If
you thought there was something profoundly sinister about bubbly, self-help YouTubers,
Danielle Williams will confirm the heck of it for you. The veggie juice
lifestyle social media maven is about to make the leap to television, but first
she will ring in the New Year with her old high school besties. It goes badly
for almost all of them in Sophia Takal’s New
Year, New You (trailer
here),
the New Year installment of Hulu’s Blumhouse-produced monthly holiday horror anthology,
which premieres this Friday.
Something
happened in Alexis’s house during her high school years that she has yet to
recover from. As a result, her parents had it sealed up tight to keep intruders
out. Of course, that security glass will also makes it difficult to get out.
Alexis and her average friends, Kayla and Chloe have invited Williams to join
them for New Year’s. Much to their surprise, she agrees, perhaps for a cheap
ego boost. Naturally, she intends to document everything on social media, but
Alexis plans to take things offline.
Kayla
and Chloe agreed to help Alexis confront Williams and maybe get some closure if
and when she cops to her role in the unfortunate events of the past. However,
matters quickly escalate and intensify. Soon it is bestie against bestie.
Takal
and co-screenwriter Adam Gaines penned a largely straightforward revenge-horror
thriller, but her execution as director is quite stylish. There are plenty of
very-now uber-connected elements, but there are also nods to the look and vibe
of 1970s made-for-TV horror movies that genre fans are sure to appreciate.
Suki
Waterhouse acts appropriately moody and convincingly damaged as Alexis. Nevertheless,
Carly Chaikin overshadows everyone as the utterly terrifying Williams. Anyone
that manipulative, ruthless, and condescending is just a flat-out monster.
There is no question, you’d be better off facing Jason, Freddy, or Leatherface
rather than her.
Although
New You shares some thematic siilarities
with Takal’s Always Shine, this is
her most traditional and fully realized work in the horror genre as a director.
It is not so gory compared to Blumhouse’s theatrical films, but it definitely
offers up a ghoulish of human nature.Think of it as Mean Girls, taken to its logical
extreme.
It
is quite nice of Blumhouse and Hulu to keep bringing us together for the
holidays. Into the Dark is kind of like
the Charlie Brown specials, but with higher body counts. There are not so many
surprises in Takal & Gaines’ narrative, but it is really well-produced installment,
featuring a knockout performance from Chaikin. Recommended for genre fans, Into the Dark: New Year, New You starts streaming
this Friday (12/28) on Hulu. Merry Christmas.
