The Stranger Things Creators Have A Creepy New Horror Miniseries Streaming On Netflix

As the end of "Stranger Things" approached, creators Matt and Ross Duffer finally got around to using their wild Netflix clout to produce new series for the streamer. Via their Upside Down Productions company, the Duffer Brothers received a greenlight for two shows: the sci-fi centric "The Boroughs" and the straight-up horror yarn "Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen." The latter is the first of the gate and is now available to binge on the streaming platform. Its trailer promises a creepy riff on the in-laws-from-hell horror subgenre, and, judging from reviews thus far, it's an effective exploration of marital dread.

Created by up-and-coming writer Haley Z. Boston ("Hunters" and Ana Lily Amipour's installment of "Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities"), "Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen" stars Camilla Morrone (a Primetime Emmy Award nominee for her work in "Daisy Jones & the Six") and Adam DiMarco ("The White Lotus" season 2) as an engaged couple heading to the groom's family's upstate New York cabin (in, of course, the dead of winter). Everything is off from the start, as Morrone has yet to meet DiMarco's family. Likewise, their journey to the cabin is laden with spooky occurrences that deepen the foreboding of this horrific spin on "Meet the Parents."

As expected, DiMarco's family proves to be a nightmare. DiMarco's weirdo doctor dad (who's a little too into taxonomy) is played by Ted Levine. Meanwhile, his oddball mother is embodied by the versatile wonder that is Jennifer Jason Leigh. The wedding is set to take place within a few days, and Boston wrings the fast-approaching nuptials for plenty of suspense.

"Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen" runs for eight episodes, and the scenario feels like a one-and-done miniseries deal. But if it proves to be a streaming smash for Netflix (and, with the Duffer Brothers' name attached, it's likely to do big numbers), you can just about guarantee that Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos will demand that its creatives figure out a way to extend its narrative. Netflix could even turn it into an anthology à la Ryan Murphy's "American Horror Story."

According to The Hollywood Reporter's Angie Han, Haley Z. Boston's series is "a surprisingly thoughtful, satisfyingly bloody take on the impossibility of absolute romantic certainty." Many of her critic peers agree with her (see: the show's 80 percent critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing), so, if this is your kind of horror, you should absolutely give it a whirl. Just make sure you turn off all the lights and draw your curtains completely shut since this is yet another dimly lit Netflix offering. I don't know why the streamer hews to this house style, but since it develops movies and shows expecting viewers to have at least one other screen distracting them, visuals apparently take a back seat to expository dialogue.

If you can deal with this, dig on in and (hopefully) enjoy "Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen."