untimely death, much to the consternation of his other daughter of around the same age, Jo (McKaley Miller, also of Scream Queens and Ma), who has done the math and isn't too happy about it.
As a "bonding" excursion, the three all go together to the annual aforementioned Purity Retreat, with Kyle's hope that the experience will help bring them all closer. It's pretty rough going at first, but Shay is thrilled to finally have her father in her life, and does her best to get along with the thorny Jo. At first, Shay thinks that Jo resents her horning in on her father/daughter time, but it soon becomes clear that Jo isn't thrilled to be there, either, and isn't particularly down with the whole "chastity" thing and seems hellfire determined- emphasis on the "Hell"- to thwart her father's intentions at every turn, skipping out on the festivities and hanging out with local boys and generally fooling around and acting out, much to her straight-laced father's chagrin.
Cue the fiery pastor in charge of the whole thing, Seth (Scott Porter, Prom Night, Why Women Kill), who walks around with a loaded gun 24/7, as he can use it to ward off evil and help keep every girl's virginity intact. He has certain dubious methods to achieve his goals, and if a girl dares to step out of line- even his own daughter, Lacey (Ciara Bravo, Big Time Rush, Wayne)- then he's more than prepared to do whatever he has to do to get them in lockstep again, including, according to rumor, putting them in the "box," a locked closet where the girls are forced to atone for their sins in the dark and aren't let out until he feels they've learned to straighten up and fly right.
Meanwhile, the girls of cabin 4- including Shay, Jo, Lacey and Kellyann (Annalisa Cochrane, Heathers, The Night Stalker)- continue to act out, sneaking out to a nearby abandoned cabin to drink, smoke weed and party with local boys. At one point, Jo, who has become fascinated with the legend of Lilith, the "real" First Woman, suggests they try to resurrect her using a ritual she read about in a book in cabin 4.
Lilith, aka the biblical Adam's first wife, before Eve, was allegedly thrown out of the Garden because Adam was jealous of her and told God that she had a love affair with an angel, a big no-no. Swearing she was innocent, God took Adam's side and cast her into Hell, this time fashioning a woman out of Adam's rib, Eve, that was naturally "inferior" to him, as she was made from Adam, not created by God using the same methods as he did to create Adam, aka from clay. And we all know how that all turned out. Whoops!
Anyway, Lilith, according to legend, swore revenge against all men, and perhaps may have even encouraged Satan to tempt Eve in the Garden, leading to Eve and Adam being cast out of the Garden themselves. Jo, suspecting that Lilith may still have an axe to grind about the matter, hopes that Lilith will return and get them all out of this hellhole and all that it entails, and maybe help them get the upper hand against all these controlling men.
Well, this being a horror show, I don't have to tell you that it works, but that Lilith (Tara Parker, aptly of My Crazy Ex and Death of a Virgin) can't take corporeal form without a host body, so she needs a willing volunteer to complete her return. Who will it be? Might new recruit Shay be the perfect host, for some "unknown" reason? (I put unknown in quotes because the reason's pretty obvious.) And might all of this come to a head at the notorious Chastity Ball? You better believe it.
So, what we have here is kind of like a combination of The Craft and Carrie, but with a wholly- some might say "holy"- new approach to the material that keeps it from being a straight rip-off, a la School Spirit. That new approach makes all the difference- as does, I suspect, the fact that there's a woman director behind the camera, Hannah Macpherson (Sickhouse, T@gged). She also co-wrote the script and helped come up with the story- along with two Pauls, Fischer and Davis, who also wrote the story and the short, The Body, upon which the very first episode of Into the Dark was based, which Paul Davis directed both iterations of as well.
Letting a woman direct and contribute to the story was a smart move, as this could have gone wrong in all sorts of ways it doesn't, thanks to Macpherson's able direction, which features just the right amount of cringe-inducing material while stopping short of dipping into exploitation territory. Not that there's anything wrong with some exploitation flicks, mind you- some of my favorite films fall into that category- but for this particular material, yeah, it makes a difference that it doesn't fall into that category. I mean, the main premise does a lot of the heavy lifting for Macpherson, anyway- you really don't need to double down on it by pushing it too far.
Macpherson strikes the perfect tone, and I'm not sure a man could have in quite the same way. My guess is most men would have taken things a little too far. And with this particular material, that's just not what you want. I mean, don't get me wrong, there are great, female-friendly directors out there, so anything's possible, but given the story at hand, and the current socio-political climate, it just seems like a wise move to go this route with a female director at the helm. (See also last month's Culture Shock review.)
All of that said, is it scary? Not really. I mean, neither are The Craft and Carrie, for that matter. Horror movies don't have to make you jump out of your seat to be effective. Granted, this one features several examples of the ever-dreaded "jump scare," which I find more annoying than anything else these days, but it really doesn't need them to get under your skin. The icky subject matter does all that for the viewer, or at least this viewer. I was far more creeped out by the bits with the fathers eyeing and caressing their daughters in photos and on the dance floor than I was by Lilith popping up out of nowhere, let me tell you.
I don't have any kids myself, but I like to think the worst I might do is put a little fear of God into any boys that came their way, not try and control my daughter's chastity, which is just gross. Obviously, such is not the case here. These men take things to the next level, to say the least, and naturally, pay the price for it.
Part of me kind of wanted a Scanners-style blow-out at the end, but that's probably just because I'm knee deep in Cronenberg territory right about now, lol. It's not that kind of horror movie- the emphasis is on making you uncomfortable, not awe-inducing special effects. Mission accomplished on that front, because I was cringing throughout, let me tell you.
Pure is a great way to end my journey through the first two seasons of Into the Dark. My only regret is that it will likely be the last for a while, on account of the Coronavirus. We may never get those last two episodes. The producers of the show may decide to cut their losses and just get on with the third season. We shall see.
Until then, while School Spirit may be a bit of a bust, save maybe the clever, forward-thinking ending, Pure is definitely a keeper, and a must-watch for fans of the show, especially if that plot description makes you both fascinated and trepidatious. You won't be disappointed, I assure you. The cast, the direction, and everything on the whole totally works, making it one of the best of the series to date. By all means, check that one out.
Well, that about does it for my look at Into the Dark for now. If the show returns, so will the reviews. Until such a time, let me know what your own personal faves were. Mine were The Body, Treehouse, All That We Destroy and Pure from season one, and Pilgrim, My Valentine and Good Boy from season two. I also loved the two Pooka episodes, which may well be my favorites overall, especially the last one, Pooka Lives!
I'll be back next week with a look at what I've been watching lately, movie-wise, and, of course, the latest entry of my ongoing series, The Cronenberg Chronicles, with a look at one of his earliest masterpieces, Rabid. Join me then, and thanks, as always, for taking a little time to check out my stuff! 😃
For instance, I liked that Erica wasn't as much of a goody-two-shoes as she initially seems- there's a lot more going on there than meets the eye, and I don't just mean the reason she's there in the first place, which is fairly predictable. What isn't is the type of person she actually proves to be, which is decidedly not what one would expect. This is a much-more layered character than one might think. Ditto the seemingly dorky/charming Brett, as her potential love interest.
Now, don't get me wrong- it's not exactly reinventing the wheel here. As I said, School Spirit is nowhere near as good as the revisionist take of Detention, and it's certainly not a top-tier slasher, even in terms of the FX, which seem a bit too restrained at times, as if the filmmaker was afraid to really go for it. Don't get me wrong, there are a few good effects, notably a decent decapitation and even a double foot amputation, but overall, the episode just doesn't go for the jugular in a way that might have made a difference if all else failed.
As such, it's basically a second-tier slasher, along the lines of something like Final Exam or maybe Silent Madness, though the denouement is nowhere near as bonkers and out of nowhere as it is in that somewhat underrated flick. But the acting is decent, especially the two main leads and the "adult in the room," Mr. Armstrong; and the writing and direction are steadfast and get the job done. But overall, it's just not one of the better entries in the series, unfortunately.
Fortunately, I still had one more episode to go, and it was a good one to go out on, as it turns out. Unlike School Spirit, the season closer Pure is pretty original- though obviously not completely without precedent- there is, as they say, nothing new under the sun. But points for bringing to my attention, for better or worse, to a cultural movement, for lack of a better way of putting it, that I wasn't the least bit aware of: the so-called "Purity Retreat."
Yep, for those for whom a gay conversion camp wasn't gross enough, I give you the so-called "purity camp," which fathers and their daughters attend together, participating in various barf-inducing festivities, ending with a "purity ball" dance, culminating with the signing of a contract in which said daughters promise their fathers to remain "pure" (aka a virgin) until they are married, typically to an approved boy of the father's choosing. Can you say ick? 😨
Against my better judgment, I did look into the matter, thinking: there's no way this could be a real thing, right? Wrong. It's real, and it is very much a thing. I don't know why I'm surprised. That's Trump's America for you. Then again, to be fair- not that he deserves it- these things have been around for decades, as it turns out. Since at least the 80's, believe it or not, and it's every bit as disgusting as one might think, if not more so. You can read more about it here, but don't do it until you've seen the episode, as spoilers abound.
Here's the storyline: Shay (Jahkara Smith, aka YouTuber-turned-actress Sailor J, of NOS4A2 fame) is a teenager who just lost her mother and has finally been introduced to her father, Kyle (Jim Klock, Scream Queens, Massacre on Aisle 12), who didn't know she existed until her mother's untimely death, much to the consternation of his other daughter of around the same age, Jo (McKaley Miller, also of Scream Queens and Ma), who has done the math and isn't too happy about it.
As a "bonding" excursion, the three all go together to the annual aforementioned Purity Retreat, with Kyle's hope that the experience will help bring them all closer. It's pretty rough going at first, but Shay is thrilled to finally have her father in her life, and does her best to get along with the thorny Jo. At first, Shay thinks that Jo resents her horning in on her father/daughter time, but it soon becomes clear that Jo isn't thrilled to be there, either, and isn't particularly down with the whole "chastity" thing and seems hellfire determined- emphasis on the "Hell"- to thwart her father's intentions at every turn, skipping out on the festivities and hanging out with local boys and generally fooling around and acting out, much to her straight-laced father's chagrin.
Cue the fiery pastor in charge of the whole thing, Seth (Scott Porter, Prom Night, Why Women Kill), who walks around with a loaded gun 24/7, as he can use it to ward off evil and help keep every girl's virginity intact. He has certain dubious methods to achieve his goals, and if a girl dares to step out of line- even his own daughter, Lacey (Ciara Bravo, Big Time Rush, Wayne)- then he's more than prepared to do whatever he has to do to get them in lockstep again, including, according to rumor, putting them in the "box," a locked closet where the girls are forced to atone for their sins in the dark and aren't let out until he feels they've learned to straighten up and fly right.
Meanwhile, the girls of cabin 4- including Shay, Jo, Lacey and Kellyann (Annalisa Cochrane, Heathers, The Night Stalker)- continue to act out, sneaking out to a nearby abandoned cabin to drink, smoke weed and party with local boys. At one point, Jo, who has become fascinated with the legend of Lilith, the "real" First Woman, suggests they try to resurrect her using a ritual she read about in a book in cabin 4.
Lilith, aka the biblical Adam's first wife, before Eve, was allegedly thrown out of the Garden because Adam was jealous of her and told God that she had a love affair with an angel, a big no-no. Swearing she was innocent, God took Adam's side and cast her into Hell, this time fashioning a woman out of Adam's rib, Eve, that was naturally "inferior" to him, as she was made from Adam, not created by God using the same methods as he did to create Adam, aka from clay. And we all know how that all turned out. Whoops!
Anyway, Lilith, according to legend, swore revenge against all men, and perhaps may have even encouraged Satan to tempt Eve in the Garden, leading to Eve and Adam being cast out of the Garden themselves. Jo, suspecting that Lilith may still have an axe to grind about the matter, hopes that Lilith will return and get them all out of this hellhole and all that it entails, and maybe help them get the upper hand against all these controlling men.
Well, this being a horror show, I don't have to tell you that it works, but that Lilith (Tara Parker, aptly of My Crazy Ex and Death of a Virgin) can't take corporeal form without a host body, so she needs a willing volunteer to complete her return. Who will it be? Might new recruit Shay be the perfect host, for some "unknown" reason? (I put unknown in quotes because the reason's pretty obvious.) And might all of this come to a head at the notorious Chastity Ball? You better believe it.
So, what we have here is kind of like a combination of The Craft and Carrie, but with a wholly- some might say "holy"- new approach to the material that keeps it from being a straight rip-off, a la School Spirit. That new approach makes all the difference- as does, I suspect, the fact that there's a woman director behind the camera, Hannah Macpherson (Sickhouse, T@gged). She also co-wrote the script and helped come up with the story- along with two Pauls, Fischer and Davis, who also wrote the story and the short, The Body, upon which the very first episode of Into the Dark was based, which Paul Davis directed both iterations of as well.
Letting a woman direct and contribute to the story was a smart move, as this could have gone wrong in all sorts of ways it doesn't, thanks to Macpherson's able direction, which features just the right amount of cringe-inducing material while stopping short of dipping into exploitation territory. Not that there's anything wrong with some exploitation flicks, mind you- some of my favorite films fall into that category- but for this particular material, yeah, it makes a difference that it doesn't fall into that category. I mean, the main premise does a lot of the heavy lifting for Macpherson, anyway- you really don't need to double down on it by pushing it too far.
Macpherson strikes the perfect tone, and I'm not sure a man could have in quite the same way. My guess is most men would have taken things a little too far. And with this particular material, that's just not what you want. I mean, don't get me wrong, there are great, female-friendly directors out there, so anything's possible, but given the story at hand, and the current socio-political climate, it just seems like a wise move to go this route with a female director at the helm. (See also last month's Culture Shock review.)
All of that said, is it scary? Not really. I mean, neither are The Craft and Carrie, for that matter. Horror movies don't have to make you jump out of your seat to be effective. Granted, this one features several examples of the ever-dreaded "jump scare," which I find more annoying than anything else these days, but it really doesn't need them to get under your skin. The icky subject matter does all that for the viewer, or at least this viewer. I was far more creeped out by the bits with the fathers eyeing and caressing their daughters in photos and on the dance floor than I was by Lilith popping up out of nowhere, let me tell you.
I don't have any kids myself, but I like to think the worst I might do is put a little fear of God into any boys that came their way, not try and control my daughter's chastity, which is just gross. Obviously, such is not the case here. These men take things to the next level, to say the least, and naturally, pay the price for it.
Part of me kind of wanted a Scanners-style blow-out at the end, but that's probably just because I'm knee deep in Cronenberg territory right about now, lol. It's not that kind of horror movie- the emphasis is on making you uncomfortable, not awe-inducing special effects. Mission accomplished on that front, because I was cringing throughout, let me tell you.
Pure is a great way to end my journey through the first two seasons of Into the Dark. My only regret is that it will likely be the last for a while, on account of the Coronavirus. We may never get those last two episodes. The producers of the show may decide to cut their losses and just get on with the third season. We shall see.
Until then, while School Spirit may be a bit of a bust, save maybe the clever, forward-thinking ending, Pure is definitely a keeper, and a must-watch for fans of the show, especially if that plot description makes you both fascinated and trepidatious. You won't be disappointed, I assure you. The cast, the direction, and everything on the whole totally works, making it one of the best of the series to date. By all means, check that one out.
Well, that about does it for my look at Into the Dark for now. If the show returns, so will the reviews. Until such a time, let me know what your own personal faves were. Mine were The Body, Treehouse, All That We Destroy and Pure from season one, and Pilgrim, My Valentine and Good Boy from season two. I also loved the two Pooka episodes, which may well be my favorites overall, especially the last one, Pooka Lives!
I'll be back next week with a look at what I've been watching lately, movie-wise, and, of course, the latest entry of my ongoing series, The Cronenberg Chronicles, with a look at one of his earliest masterpieces, Rabid. Join me then, and thanks, as always, for taking a little time to check out my stuff! 😃
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