Camila Morrone in “A Very Bad Feeling” on Netflix
The dressing room, the white dress, the guests, the rings, the vows, and the anxieties. Many anxieties. Netflix released on Thursday, March 26 “A Very Bad Feeling”. This horror series on the theme of marriage is produced by the Duffer brothers, who are behind the phenomenon “Stranger Things”. This captivating enough to attract viewers, but does it succeed in captivating them? Opinions vary.
Take a young fiancée with a dramatic past, and a nice, wealthy future husband. Put them in a luxurious, creepy chalet villa filled with stuffed animals. Add a completely neurotic extended family, and you get the ingredients of the new Netflix series. Camila Morrone and Adam DiMarco star in this psychological (but not only) thriller set in a snowy and creepy atmosphere.
Due to time constraints, we did not see the entirety of season 1, with eight episodes, so it is impossible to provide a complete and honest review. The first feeling we can express, however, is, uncommonly, mixed. We were visually hypnotized by the direction, the icy landscape, and the numerous decor elements, as frightening as these stuffed hunting dogs that no one should look in the eyes. We were also terrified by the well-placed jump scares, to the point where we had to lower the sound or look away several times to spare our nerves.
Some, like Time, find that the series takes too long to really kick off. “I had to resist the urge to switch to 1.5 speed to finally find out what happens,” jokes the journalist, regretting that it takes half of the series to start “understanding a little what we are watching.” An opinion shared by Variety, which believes that horror in general, and this scenario in particular, do not necessarily lend themselves to the format of a TV series cut into episodes: “The essential tension to truly scare is extremely hard to maintain over several hours”. The Hollywood Reporter confirms this and also finds that the secondary characters are not exploited enough, “which is strange, considering how long this series seems, that it doesn’t take the time to dissect its characters.”
For Screen Rant, on the other hand, this disjointed and slow narration is a way to “keep the viewer on edge, because they never know who to believe or who to trust.” IndieWire also loved that “each episode that takes the spouses a little closer to the altar is filled with creepy twists and intelligent existential reflections.”
Some preferred the first gloomy, foggy, and beachy episodes where one wonders “What’s happening?”. Others the following ones, during which Rachel and the viewer begin to piece together the puzzle. Some loved it, others hated it. You will have to make up your own mind. Not while eating, and with the lights on at least.
