Line #111 Series/IntoTheDark


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/into_the_dark.jpg]]
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3	''Into the Dark'' is a horror anthology series of movies, which premiered on Creator/{{Hulu}} in October 2018. Produced by Creator/{{Blumhouse\|Productions}}, each episode is focused on a different holiday occurring that month, with one new episode per month[[note]]except for New Year's-themed episodes, which premiere in late December instead of early January[[/note]]. The series ran continuously from October 2018 through July 2020; the final two episodes of season 2 (August and September) were suspended as a result of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic; the season eventually resumed and concluded in early 2021.
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5	Not to be confused with Creator/TheCW's crime series ''Series/InTheDark''.
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8	!!''Into the Dark'' contains the following tropes:
9	* AbuseMistake: In ''Blood Moon'' the police naturally believe Esme is abusing Luna after they find him in their basement inside of a cage. Her insistence on him being dangerous and demand he be locked up in a cell after they get into the police station [[NotHelpingYourCase only make her look worse]]. She's actually doing it to protect them from Luna, whom she dearly loves but is a werewolf and the full moon's near.
10	* AbusiveParents: Featured in ''Flesh & Blood'', ''All That We Destroy'' and ''Pure''. Esme is ([[AbuseMistake reasonably]]) mistaken for one in ''Blood Moon''.
11	** The fathers attending the retreat in ''Pure'' are of the emotionally/mentally abusive sort, complete with vaguely incestuous control issues concerning their daughters.
12	* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Maggie is driven by this in ''The Body''.
13	* ArcWords: ''Pooka!'' has "Look at all the pretty lights". [[spoiler:Those were the words spoken by Melanie to distract Ty from Wilson's crazy driving before they crashed.]]
14	* AssholeVictim:
15	** [[spoiler: Trezzure ]] in ''My Valentine''. After [[spoiler: spending the entire episode justifying Royal’s abusive behavior toward Valentine, and toward herself, she snaps and kills Royal once she realizes she was just Valentine’s replacement. She then gets electrocuted by standing in a pool of Julie’s blood when Val kicks a severed mic cord into it after threatening to sue and destroy Valentine and freely admitting she stole her songs and looks for fame.]]
16	** Pretty much all of the victims in ''Pooka Lives''
17	* AsianAndNerdy: Erica in ''School Spirit''. [[spoiler:It's at least partially an act.]]
18	* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Called out in ''Pilgrim''
19	* BitchInSheepsClothing: Trezzure in ''My Valentine'' is this in spades, and [[spoiler:Esther]] is this in "School Spirit". Danielle in ''New Year, New You'' as well.
20	* BittersweetEnding:
21	** By the end of ''Pilgrim'', [[spoiler:Dad and the neighbors are dead and Cody will have to live with the guilt of her wish, but the Pilgrims have been defeated and the survivors have come together for the first time as a family.]]
22	** ''My Valentine'', bordering on a [[DownerEnding Downer Ending]]. Valentine is finally free of Royal’s abuse and has the rights to her music after five years [[spoiler:because Royal and Trezzure are dead, but the bartender and Nick were killed simply for still being at the bar, and Valentine watched Royal murder “her only ally” and best friend, Julie. Valentine assumes Trezzure’s identity and ends up publicly dropping it during a show while she performs a song about ''how she murdered Trezzure and took over her identity''. A post-credits shot with the Trezzure fans barring the door heavily implies that the last part, however, is all in Val’s head.]]
23	** The ending of ''All That We Destroy''. [[spoiler:Ashley's clone]] escapes death and [[spoiler:Spencer]] is dead, however the clone is likely going to be jailed not only for her original's crimes but also murder despite it being self defense, with [[spoiler:Spencer's mom]] and her arguably crimes against nature/humanity getting off [[KarmaHoudini scot free]].
24	* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Averted in ''My Valentine.'' [[spoiler: Nick dies, but he dies after Julie and the bartender are murdered by Royal.]]
25	* BolivianArmyEnding: [[spoiler: ''Pooka Lives'', though they at least have a shot of surviving if the ending credit cartoons are to be believed...]]
26	* BottleEpisode: ''Down''.
27	* BreakTheCutie: Valentine Fawkes. Not only was she in a horribly abusive relationship with her producer, he stalked her for five years while simultaneously driving her career into the ground and cultivating a reputation of her as a liar, thief, and psychotic ex-girlfriend. He then took his new girlfriend and made her into an exact replica of Valentine, stole her songs, and Trezzure gets famous on her work. [[spoiler: And then he murders her best friend right in front of her on the night of her comeback after a five year hiatus—on Valentine’s Day, no less—and it gets horribly worse from there.]]
28	* BuryYourGays:
29	** ''New Year, New You'' has [[spoiler:the lesbian Kaela be killed by Chloe accidentally]], then she decides to frame [[spoiler:Kaela's girlfriend, Frankie for all the murders]] as a PsychoLesbian, due to being a WomanScorned.
30	** Much more prominent in ''Midnight Kiss'', the second New Year's episode.
31	* TheCartel: The first villains in ''Culture Shock''. It doesn't get any better when Marisol gets away from them, though...
32	* CassandraTruth: In ''Blood Moon'' the police chief doesn't believe Esme when she insists Luna is dangerous and must be locked up in a cell while they're inside the police station, thinking she's a depraved abusive mother. As the moon turns full, Luna (a werewolf) turns into a wolf and slaughters all of the police.
33	* CessationOfExistence: In ''All That We Destroy'' Victoria tells one of the Ashley clones that when someone dies, that's it-everything that they were disappears. Though she states her belief that life is precious and every death a tragedy because of this, it didn't stop her letting her son [[{{Hypocrite}} repeatedly murder the clones]].
34	* ChekhovsGun: The Jerusalem cherries in ''Pilgrim''. [[spoiler:It's used to poison the Pilgrims in the climax.]]
35	* ChromosomeCasting: All the characters in ''New Year, New You'' are women.
36	* ColdBloodedTorture: [[spoiler: The Pilgrims' method of ensuring gratitude.]]
37	* ConspiracyTheorist: Shauna and her mother in ''Crawlers''. Being a horror movie, they're absolutely right.
38	* CrazySurvivalist: Shauna and her mother in ''Crawlers''.
39	* DamselOutOfDistress: In ''All That We Destroy'' the latest Ashley clone manages to break free and [[spoiler:kill Spencer, rather than be murdered like her predecessors.]]
40	* DeathByGenreSavviness: In ''Uncanny Annie'', Wendy recognizes that chanting a demon's name is how everyone got killed in ''Film/{{Candyman}}.'' Too bad she still does it...
41	* DevilsJobOffer: ''A Nasty Piece of Work'' is about this, albeit in a non-supernatural fashion.
42	* DisappearedDad: In ''Blood Moon'' Luna's father is dead when the story begins, and only appears in flashbacks. It's revealed he'd been killed by Esme after getting loose and transforming into a wolf, attacking her.
43	* DownerEnding: ''Pooka!'' ends with [[spoiler:the realization that Wilson was the SoleSurvivor of the car crash that killed his family, and even then his fate is uncertain.]]
44	* {{Dreamville}}: "Culture Shock", the Fourth of July-themed instalment, a Mexican woman attempts to cross the border into the US, only to be trapped in a bizarre, 1950s-throwback suburbia, which turns out to be a simulation in which they are held while waiting for the results of their applications.
45	* DrivenToSuicide: [[AlphaBitch Danielle]] did this to an unpopular friend in the backstory of ''New Year, New You''.
46	* DyingDream: One interpretation of [[spoiler: ''Pooka!'']]
47	* ElevatorFailure: Jumpstarts the plot of ''Down''. [[spoiler:As it turns out, it wasn't an accident.]]
48	* {{Expy}}:
49	** [[spoiler:Brent]] from ''School Spirit'' is one of [[Film/{{Psycho}} Norman Bates]], down to the mother's decaying corpse.
50	** The three main characters of ''My Valentine'': Valentine Fawkes is one to Music/MarsArgo, Trezzure is one for Music/{{Poppy}}, and Royal is one [[spoiler:far more dangerous and murderous]] of Titanic Sinclair.
51	** Chester from ''I'm Just F*cking With You'' is basically a southern, bespectacled [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Joker]].
52	** Pooka has become one of [[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos Slender Man]] by the time of ''Pooka Lives'', with a self-generating mythos and inappropriate fanart.
53	* FinalGirl: Several, including in ''Pilgrim'' and ''School Spirit.''
54	* GenderBlenderName: In ''Blood Moon'' Luna, a boy, has a name that's usually used for girls.
55	* GeneticMemory: In ''All That We Destroy'' the latest Ashley clone starts remembering early ones being murdered somehow. Victoria, the geneticist who made them, [[LampshadeHanging has no idea how that's possible]].
56	* GenreAnthology
57	* GenreShift: The original ''Pooka!'' is a very serious psychological drama-thriller with very little in the way of comic relief. ''Pooka Lives!'' abandons the original's tone completely in favor of being a campy horror comedy that's not afraid to crack jokes even during its more intense moments.
58	** The same could be said of the entire Into The Dark series, with most of season one being psychological drama thrillers that have a social justice message to the side, while most of the second season favors black comedy with fantastic elements.
59	* {{Gorn}}: There’s an uncomfortably close shot of [[spoiler: Nick’s]] neck when he’s being garroted with a ''guitar string.''
60	* GoryDiscretionShot: In ''My Valentine'' [[spoiler: when Trezzure bashes Royal’s face in with the base of a microphone stand. Instead of seeing it happen, we get a POV shot of the stand from Royal’s perspective.]]
61	* GreenEyedMonster: ''New Year, New You'' is about this, with Alexis driven by envy of Danielle's success.
62	* HairRaisingHare: Pooka. [[OurMonstersAreDifferent Maybe.]]
63	* HateSink: The three fathers in ''Pure'' are emotionally abusive parents with vaguely incestuous control issues concerning their daughters. [[SinisterMinister Pastor Seth]] is an [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain openly homophobic]] [[GunNut gun toting]] leader of an misogynistic ambiguously {{cult}}y camp whose strict rules drives his otherwise loyal and obedient daughter [[BreakTheCutie Lacey]] to kill herself out of guilt for simply kissing a boy. Steve repeatedly fatshamed his daughter [=KellyAnn=] (who is quite skinny) and chastises her for being at risk of not fitting into a dress he picked out for her (and insists she wear the dress ''he'' likes, not the one ''she'' likes). And Kyle is a hypocrite who cheated on Jo's mom but tried to control her actions. And when Jo proves too rebellious for him he tries to make up for his utter failures with Shay by guilting her. And to further that they plant boys their age as a SecretTestOfCharacter, tempting them into romantic or sexual encounters and reporting them to harsh punishment if they consent. This makes Lilith [[PsychicAssistedSuicide mentally making them kill themselves]] in the end [[LaserGuidedKarma very satisfying]].
64	* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday: All the episodes are about horror stories occurring on specific days, usually holidays.
65	* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: See IncestSubtext and AbusiveParents above--in ''Pure'', despite her SlasherSmile and general wreaking of havoc, Myth/{{Lilith}} is not the villain, the girls' terrible fathers are.
66	* ILoveTheDead: Chester from ''I'm Just F*cking With You''- that is, [[{{Troll}} assuming we can trust a single thing he says.]]
67	* ImAHumanitarian: [[spoiler:The Thanksgiving feast in ''Pilgrim''.]]
68	* ImpostorExposingTest: Cutting your finger to reveal AlienBlood in ''Crawlers''.
69	* IncestSubtext: In ''Pure''. The girls take disturbingly wedding-like photoshoots with their fathers, complete with white dress, (purity) ring, and couple-y poses, during which the main character Shay is visibly uncomfortable. Some of the dresses they have actually are wedding dresses; the preacher's daughter Lacey has a dress which came with a veil, which the cameras linger on ominously. And, of course, the point of the weekend is for the girls and their fathers to sign a contract in which the fathers promise to guard the girls' purity until they're married and it's time to hand it over to their husbands. Combined with how controlling many of the fathers are, the pastor's weird touchy-feely-ness and habitual one-on-one "chats" with the girls, the unseen but traumatizing "Box", the fact the girls' mothers and all other adults are explicitly barred, and [[spoiler: the literal ''cage'' kept around for "disobedient" girls]], it all winds up pointing somewhere very gross. Lucky thing Myth/{{Lilith}} shows up to ruin the party.
70	* InternalReveal: The audience knows early on that the women we see in ''All That We Destroy'' are clones. However, the latest Ashley only learns it near the end.
71	* InTheBlood: In ''Blood Moon'' Luna becomes a werewolf because his father was one as well.
72	* LighterAndSofter: ''Pooka Lives!'' is this in comparison to the original ''Pooka!''. While ''Pooka!'' is a dark MindScrew, ''Pooka Lives!'' is a more straight forward comedy-horror creature flick.
73	* LotusEaterMachine: [[spoiler:''Culture Shock'']].
74	* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane:
75	** The title characters in ''Pilgrim''.
76	** Wilson in ''Pooka!'' is clearly going insane, but is he being driven that way by something supernatural?
77	* MeaningfulName: In ''Blood Moon'' Luna, whose name derives from Latin for "moon", is a werewolf.
78	* NeonCity: The general look of ''I'm Just F*cking With You'', though it's mostly set at a motel.
79	* {{Pastiche}}: ''School Spirit'' of ''Film/TheBreakfastClub''.
80	* OffingTheOffspring: When Luna gets loose in the police station while in his wolf form and corners her. She holds a gun and aims it at him, but begs Luna not to make her use this. At first it seems like she'll have to or be ripped apart, but then Luna does recognize her even as a wolf [[SubvertedTrope and refrains, relieving Esme]].
81	* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: ''Blood Moon'' is a rare modern instance of a werewolf [[spoiler:that looks exactly like a real wolf - and is played by one. It's also a hereditary affliction, not requiring that the victim be bitten, as Luna inherited it from his father.]].
82	* PoliceAreUseless: ''Blood Moon'', where the local police continually harass Esme throughout the film, culminating in an illegal search of her home that results in them [[spoiler:unleashing a werewolf [[HoistByHisOwnPetard on themselves]]]].
83	* ThePrankster: Chester from ''I'm Just F*cking With You'', to [[DeadlyPrank lethal levels.]]
84	* PsychoForHire: The VillainProtagonist of ''The Body''
85	* PunctuatedForEmphasis: ''”I’M!! BREAKING!! UP!! WITH!! YOU!!”'' [[spoiler: played to grisly effect, as it’s punctuated by Trezzure [[PunctuatedPounding beating]] Royal to death with a microphone stand.]]
86	* RapeAsBackstory: In ''Crawlers'', Misty was roofied at a frat party prior to the events of the film. [[FalseFriend Chloe]] doesn't believe her.
87	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Valentine gives Royal a spectacular one during the climax of ''My Valentine.''
88	* RecycledPremise: ''Uncanny Annie'' is essentially a horror version of ''Film/{{Jumanji}}'', complete with a ShoutOut.
89	* ReplacementGoldfish: Trezzure is one to Royal for Valentine in ''My Valentine.'' Once she realizes this, it doesn’t end well for Royal.
90	* RightForTheWrongReasons: [[spoiler: Alexis in ''New Year, New You'' is absolutely correct that Danielle is a cruel and deceitful person, bordering on being an outright sociopath, who pretends to be kind and compassionate as a cover and has fooled everyone for her own benefit. However, Alexis reveals herself to be little better and to be motivated less by justice in exposing Danielle than resentment over Danielle's success and fame and later has no issue whatsoever following her plan to frame an innocent woman for everything and exploiting Danielle's memory and public image to take over her fame and success for herself.]]
91	* SadisticChoice: The boss in ''A Nasty Piece of Work'' is constantly offering these.
92	* SequelEpisode: ''Pooka Lives!'' is one for ''Pooka!''.
93	* SerialKiller: In ''All That We Destroy'' Victoria fears that her son is a serial killer after he murders a woman. She then provides him with clones of the same woman to kill in hopes of "working out" his violent urges, but it only proves he is one since Spencer never stops killing them and eventually murders another young woman.
94	* ShoutOut:
95	** From ''The Body'': "So you're a British Film/AmericanPsycho?"
96	** From ''I'm Just Fucking With You'': [[Film/BlueVelvet "I'll fuck anything that moves!"]]
97	* SlasherMovie: ''School Spirit'' and ''Midnight Kiss''
98	* SlidingScaleOfComedyAndHorror: Numerous episodes go the route of trying to balance the two to at least some extent, such as ''The Body'', ''Pilgrim'', ''A Nasty Piece of Work'', ''Crawlers'', ''Pooka Lives!'', and ''Good Boy''.
99	* SpotTheImposter: In the climax of ''Crawlers''.
100	* StalkerWithACrush: [[spoiler:''Down'', ''School Spirit'' and ''Midnight Kiss'']]
101	* StepfordSmiler: Trezzure’s persona in ''My Valentine.'' She even raises her speaking voice by an octave and maintains a mix between a bubbly and dreamy demeanor, espousing the values of peaceful conflict resolution and friendship. Until she doesn’t.
102	%%* StepfordSuburbia: In ''Culture Shock''.
103	* StrugglingSingleMother: In ''Blood Moon'' after her husband's death and Esme quitting law, she's shown having a very hard time providing for herself along with Luna, her son. She has a low-paying job as a server in a bar that won't cut it. Toward the latter half of the story she's shown counting her money, then sighing as she realizes it's not enough. Due to Luna being a werewolf, they have to move frequently and assume new identities any time it's exposed, which means that her law career disappeared.
104	* SurprisePregnancy: In ''Blood Moon'' Esme got pregnant unexpectedly when she and Joseph hadn't known each other very long. She wanted to keep the baby however. Joseph was hesitant because of [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent his heritage]], clearly worried that their baby [[WhatIfTheBabyIsLikeMe would be the same]] (which he was), but they married anyway.
105	* TheGamePlaysYou: The premise of Uncanny Annie.
106	* {{Tulpa}}: Pooka is named as such in ''Pooka Lives''.
107	* ValentinesDayViolence: Two out of the three Valentine's Day episodes have horrific acts of violence being perpetrated on the holiday.
108	** "Down" starts on February 13th, and has Jennifer get stalked by a guy she casually hooks up with after they get stuck in an elevator. However, it continues into the next day as it turns out he's a StalkerWithACrush who kills two people and abducts her, causing her to kill him in self-defence in the early hours of Valentine's Day.
109	** "My Valentine" shows the titular Valentine preparing for a comeback concert on Valentine's Day. After being confronted by her abusive ex, Royal, and his new girlfriend, Trezzure, she winds up as the FinalGirl once her best friend and everyone else at the bar is murdered and Trezzure kills Royal.
110	* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory:
111	** ''Pilgrim'' was based on a frightening Thanksgiving the screenwriter spent as a child with a Pilgrim reenactor who never broke character. The screenwriter described how unnerving it was, to the point where he felt he ''wouldn't'' have been surprised if the reenactor was someone with sinister intentions. In real life the reenactor went home after the holiday weekend was up, the film takes it ''much'' further.
112	** ''My Valentine'' is based on the real life careers and abusive relationships that both [[Music/MarsArgo Mars Argo]] and {{Music/Poppy}} had with their former producer and ex-boyfriend, Titanic Sinclair.
113	* WhamLine: "Which sweetness? Did you mean me, or her?"
114	* WhatIfTheBabyIsLikeMe: In ''Blood Moon'' after learning Esme was pregnant, Joseph (as a werewolf), ruefully said she had to know something, clearly indicating the fact he's a werewolf. They got married and had Luna, who did indeed end up a werewolf like his father.
115	* WorkingClassWerewolves: In ''Blood Moon'', Esme and Luna are in dire financial straits due to having to uproot (and assume new identities) any time Luna’s werewolf status or activities are exposed, with Esme’s prospects of a stable career shot. She had to quit practicing law as a result, and works at menial jobs like a server in a bar.
116	* WorldOfJerkass: ''New Year, New You''. [[spoiler:Danielle is a monster who bullied a girl to suicide, and whose response to being forced to confess was to try to kill her accusers by locking them in a sauna and later murders and plans to frame a completely innocent person for everything. Chloe betrays her friends for a paltry shot at Danielle's fame. But, in the end, Alexis, who claimed to want to expose Danielle, ended up following Danielle's plan to frame the totally innocent Frankie, and became every bit as conniving and deceitful to take Danielle's fame.]]
117	* JustForFun/XMeetsY: ''Delivered'' is ''Film/{{Inside\|2007}}'' (a heavily pregnant woman is attacked and tortured by another woman who lost a baby under traumatic circumstances and is determined to take hers) meets ''Literature/{{Misery}}'' (a chirpy nurse holds someone hostage in her isolated rural home, at first under false pretenses, killing anyone who gets in her way and even [[spoiler:hobbling her with a hammer.]])
118	* YourCostumeNeedsWork: The premise of ''The Body.''

Context Series / IntoTheDark