Netflix’s latest foray into the horror genre, Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen, has quickly become a talking point for fans of unsettling television and those fascinated by the intricacies of family and romance. Created and written by Haley Z. Boston and executive produced by the Duffer brothers—marking their first new series since Stranger Things debuted a decade ago—the show delivers a chilling, blood-soaked meditation on the meaning of soulmates, the burdens of family legacy, and the dangers of doubt.
At first glance, Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen might seem like just another stylish horror series in Netflix’s ever-expanding catalog. But dig a little deeper, and you’ll find a story that’s as much about relationships as it is about supernatural terror. The show’s slow-burning, atmospheric approach to horror has divided viewers and critics alike. According to TIME, the pacing of the first three episodes is so languid that even the most patient fans might be tempted to speed up playback—a feature Netflix now allows, though the reviewer openly despises it, arguing that “timing, pace, and duration are crucial parts of audiovisual storytelling.”
Despite some early narrative stumbles, the series quickly distinguishes itself with a gripping premise. The story opens with an eerie wedding: Rachel (played by Camila Morrone), a beautiful but palpably anxious bride, walks down the aisle toward her groom, Nicky (Adam DiMarco). The mood is thick with dread, punctuated by the sound of labored breathing and ominous flash-forwards to a bloody, supernatural catastrophe involving a wolf-like creature and rivers of blood. It’s a harbinger of the horrors to come, setting the stage for a weeklong spiral into family secrets and existential terror.
Rachel and Nicky’s wedding is no ordinary affair. They travel to Nicky’s family’s rural vacation home, planning a low-key winter ceremony. Nicky hails from wealth—a coddled youngest son in a clan that refers to their sprawling woodland estate as a “cabin.” Rachel, in stark contrast, is a guarded, goth-tinged outsider with no family support and a mysterious past. As they settle in, the show wastes little time introducing Nicky’s bizarre relatives: his unsettlingly morbid mother Victoria (played with chilling precision by Jennifer Jason Leigh), his taxidermist father Boris (Ted Levine), his traumatized brother Jules (Jeff Wilbusch), and the flighty, mean-girl sister Portia (Gus Birney). Each character is a riff on classic horror archetypes, but Boston’s writing keeps them from feeling like mere copies.
As Tudum details, the real horror at the heart of the series is rooted in a centuries-old curse. Several hundred years ago, a bride made a desperate deal with Death: in exchange for her groom’s life, every future generation in her family must marry their soulmate by sundown on their wedding day—or bleed to death. If a cursed family member fails, the curse spreads to their spouse’s bloodline. This mythic setup is more than just window dressing; it’s a vehicle for exploring what it means to truly know and believe in your partner, and how family history can haunt even the most intimate moments.
Rachel’s own mother suffered a bloody fate because Rachel’s father wasn’t her soulmate—a fact Rachel uncovers as her own wedding day approaches. The stakes are terrifyingly clear: if she doesn’t marry someone she truly believes is her soulmate by sundown, she’ll die, and the curse will infect Nicky’s family. The show’s creator, Haley Z. Boston, told Tudum that multiple people who read the finale’s script decided to break up with their partners, so potent was the series’ central question: “What happens when you realize the person you’re about to marry might not be your soulmate?”
The series spends its early episodes building up atmosphere—jump scares, dark corners, unnerving sounds, and sudden eruptions of violence abound. There’s even a local frozen custard business with a psycho killer’s backstory and a blood-red logo, serving up textbook nightmare fuel. But beneath the surface-level scares, the real tension is psychological. Rachel is haunted not just by supernatural threats, but by doubts about her relationship with Nicky and the suffocating expectations of his family. “I don’t wanna be torn open,” she protests when Nicky brings up having children—a line that resonates with both literal and metaphorical weight.
As the wedding day looms, Rachel faces a terrible choice. She considers drinking a potion that could guarantee Nicky is her soulmate but ultimately decides to trust her own belief. Camila Morrone, who plays Rachel, told Tudum, “There’s doubt, but in that moment, there’s enough evidence in her mind to say, ‘I think he is my soulmate.’” Nicky, on the other hand, is thrown into turmoil after learning his mother cheated on his father, causing him to question the very institution of marriage. Adam DiMarco, who portrays Nicky, described his character’s unraveling: “He starts to question the concept of marriage and the foundational beliefs he’s built his whole idea system on. Unfortunately, it happens at the wrong time for Rachel.”
In a climactic twist, Nicky refuses to marry Rachel, dismissing her warnings about the curse. This act of disbelief and betrayal triggers the curse’s spread to his own family. As chaos erupts and relatives begin to die gruesomely, Nicky, in a desperate bid to save Rachel, rushes through his vows. But it’s too late—Rachel no longer believes he’s her soulmate. She dies, only to be reborn as The Witness, a supernatural figure condemned to attend every wedding in Nicky’s bloodline for generations, collecting trinkets from each bloody ceremony.
The finale is as emotionally devastating as it is gory. Nicky is left alone, clutching a teddy bear in a catatonic state after witnessing the carnage. Morrone, reflecting on Rachel’s fate, told Tudum, “There’s a difference between having a lot of love and someone being your person. Rachel’s person would wholeheartedly understand her, believe her neuroticism and skepticism, and hold space for her. … Nicky loves her and wants to, but he doesn’t actually understand.”
The show’s supernatural conceit is matched by its commitment to messy, realistic emotion. As Boston revealed, the idea of Rachel transforming into The Witness came late in the writing process: “Ultimately, I liked this idea of a death and a rebirth, and in order to get the rebirth, it felt natural that there was a mythological answer.” The curse’s rules are complex—only those who are married and don’t truly believe their spouse is their soulmate fall victim, while others, like Jules, survive because of genuine belief in their partners. Even the show’s fox motif serves as a symbol of Rachel’s journey: cornered, wounded, but ultimately free, echoing her transformation from victim to supernatural observer.
Despite its flaws—some sluggish pacing and over-reliance on horror tropes in the early going—Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen ultimately delivers a clever, emotionally resonant twist on the haunted family saga. The series’ latter half deepens its characters and themes, exploring the intersection between love, doubt, and destiny with a bloody flourish. For those willing to brave its slow burn, the payoff is both harrowing and thought-provoking—a welcome addition to Netflix’s horror lineup, and a cautionary tale about the dangers of not truly knowing the person you’re about to marry.