Every few weeks Joe (@bstolemyremote) and Terry (@gaylydreadful) discuss an episode of Hulu and Blumhouse’s Into The Dark series, alternating between our respective sites — queerhorrormovies.com and gaylydreadful.com.

This week, we briefly discuss 2018’s “Pooka!” followed by the latest episode “Pooka Lives!”

TERRY

So, Joe, before we dig into the new Into the Dark episode “Pooka Lives!” we thought it’d be good to revisit the first one from December 2018, “Pooka!” This was the third episode of the series and has been the most recognizable and popular, spawning a Twitter account and a limited supply of actual Pooka dolls (I am endlessly jealous of those who got one, if I’m being honest) in no small part due to its iconic-looking creature. Revisiting it now, it’s kind of emblematic of a lot of the Hulu series’ foibles: an interesting premise that drags on too long in an effort to be feature length.

Pooka! is the story of a struggling actor named Wilson (Nyasha Hatendi), who simultaneously befriends the lush next door named Red (Dale Dickey) and lands an “acting” job as the titular Pooka. While dressed as the mascot, he notices Melanie Burns (Latarsha Rose) and becomes smitten. But as he continues pretending to be Pooka, he finds himself hallucinating and, when in Pooka’s “naughty” mode, becomes prone to violent outbursts.

“Pooka!” immediately brought to mind one of my favorite 30 Rock episodes called “Greenzo,” where guest-star David Schwimmer becomes NBC’s “Green Initiative” mascot and becomes increasingly unhinged, unable to tell himself apart from his costume which ultimately causes him to self-destruct. I found the story of “Pooka!” to be one of the more interesting of the Into the Dark Stories, but my god, Joe, the pacing. On one hand, I dig the slow-paced, descent into madness aspect of it and found the twist ending interesting. But I can’t help but think it’d be a better 60 minute TV episode.

But what about you? Did you enjoy the way the narrative twists in the third act? Did the story of a man grappling with his violent tendencies move you? Or were you ready for it to be over with before it hit the third act? And what did you think of Nacho Vigalondo (Timecrimes, Colossal)’s direction?

JOE

As we discussed last month when we tackled Crawlers, I’ve seen fewer of these Into The Dark films than you, so I’m unsure how “Pooka!” compares to the rest of the entries. With that said, the film clearly has a sense of style courtesy of Vigalondo, particularly when the shit hits the proverbial fan in the third act and everything becomes extremely hallucinatory.

I can’t in any good conscience strongly recommend the film, though, because of that aforementioned pacing. YE GODS, Terry! We complained about it during Crawlers, we’re complaining about it now and I fear that we’ll complain about it again in “Pooka Lives!” in just a little while. For some reason these films just draaaaag; it’s as if the writers can’t find a way to stretch their premise into a 80-90 minute feature. It likely has something to do with the fact that the films are based on relatively simple stories without the budget to take them to the next level.

In “Pooka!” that’s apparent in the small scale of the film. The crowd scenes set outside the Pooka shop include roughly a dozen extras, there’s approximately three to four sets and not that many more actors. Hatendi does what he can with the material, but there’s only so much to play with when the story essentially boils down to “man puts on suit, man goes crazy, man is revealed to have killed his family and stranger due to anger management problems.”

Let’s call a spade a spade: this is a short, not a feature

But I’m curious about your reaction to the next instalment, Terry. Do you feel that “Pooka Lives!” builds on the Pooka mythology (in expected or unexpected ways)? How do you feel about the pacing and the genre hopping? And were you as disappointed as me in the less-than-cameo appearances of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s Rachel Bloom and Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Wil Wheaton?

TERRY

I'm not necessarily sure “Pooka Lives!” builds on the mythology of the original, but it does create an interesting, mercurial metaphor in the big rascal. We'll get to that in a minute, though.

“Pooka Lives!” begins with a cold open of Ellie (Rachel Bloom, turning in a favor/collecting a paycheck) working on a torn Pooka, A Nightmare on Elm Street-style, when David (a shouting Wil Wheatin, also turning in a favor/collecting a paycheck) bursts in, angry that Ellie was fired. Turns out she was the creator of the Pooka doll and, as capitalism is wont to do, the company she works for wants a Version 2.0. To Ellie, though, Pooka is perfect and so she murders the shrill David, bathes herself in gasoline and, with a burst of CGI fire, the film jumps one year into the future.

We’re then quickly introduced to a bunch of 30 something friends. There’s Derrick (Better Off Ted’s Malcom Barrett), a writer whose latest book pissed off an internet influencer named Jax, who calls his fans Jaxers (pronounced Jackers). Derrick is now on the run from an online hate mob as a result, so he’s staying with his friends Molly (The Guild’s Felicia Day), her husband Matt (Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return’s Jonah Ray) and their daughter Lauren (Willow Beuoy). Rounding out the group is Derrick’s old flame Susan (Lyndie Greenwood) and Benny (Gavin Stenhouse), the token gay dude within 50 miles who shed a bunch of weight and doesn’t realize he’s “hot.”

Long story short, Derrick gets a job as a copy writer for the company that produces the Pooka toys and after a night of weed and drinking with friends, he decides to turn the tables on Jax and his ilk by creating a creepypasta of Pooka. After Jax does the Pooka ritual and films it. He later gets a mysterious text saying, “YOU’VE BEEN NAUGHTY,” he livestreams his ultimate death. But by then, it’s too late. Like most things the internet gets its hands on, everyone follows suit and the Pooka Challenge picks up momentum, constantly changing and feeding on itself until it creates a monstrous creation well beyond the original.

So here's the thing, Joe: I enjoyed this version of Pooka a whole lot more than the first one. I love the idea of Pooka as a manifestation of the internet’s worst impulses, right down to the Naughty Pooka on Twitter being a bit of a troll. It’s become ingrained in the image of the bugger; sometimes nice, sometimes naughty. Always a troll. I couldn’t help but think of the way the internet grabs onto something a little silly or edgy and twists it into something terrible. I think it’s best represented in Pepe the Frog, a comic character that was a bit like a froggy Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes that was turned into a meme, got 4-chan’d and then ultimately became an alt right figure. Through it all, comic creator Matt Furie tried multiple times to stop his creation and regain control of his property.

It’s an interesting kernel of an idea formulated by screenwriter Ryan Copple (I only know his work tangentially as he wrote an episode of the abysmal Escape the Night YouTube series I got sucked into at one point...don’t ask). But as you inferred, Joe, the pacing is simply terrible. I can’t help but feel that it’s another inventive director saddled with a script that’s too long in the tooth. Here, that director is Alejandro Brugués, who directed my favorite part of last year’s Nightmare Cinema (the inventive “The Thing in the Woods”).

For me, the first two-thirds felt like too much of a slow burn that didn’t give its characters much to do and failed to elicit much tension as a slasher. I mean, c’mon! You have a troupe of very funny people (their resumes above purposefully emphasized) and it’s not until the third act that you allow them to actually be funny? Instead, the majority of the script wants to try to be a tense slasher starring...a Party City Chewbacca with stop light eyes? Not exactly scary.

What about you, Joe? Did you enjoy this one more than the original? What did you think of the horror homages (I caught someone named Krueger, the opening and Lauren’s blanket looking suspiciously like the carpet in Room 237)? Which tone did you prefer? Did any of the set pieces work for you? And, most importantly, Joe...HAVE YOU BEEN NAUGHTY?

JOE

How very dare you? I am a GOOD boy. Lol.

No, if I’m being honest: in this fictional world, I would be the adult lurking on the periphery, watching the Pooka challenge and mocking the idiocy of people eating ash and doing a children’s dance for likes and RTs.

I’m actually very intrigued to see how audiences respond to this latest interpretation of Pooka, if only because I think a lot of viewers will go in expecting a relatively straightforward expansion of the character’s mythology. Will they be disappointed? I don’t think so. If anything, the direction of “Pooka Lives!” is a very savvy creative decision by Copple, who eschews the fatalistic ending of the first film by jettisoning everything except the iconic character.

In reality, what Copple did was seize on the real life reaction to “Pooka!” from 2018. As you mention, Terry, Pooka became a phenomenon after that third Into The Dark episode, but I’d wager that people fell in love with the character design and not the tale wrapped around it. It makes sense, then, to abandon the other elements and build a narrative around the character’s popularity, while also taking aim at some topical social media trends (Sidebar: like fine wine, those references to the Ice Bucket Challenge have already aged).

While I admire the ambition and do prefer this take on Pooka more than the first, I can’t say that the latest entry entirely works for me. It’s mostly entertaining, but also overstuffed. Between the cold open, the urban legend/viral internet trend, the social media criticisms and the actual characters’ backstories, there’s a lot going on in “Pooka Lives!” And yet, by the time that we hit the hour mark with cross-cut showdowns at Ellie’s and Molly/Matt’s houses, I was so done with this story. When we fade to black and return for the last act and the big Pooka Day event, I audibly groaned.

Part of the problem for me wasn’t the lack of comedy as I felt like there are a series of attempted jokes scattered through (please note the slightly disdainful use of “attempted”; the bulk of them come from Jonah Ray’s Matt, whom I found borderline insufferable). No, my biggest issue was simply that this entry is a kitchen sink approach to storytelling. “Pooka Lives!” is so busy throwing every cliche and trope at us that it never stops to think whether paring things down would have been more effective. The social media stuff sets up a pay-off that the film doesn’t deliver on (what’s the point of Derrick being videotaped if the world and Jax’s idiot followers don’t realize how amazing he is?). And the whole idea of Ellie’s ghost being partially responsible for activating or keeping the internet meme going? Yeah, that also comes to nothing. Sure, a The Ring “seven days” throw-away line on the Twitter thread is amusing, but it doesn’t make for a cohesive film.

The best thing “Pooka Lives!” has going for it is the actual cast chemistry. I genuinely liked the relationship between Derrick and Susan and the jokey camaraderie of the friends as they reconnect over drinks was super relatable. It was honestly when the horror was introduced that I was less enthused, although the comedy when Pooka squeaks down Susan’s windshield and is eventually thrown off the back of the car did elicit a chuckle from me.

Terry, how did you find the comedy mixed with the horror? Did you question why Pooka attacked some folks immediately (Derrick) but waited days for others (Matt)? And did you prefer svelt Pooka from the climax, scary rabbit Pooka from the office attack or regular ol’Pooka?

TERRY

Joe, two of the horror set pieces worked for me at varying levels. While I questioned why Derrick would be working late at night with all of the lights off, I loved the way the eyes of the Pooka dolls started lighting up around the room leading to the reveal of Pooka 2.0...who looked even more raggedly and cheap. But the scene I absolutely loved and one that combined the horror and comedy perfectly was the scene when Lauren tells her parents Molly and Matt that there’s a monster in her closet. I smiled at the tracking shot of the illuminated shadow Pookas from one of those toy lamps that eventually settled on the eyes of the real Pooka, who then rushed out with a roar. That horror sequence, however cliched, worked so well for me...especially when it’s combined with the two parents trying to keep their child blissfully unaware that they could die at any moment. Felicia finally gets to do something and her facial expressions as she’s lying to Lauren while silently arguing with Matt actually had me laughing.

That was the kind of movie I wanted to watch from Alejandro. It just took an inordinate amount of time to get there.

So while I agree that I groaned when we get a fade to black followed by another twenty minutes of the climax, I think it’s because the first half had such a wonky sense of pacing. I wanted the pacing of the third act and the social media critique of the second act. I didn’t realize until you broke it down, Joe, just how much is going on in this one. And yeah...my notes were full of comments about “why is he being attacked now?” It’s very messy and I truly wish Brugués had a better script and a little bigger budget to really give us something special.

That said, as Into the Dark’s first sequel, what were your thoughts overall? I know you haven’t seen a ton of the episodes but where does this stack from the ones you’ve seen so far? Finally, do you think, with the popularity of rascally Pooka, that this episode sets up another sequel?

JOE

I’ll tackle your final question first, because I 100% think that we haven’t seen the last of Pooka. My biggest surprise is that Blumhouse and Into The Dark haven’t found more ways to capitalize on the popularity of the character in real life. I’m sure there are versions that exist (and I choose to remain blissfully unaware), but I know more than a few horror fans who would gladly pay a hefty sum to own their own Pooka doll!

One of the reasons that I think the character resonates with folks is that it’s a decidedly simple design and execution (it’s a teddy bear with giant saucer eyes and a rotund tummy who repeats sounds back - it’s basically a Build-A-Bear with Disney eyes and an annoying theme song). The fact that this sequel so dramatically changes the narrative, but manages to retain the essential components of the character proves how malleable he is. Perhaps if we follow the online chatter when this becomes available (and particularly in the live tweet that’s accompanying the debut), perhaps we’ll see the germination of the next instalment.

Overall, though, I’ll take this ambitious, albeit overstuffed entry over the more languid, meditative first entry. While I’m prone to appreciating character depth and development, the first film simply didn’t do enough to justify its runtime. At least “Pooka Lives!” gives us plenty to chew on, even if it is wildly uneven. Plus: animated end credit sequences for the win!

As for where this stands in the grand scheme of Into The Dark? I’m still partial to the two New Year’s entries, then probably this one. There are a few that I haven’t seen that I’ve heard good things about, so I’m an unreliable assessor right now. Perhaps if we get our butts in motion and actually get around to reviewing the other entries like we said we would? (I’m such a shit disturber!)