½ This is a horror anthology series that began in October 2018, and released one movie-length episode per month, for twelve months. Each one is set on a holiday (or other occasion) set within the month it's released. In October 2019, a second season started. August and September of 2020 were skipped due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and instead episodes for February and March were released in 2021.
Season Two
tek's rating: ½
Uncanny Annie (Halloween)
Halloween Specials Wiki; Hulu; IMDb; Wikipedia
On Halloween night, six friends named Wendy (Adelaide Kane), Peter, Eve, Craig, Grace, and Michael get together and play a board game called "Uncanny Annie", though they had no idea where the game came from. Once they start playing, they find themselves trapped in the game and must play till they win if they want to survive. (And yes, there is a Jumanji reference at one point.) They win some rounds, but others they lose, and one by one they get killed off. Those who were left kept hoping that if they won the game, their friends would be returned to life. I don't want to say how it ends, whether they win or lose, or anything. But I will say I liked Annie herself. She was very nicely creepy.
tek's rating: meh and three quarters
Pilgrim (Thanksgiving)
Hulu; IMDb
A woman named Anna hires Pilgrim reenactors to prepare a Thanksgiving feast for her family, including her husband Shane, stepdaughter Cody, and son Tate. Two Pilgrims, Ethan and Patience, show up a few days early to stay with the family until Thanksgiving. Well, Patience starts out staying with a friend of Anna's named Katherine, and her son Finn (who is Cody's boyfriend). But she eventually moves into Anna's house. Cody is distrustful of the Pilgrims from the start, but Anna dismisses her concerns, and Shane is too wrapped up in his work to pay much attention to anything that's going on. On Thanksgiving, more Pilgrims show up, and finally the whole family learns that Cody was more than justified in her feelings about them, because of the extreme methods the Pilgrims use to teach gratitude. I guess that's all I want to say about the plot. But the story did grow on me somewhat as the movie progressed, especially toward the end (which wasn't particularly happy). The whole thing was definitely creepy and eventually terrifying for the family. So I guess the movie worked alright on a horror level. I'm not sure about any other levels, though.
tek's rating: ½
A Nasty Piece of Work (Christmas)
Christmas Specials Wiki; Hulu; IMDb
An executive named Steven (Julian Sands) invites two of his employees, Ted (Kyle Howard) and Gavin, along with their wives, Tatum and Missy, to have Christmas dinner with him and his wife, Kiwi. Ted and Gavin must compete to win a promotion, and things get wildly out of hand. It's pretty clear that both Steven and Kiwi are sadistic sociopaths, and they try to drag Ted and Gavin down to their level. And I don't know what else to tell you. It's all just completely messed up. But at least it was interesting. And I liked the ending.
Midnight Kiss (New Year)
Hulu; IMDb
There's a group of friends, several gay men named Joel, his fiancé Logan, Joel's former boyfriend Cameron, Zachary, and a straight woman named Hannah. They have an annual tradition of playing a game on New Year's Eve. They all go to stay at Joel's parents' house (the parents aren't there at the time). Then they go out to a dance club and each try to find a stranger to kiss at midnight. We see another one of the friends (whose name I didn't catch) get murdered before they even leave on the trip, though none of the others are aware that he's dead, they just think he bailed on the trip. There's some strain between Joel and Cam because of their former relationship, and some strain between Joel and Logan, because Joel has a dominating personality. Before they go to the club, another one of them is murdered, which again the remaining friends don't realize. And while at the club, Cam hooks up with a guy named Dante, who later shows up at Joel's house looking for Cam. Meanwhile, a killer continues to target the friends one by one, for a reason I won't spoil. But it has to do with the game. The identity of the killer didn't really surprise me, but his reason for killing people kind of did. Anyway... I'm not really sure how I feel about the movie. I mean, it wasn't bad, but I'm not sure I'd call it good, either. It was just okay. But I did kind of like the various relationship dynamics between the friends. And there's one interesting twist that I also don't want to spoil. But ultimately, I found the killer's motivation a bit weak. I could certainly understand him being quite upset, but not to the point of murdering anyone.
My Valentine (Valentine's Day)
Hulu; IMDb
This happens to be set on Valentine's Day, but it really could have been any day of the year. However, the main character is named Valentine Fox. She's singing at a dance club along with her guitarist/best friend Julie (Anna Akana), and while most of the crowd is enjoying it, there's a trio of hecklers who believe she stole her look and songs from a more famous singer called Trezzure. (They run a Trezzure fansite or something.) Then Valentine's ex-boyfriend/ex-manager, Royal, shows up and bribes the bartender to close early so he can use the place to talk with Valentine. He sends the Trezzure fans outside to guard the door, and Trezzure herself is supposed to wait in the car, but she gets bored and comes inside. Royal wants Valentine to stop playing the songs she wrote with him five years ago, and take down stuff she's said online about Trezzure being the one who stole her look and songs. Of course Valentine doesn't want to do this, and she's defended in her position by Julie. Royal is obviously a major asshole and gaslighter, and seems to suffer a persecution complex. And after what might have been an accident with a knife he uses to threaten them, things start getting murdery, and he goes completely off the deep end. Anyway, I guess the story can be appreciated on one level as an example of abusive behavior and narcissism. And the end of the movie does get kind of interesting and twisty. But on the whole I thought the story was just kind of okay.
Crawlers (St. Patrick's Day)
Hulu; IMDb
This is framed by a young woman named Shauna telling a story via her vlog, or whatever, about events that happened a year earlier, on St. Patrick's Day. The story is about a group of college students, the main one being Misty, who had been drugged at a party a few weeks earlier, by a frat guy named Michael. She doesn't remember what happened, but assumes she was raped (and she's probably right). On St. Patrick's Day, she joins a pub crawl with her best friend, Chloe, trying to reconnect with her after having distanced herself ever since the incident at the party, which Chloe didn't seem to believe her about. Misty also meets Chloe's new friend, Yuejin. And they meet Shauna, who is a drug dealer and conspiracy theorist. When Chloe disappears with frat guy named Aaron, Misty is desperate to find her, and Shauna accompanies her to the frat house. They they find Aaron tied up on a bed, with a gaping wound on his leg. He said he had been attacked by a girl he was with, who then changed to look like him. And that's who Chloe actually went with, the impostor. Shauna believes his story, but Misty doesn't. But when a cop whom we'd seen get attacked and replaced earlier shows up to take Aaron to the police station, Aaron kills him and his blood is this green goo or whatever, so it becomes clear that Shauna's theory about an alien invasion is correct. Shauna, Misty, and Aaron are soon joined by Yuejin, and they go to see Shauna's mother, who has believed in aliens ever since a meteorite struck their town in 1978. The four young people set out to destroy the hive of the aliens, and to look for Chloe. Beyond that, I don't want to reveal anything. It's not a great story, but it was alright.
tek's rating: ¼
Pooka Lives! (Pooka Day)
Hulu; IMDb
This is sort of vaguely a sequel to the season one episode "Pooka!", but aside from the Pooka toy itself, there's no connection between the stories. And this one is much more straightforward than the original, which was more of a psychological thriller. Anyway, Malcolm Barrett (whom I know from Timeless) plays a writer named Derrick, whose career has been ruined by an internet influencer named Jax, who turned all his followers against Derrick. So Derrick has returned to his hometown to stay with his old friends, Molly (Felicia Day) and her husband Matt, and their young daughter Lauren. He also reconnects with a friend named Bennie, who is now a sheriff's deputy, and with his ex-girlfriend, Susan (Lyndie Greenwood, whom I know from Sleepy Hollow). Molly is a believer in all kinds of supernatural stuff, but Matt is more of a skeptic. Derrick gets a job as a copywriter for the company that makes Pooka dolls, where Susan also works. And there's an upcoming day called Pooka Day, when the company is going to release an updated version of Pooka. Actually I should say, the episode starts with the original doll's creator, Ellie (Rachel Bloom), going crazy one year prior to the main story, when the company first told her it was redesigning Pooka. She stabs her husband, David (Wil Wheaton), to death with a pair of scissors, before setting herself on fire. Anyway, back to the present: Derrick decides to make up an internet challenge involving Pooka, and a story (on a site called Eeriepasta) that Pooka will judge anyone who does the challenge as naughty or nice, and kill the naughty ones. The challenge goes viral, and people start getting killed, including Jax, as well as Lauren's babysitter, Becky. And Pooka soon comes after some of the main characters, who have to try to stop it before the new toy's unveiling on Pooka Day. Molly eventually comes up with an interesting explanation for the manifestations of Pooka that are killing people: She believes it's a tulpa. (I also want to mention that Lauren has an imaginary friend, and I thought it would be interesting if that became important to the story, but it never does, unfortunately.) I don't know what else to tell you; I've probably already said too much. It's definitely not as good as the original Pooka episode, but I think it's the best episode so far this season.
Delivered (Mother's Day)
A pregnant woman named Valerie and her husband, Tom, befriend another pregnant woman named Jenny (Tina Majorino), who eventually invites them to dinner at her isolated home. After dinner, Valerie passes out, having been drugged, and Jenny kills Tom. She chains Valerie up and intends to take her baby for herself when it's born. That's all I really want to say about the plot, but it's very disturbing. Kind of reminded me of "Misery", except for the pregnancy part. Definitely a frightening film, and reasonably well made, but I can't really say I liked it. It was pretty hard to watch.
Good Boy (Pet Appreciation Week)
Judy Greer plays a journalist named Maggie, who is eager to have a baby, but hasn't found the right man yet. So, she decides to have her eggs extracted and frozen, but still has anxiety about various things. Like, the magazine she works for goes digital, which forces her to be a freelancer without a regular salary, so she has to get a second job as a barista. That's where she meets a customer named Nate, whom she starts dating, and who turns out to be a cop. Meanwhile, she gets an emotional support dog whom she names Reuben. The dog starts killing anyone who causes Maggie stress, and she does her best to hide this fact. I suppose I should mention she also has a younger friend named Annie, whom she used to babysit years ago. And I'm not sure what else to say about the plot. I feel a bit conflicted about rating it one smiley, because I'm not sure I liked it quite as much as some other installments of this series that I gave that rating. But I also feel like it's too good to put in the "meh" range. So, whatever. I think it's supposed to be a comedy, but I'm not sure how funny I found it. All I can really say is it's always nice to see Judy Greer.
The Current Occupant (Independence Day)
A man named Henry Cameron, who has no memory, is in the hospital after having been shot. Eventually he comes to believe he is the President of the United States, and gets moved to the hospital's psychiatric wing. And I don't really know what else to say. It never seemed very likely to me that he was actually the president, though I will say the truth isn't what I was expecting. Or at least what I assume is the truth. Either way, his treatment was rather horrific. But I couldn't manage to care too much about the story.
tek's rating: meh and a half
Tentacles (Valentine's Day)
First of all, I need to say that tentacles barely factor into this film at all. A woman named Tara who has no home but plenty of money attends real estate open houses and hides out til they're over so she can spend the nights there. But one day she gets caught by a photographer named Sam, and they end up hooking up. The one night stand turns into a real relationship, and eventually they get engaged. The speed at which all this happens concerns Sam's business partner/best friend Esther. And things take a turn when it turns out Tara has a stalker named Grant, an ex-boyfriend who is determined to find her. But Tara isn't telling Sam the whole truth, and eventually things take a much weirder turn, which I don't want to spoil. It wasn't really a bad story, I guess, but I didn't think it was really good, either. The secret Tara is keeping is actually rather interesting as well as frightening, but it wasn't enough to make me like the film.
Blood Moon (Spring Full Moon)
Review coming eventually.
I have no idea how to rate this.
Hulu; IMDb
Hulu; IMDb
tek's rating: meh and a quarter
Hulu; IMDb
Hulu; IMDb
Hulu; IMDb
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