Tales from the Void: Into the Unknown, on Screambox

Sometimes geometric shapes are scary, like spirals in Uzumaki or the Monolith in 2001 (at least if you’re an ape). A mysterious square has much the same effect in the first episode of this series based on stories originally published on r/NoSleep, a popular source for next generation creepypasta horror. An inexplicable square creeps everyone out in “Into the Unknown,” Tales from the Void’s first episode, which starts streaming Sunday on Screambox.

The darned thing just shows up one day in the parking lot of a large, somewhat isolated apartment building. It is like a giant square, non-reflective black flat-screen TV that hovers in the air. It also appears invisible to cameras and film, as Harris discovers. He is the only one exhibiting intellectual curiosity about it, but plenty of his neighbors are obsessed.

Harris’s friend Anton has the night-watch, while Bill (who seems to hold some kind of building captain position) and his hired goons guard it by day. Increasingly paranoid, Bill fears the Square must be some kind of government experiment and/or a threat of unknown origin. He is determined to protect the building, especially Harris, from the Square, no matters how much it hurts.

In the post-episode interview segment, Matthew Dymerski, the author of the original r/NoSleep story, identifies the Twilight Zone episode “The Monsters are Due on Main Street” as his primary influence, which definitely shows. Frankly, there is considerably more time devoted to the collective madness than the big dumb object itself.

However, director Joe Lynch maintains a moody atmosphere and skillfully builds the mounting paranoia.  The adaptation of Dymerski’s tale lacks the black humor and snappy attitude of many of Lynch’s film, particularly Mayhem and Everly, but it definitely creates a sense of a self-contained community, under extreme stress.

Joey Freddy Larsen brings a great deal to the episode portraying Bill, who never comes across as a true villain. Instead, he personifies what happens when fear gets the better of us. Martin Roach also suggests a regretful soul as the world-weary Anton. On the other hand, it is easy to relate to Mpho Koaho as Harris, a critical-thinking everyman.

Some nice special effects were created for this episode, but the ideas drive the narrative. It is another good example of Charles Mackay’s “Madness of Crowds” and the capacity of the collective to do terrible things to the individual. Highly recommended, “Into the Unknown” starts streaming Sunday (10/13) when Tales from the Void premieres on Screambox.