Regardless of whether you’re a horror fan or not, new Netflix series Something Very Bad is Going to Happen (SVBIGTH) is your unmissable binge of the week.
Down and out Rachel (Camila Morrone) is set to wed her uber-rich boyfriend Nicky (Adam DiMarco), who has neglected to tell her that his family lives in the wood cabin version of Downton Abbey. True to its name, things begin to go downhill in the most emotionally scarring way possible once the pair arrives there for the wedding.
Article continues below
‘The episode and story both worked better when we cut it’
Episode 7 of SVBIGTH — where Rachel and Nicky have one hour until they get married and their problems have never been weirder — was originally supposed to be filmed entirely in one take, just like last year’s breakout Netflix series, Adolescence.
However, you’ll see from watching the series that this never happened.
“Episode 7 was originally gonna be like a oner [one long shot] for the whole thing, right? That changed later in the shoot,” DiMarco tells me. “But it adds a fun new way of approaching things like a Safdie Brothers movie, like Uncut Gems. I love Episode 7… it’s like running around like a chicken with its head cut.”
Funnily enough, Uncut Gems is the reference point showrunner Haley Z. Boston also switched to.
“We talked about that episode being one shot until the scene between Rachel and Nikki, and ultimately it ended up becoming a blend,” she tells me when I ask about the move away from a one-shot.
“I wanted to make sure that the story was really working, and being selective about when we cut it ended up making the episode and the story both work better. I knew I wanted it to have that Uncut Gems, chaotic energy.
“So whenever I could service that, I did, and I wanted the Rachel and Nikki scene to feel very quiet. I talked about that scene as the most important scene in the show. So the cutting up just serves it all so much better.”
If you look closely enough, we do get a small version of our Adolescence moment, though. As Nicky and Rachel drive to his parents’ house in episode 1, the camera is placed directly in the middle of the car, giving us a 360 panoramic view of the pair’s debate about how big their future baby might be.
It’s an ominous omen for what’s ahead, and just one example of how visually bold SVBIGTH is. If there were less blood and more bling, it’s basically Uncut Gems: the TV show.