'Into the Dark: A Nasty Piece of Work' review: Blood, gore, and morbid kickers for the rich fill this giant Christmas diss on patriarchy
This article contains spoilers for 'Into the Dark: A Nasty Piece of Work.'
What starts off as a business lesson distinguishing integrity and sucking one's way up to a promotion, soon turns into a giant middle finger to patriarchy and the underdog running the show on the newest installment of Hulu's 'Into the Dark', titled 'Nasty Piece of Work'. Arriving right in time for the festive season, the feature-length episode follows the monthly anthology horror's signature suit of weaving a satirical spin to an otherwise cheerful holiday marking the month, so naturally, 'tis the season to be jolly and bring out all our sick, morbid games to spice up the festivities.
At the core of the story is a seemingly functional couple - Ted and Tatum, played by the talented Kyle Howard and Angela Sarafyan, who blend into the role effortlessly enough to believe that the characters were etched with them in mind. Ted's life is your typical corporate slave, who slogs his butt off day and night, and some questionable extra hours on Fridays till midnight to no avail because his boss - the titular nasty piece of work - is impossible to please, and can't wait to berate him publicly for the smallest of reasons. Julian Sands plays this boss, Steve, to absolute perfection - as he goes about floundering and the like in his true elitist style, denying his employees a year-end bonus under the ruse of being in solidarity with the needy. And dancing to his extravagance and lies is Gavin (Dustin Milligan) - Ted's rival in getting the promotion they both so desperately want, and simultaneously sucking up to Steve in manners and ways impossible for Ted to compete with.
The story is about a regular guy and his struggle to get recognized with a promotion - a seemingly unachievable feat from his point of view right now. So when Ted gets invited to the boss's Christmas party and is tasked with the impossible job of killing his rival as the only way to earn his promotion, he is torn between falling for the gun ruse - a trick that has been played on the two couples ever since they walked into the house, and a constant quest to survive the two maniacs that reign the household. Set in the backdrop of Christmas cheer, the story modulates itself from being a comedy of horrors and a satire on patriarchy, and how easily matriarchy can grab it by the proverbial balls and nip it in the bud the moment it starts getting problematic. Sadly in the film, it takes a solid house and some more for the women to actually stand up to the literal pile of human trash that is their husband's boss, but they come around eventually - and for that, we have this boss' wife to thank.
In what's probably the most iconic part of the film, all of Ted and Tatum's mediocrity and Steve and Gavin's over the top extravagance doesn't stand a chance when it comes to the vicious Kiwi - Steve's wife, and your typical no-f*cks-given, filthy rich tyrant who wears the pants in the house. Played by Molly Hagan, Kiwi is uncouth and unfiltered when it comes to her husband's erectile dysfunction, or blaming him for the passing of their only child at a very young age. She is asked to 'behave' and gets threatened with severe consequences, but her viper tongue knows no rest until her point has been established - regardless of the price she has to play. We meet Kiwi after Ted and Tatum get invited to the boss' Christmas party as one of the only two couples invited for the celebration. The other couple is, of course, Gavin and his hot blonde trophy wife Missy (Natalie Hall), whose only purpose is to be ditzy when not trying to suck her way up to her husband's promotion, and suddenly, contrasts float in.
What we have here are three wives from three different backgrounds, all trying to sport a facade to help their husbands drift further towards the resplendence that the promotion promises. While Kiwi is pretty much done and dusted with her prick of a husband - as she so lovingly addresses him in public, Missy's conviction to get Gavin the promotion is on a whole other devotional level. Sure, with her obsession with astrology, Feng Shui, and reading auras, she is accustomed to a life of hot yoga and looking good that she must do anything to make sure it doesn't go away, but her ditziness is equal parts insufferable and hilarious - adding to the element of humor in the episode, when Kiwi's brutally sharp tongue can get a bit repetitive. And then, of course, we have Tatum - the sweet girl next door who is a perfect balance of calm and ballsy - who isn't afraid to support her husband as his conditions to topple his rival gets more and more disturbing but doesn't mind firing a shotgun to end his life's complications.
The story goes on to reveal the sick limits of Steve and Kiwi's psychotic minds that are so accustomed to the riches, that they need to play practical jokes - like shotgun roulettes between Ted and Gavin, and tying up a healthy guy in a wheelchair to make him look paralyzed, while Kiwi proceeds to slobber all over him, as Steve tries to blackmail Missy with sex in exchange for her husband's promotion. They try to mask these 'jokes' off as various hurdles to apparently test their candidates' bravery, intelligence, and the like, to find the most fitting one for the promotion, but trust Blumhouse to turn this test into a twisted display of gore and violence with Christmas music playing in the background, and a constant air of exposing men, their lies, shaming them for their shortcomings, and at the same time, subjecting them to a trilogy of assaults - physical, emotional, and sexual.
The only respite in Ted and Tatum's ordeal comes with the twist in the end - a predictable one that we shall refrain from spoiling, but cathartic nevertheless. But if the impeccable entertainer does get too much at once, there's always Gavin's rich a**hole-douchebag facade that he feels compelled to maintain at all times, to look forward to, even when he gets shot right through the palm, and decides to put up a suit of armor because he would 'Ride into battle with total and complete loyalty' - all for a promotion. Above everything else is of course Charles Hood's exceptional direction with hovering eyes and spooky hands making an appearance amidst a tight, crisply knitted screenplay from Paul Soter - something that's bound to make this one of the best 'Into the Dark' installments ever.
'Into the Dark: A Nasty Piece of Work' premiers on Friday, December 6, only on Hulu.