Into the Dark: New Year, New You
February 5, 2019 6:55 AM - Season 1, Episode 4 - Subscribe

A group of millennial friends gather for a reunion on New Year's Eve to reconnect and reminisce, but as they rehash old memories and revisit an old party game of Never Have I Ever, gripes and secrets they've been harboring manifest in nefarious ways.
posted by DirtyOldTown (5 comments total)
 
After the success of Pooka, this one was SO AWFUL. The premise is cliched and obvious. The film drags. The acting is pretty uninspiring (not that I blame them with that script). Definitely could have done without this one.
posted by miss-lapin at 7:17 AM on February 5, 2019


I didn't hate it, but it felt like they didn't lean into the satire as much as they could have. The woman they cast as Danielle was a good choice though, as she was able to radiate a very particular kind of internet self help awfulness that was instantly recognizable.

It was nice seeing Simone from The Good Place in something else.

Had I made this, I'd have made Danielle the protagonist/antihero and had her come out victorious... Only because it would have been the most horrible way to do it, which would have sharpened the satire.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:07 AM on February 5, 2019 [1 favorite]


i think this may have grated on me more as a woman because of it's failure. I wanted Danielle to succeed. When she started to "turn" other members of the conspiracy, I liked that.

Honestly Swimming with Sharks did it way better. WAY better.

One of my major problems with this was the costume and make up design was awful. I was not convinced that any of these people could get anyone to follow them on social media if they made themselves into a glitter pinata. They needed the cast to look more like the people in the party scene from Russian Doll. I can believe that some of those people would be insta celebs. I couldn't believe ANY of these women would be based on their appearance.
posted by miss-lapin at 9:38 AM on February 5, 2019


I think this also goes back to budget. For a film like this to work, you need someone with a really interesting eye for design-I'm thinking like Heathers, which was a satire but had a very clear design (each girl matching her chosen croquette ball). Because it's satire AND about image, I think you could really push that in interesting ways.

And this movie really didn't do that.
posted by miss-lapin at 9:42 AM on February 5, 2019


I felt like this movie could've been really good but somehow ended up secretly racist and homophobic. The "let's pin it all on the lesbians" rubbed me the wrong way. They could've gone further with the evil of the influencer, and the eventual evil of the antihero, but it turned out incredibly formulaic.
posted by loriginedumonde at 7:59 PM on February 7, 2019


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