By Dave B.

In Into the Dark: Down (Hulu) Jennifer and Guy, two office workers, are stuck in an elevator over a long Valentine’s Day weekend. Facing the prospect of over 80 hours stuck together, with wine and chocolate as their primary supplies, the pair quickly bond. But eternal bliss is not in the cards. As the truth behind their entrapment becomes clear, Jennifer and Guy find themselves trapped not only in an elevator, but also in a deadly battle of wills.

By Dave B.

In Into The Dark: New Year, New You (Hulu) four former high school friends gather for an intimate New Year’s celebration. However, the success of one of them has strained the bonds that they once shared. As the alcohol flows, the group begins to confront shared demons from their past. When the jealousy and rage bubbling under the surface of their get-together eventually explode, will anyone be left standing?

By Dave B.

The second season of Future Man (Hulu) takes place one year after the conclusion of the first season which saw our hero, Josh Futterman (Josh Hutcherson), imprisoned with multiple life sentences for committing a deadly terrorist attack that was intended to prevent a devastating war in the future. In season two, Josh wakes up to find himself in a future where his actions not only did not prevent a war, but made it many times more destructive than it would have been without his interference. Josh must reconnect with his team of time-travelling miscreants Tiger (Eliza Coupe) and Wolf (Derek Wilson) to prevent the complete extermination of humanity at the hands of an egotistical AI . But can the group re-forge their strained bonds and find a way to defeat their nearly all-powerful enemy without their time machine?

By Dave B.

In my review of Marvel’s Runaways: Season One, I confidently asserted that the show definitely didn’t completely suck. It’s slightly more difficult for me to make that same assertion with the second season. Marvel’s Runaways: Season Two (Hulu) picks up almost immediately after the conclusion of last season’s finale. Our heroes are homeless, directionless, and still on the run from their diabolical parents. Their otherworldly nemesis is still lurking around and has yet to give up on his plans to return home, a side-effect of which will be the destruction of California. Will the Runaways be able to stop him again, while growing into their newfound powers and adulthood?

By Dave B.

In Into The Dark: Pooka! (Hulu), Wilson is an actor who has moved to Los Angeles looking for a fresh start and seeking to escape the pain of his past. When he goes for what he believes to be a theatre audition, Wilson gets the part, only to discover that his actual role will be to play a life-size version of the hottest toy this Christmas season, Pooka. Wilson’s lonely life rapidly improves after taking the role, however, his grip on reality begins to slip. As he grows more dependent upon the Pooka suit for emotional stability, he struggles to overcome dark visions and violent urges. 

By Dave B.

Into the Dark: Flesh & Blood (Hulu) is the second installment in Blumhouse’s anthology horror series. In it, 17 year old Kimberly (Diana Silvers) is stricken with agoraphobia after the brutal and unsolved murder of her mother a year earlier. Kimberly is incapable of leaving her house without experiencing debilitating panic attacks. All of the house’s windows are boarded up. She can’t even go out onto her front porch to retrieve a package. Her sole companions are her father Henry (Dermot Mulroney), with whom she lives, and her therapist Dr. Saunders (Tembi Locke) who visits weekly for emotionally-charged sessions. So what will she do when she finds herself trapped alone in the house with the serial killer who took her mother from her?

By Dave B.

​Into the Dark (Hulu) is a horror anthology series created by Blumhouse Productions. Each episode has a runtime of approximately 80 minutes or so and they are released monthly. The first episode is The Body. In it Wilkes (Tom Bateman) is a hitman who has four hours to transport a body across town on Halloween night. After finding his vehicle vandalized and its tires slashed, he encounters revelers who mistake his suit and the body he is dragging as an elaborate Halloween costume. After agreeing to go to a party with them for one drink so that they can impress their friends, a series of unfortunate events send the hitman and his newfound admirer, Maggie (Rebecca Rittenhouse) on a race across the city to recover the body before the deadline.

By Dave B.

I was bored so I decided to start a segment called "Premieres". It will feature official trailers and synopses from what I feel looks like interesting original programming coming out in the subsequent week in theaters, on Hulu, on Amazon Prime, Netflix (when available; they can be jerks about releasing trailers and synopses), and elsewhere. My intent is to post this segment each Thursday or Friday, but we'll see. Enjoy!

By Dave B.

​If you haven’t seen The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu), it’s likely that you’ve heard some things about it. It’s a TV show that graphically depicts a dystopian world where human fertility has plummeted, enabling a theocracy to take over the majority of what was once the continental United States. In this new country (called Gilead), women who have previously borne children are ritually raped by the political elite (with the assistance of their wives) in order to have children. Further, all women are subject to social control in the form of various biblical and quasi-biblical strictures and punishments. For example, women are not allowed to read and they do, their punishment is the loss of a finger. 

By Dave B.

​Dimension 404 is Hulu’s entry into the science fiction anthology genre. It’s…quirky. It isn’t as dark as Netflix’s Black Mirror tends to be. And it isn’t as future-focused as Amazon’s Electric Dreams. Instead, it’s episodes are relatively lighthearted parables dealing with issues such as love, courage, and honor in modern settings. Dimension 404’s six, forty-five minute episodes are a refreshing change of pace from the doom and gloom that many science fiction anthologies seem to revel in.