Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen Review: A Terrifying Binge-Worthy Series
Horror has had a remarkable run over the past year. Standout series like Pluribus, IT: Welcome to Derry, Alien: Earth, and Stranger Things Season 5 deliver engaging, terrifying narratives for fans of the genre. It’s encouraging to see that momentum carrying into 2026 with Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen.
Created by Haley Z. Boston. Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen instantly became one of Netflix’s best horror series. Directed by Lisa Brühlmann, Weronika Tofilska and Axelle Carolyn. It quickly recognised itself as one of the best TV series of 2026, and for good reason — it brought something distinctly fresh to the table. A unique storyline and mixture of romance and horror, which included psychological, gore, and supernatural elements.
Acting Performances That Brought The Show To Life
The casting for Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen is nothing short of inspired. Every actor inhabits their character so naturally that the performances feel unrestrained and entirely original.
Ted Levine (Silence of the Lambs) is an incomparable choice for this role as Boris, the family patriarch. He strips away any trace of warmth to portray a troubled, broken man, and he owns every moment of it. Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight) brings her signature effortlessness to a role that demands constant control. Even in the show’s slower moments, she commands your attention — her line delivery and subtle micro-expressions tap into every anxious feeling you never knew you had about a mother-in-law.
Camila Morrone brings an undefiled personality to an otherwise gothic, tense character. She wears the goth aesthetic so effortlessly that it never feels like a costume. Following her through each unfolding event pulls you right into the center of the action. Every flicker of fear and paranoia she projects on screen transfers immediately to the audience, and at no point does she let that connection slip. Even during the lingering close-up sequences – where lesser performances can falter – she holds your gaze and keeps the tension alive right through to the final frame. Season 2 will be all the more exciting for having her in it.
Adam DiMarco as Nikky is phenomenal in the role of the hopeless romantic. When someone sells a character convincingly, you know immediately that your time is well spent. He serves as the perfect counterbalance to Rachel’s goth, withdrawn personality — and that contrast is crucial. It’s what drives the romantic thread of the story forward and stops the show from sitting too heavily in darkness.
The supporting cast more than holds their own, doing commendable work in grounding the show’s more unsettling moments. Together, they sell the idea of a family bound by strange, uncomfortable dynamics with a believability that keeps the whole thing from tipping into the absurd. At times you wonder, what’s keeping this family together?
A Haunting Exploration of Marriage, Divorce, and Identity Through Horror”
The show constructs its atmosphere of dread with real skill, drawing on the kind of paranoia and anxiety that anyone who has lived through the week leading up to a wedding will immediately recognise. Rather than front-loading the tension, it parcels it out deliberately across each episode. It takes the audience through the full emotional journey at a measured effective pace.
Something Very Bad Is About to Happen taps into something society is quietly grappling with but rarely confronts directly — the fear of marriage and the emotional wreckage of divorce. These are anxieties that affect enormous numbers of people, yet they seldom receive the serious attention they deserve. Using horror as the vehicle to explore that in a way that mirrors a funeral is clever, and the show earns it.
What makes the approach so effective is how it externalises feelings that are usually left unspoken. The loss of personal identity within a relationship and the creeping unease of stepping into a home full of people you don’t yet know or trust — these are primal, deeply human fears. By placing them at the centre of a horror narrative, the show transforms the quietly familiar into something genuinely unsettling, and, in doing so, holds a mirror up to experiences many viewers will recognise all too well.
The supporting cast continues to do exactly what a good ensemble should — hold everything together without overpowering the leads. What makes them so effective is how each character brings a different dynamic and perspective to the table, steadily layering onto the family’s strange, unsettling chemistry. Every episode adds another piece to the disjunction and deepens the mystery in ways that keep you second-guessing.
The inclusion of Jules’s and Nell’s marriage is the unexpected ingredient the series needed. The brutal honesty of that relationship cuts through in a way that feels distinct from everything else happening on screen — it brings a rawness that quietly enriches the show and fills a gap you didn’t even notice until it was filled.
The final act is where the show stumbles. The writing loses conviction at a crucial moment and overrelies on dialogue as a filler. A little more time in the writers’ room, and it could have found a convincing reason for the actions. That said, the gore and climatic terror that unfolds are strokes of cinematic class. Overall, Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen is a series that hooks you and keeps you intrigued and engaged.
