Tag: Creepier

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Secret Obsession Is an Even Creepier Version of You—So Get Ready


The premise of Netflix’s new thriller Secret Obsession, now streaming, is right in the title: A deranged stalker, Russell (Mike Vogel), forms an all-consuming fixation on Jennifer (Brenda Song). When Jennifer wakes up from a car accident with severe memory loss, Russell is there claiming to be her husband. Oddly, no one at the hospital questions this—and so, Jennifer believes him. She goes home to what Russell tells her is their beautiful (albeit secluded) mansion, but soon cracks appear in his plan. Jennifer starts getting suspicious—as does a detective—and Russell does everything in his power to keep his charade going. Including, as you’d expect, killing people.

If that premise sounds familiar to you, it’s because…well, it is. Not only is the stalker genre a staple in entertainment—please see: Fatal Attraction, Obsessed, The Boy Next Door—but it’s had a strong resurgence this year due in large part to You, the thriller series about a bookstore clerk (Penn Badgley) who uses technology to cyber-stalk a woman. The show became a viral sensation late last year, when Netflix acquired the rights to it from Lifetime. Secret Obsession is essentially You‘s feature-length twin: Both pieces are campy and over-the-top but nonetheless disturbing. The former has all the ingredients to become major social media fodder, just like the latter.

“I do feel like there is a similar aspect [between Secret Obsession and You],” Brenda Song tells Glamour. “Stories like this really take us out of our lives. Regardless of what anyone says, we all love scaring ourselves with worst case scenarios and sort of living out that nightmare-slash-fantasy without actually being a part of it.”

Both of these nightmares, You and Secret Obsession, have one similarity that stands out above all: the “hotness” of the male stalkers. Fans were so smitten by Joe on You that they seemed to forget he’s a serial killer—something Penn Badgley pointed out countless times on Twitter.

Song already knows what she’ll say to fans who may swoon over Secret Obsession‘s chiseled-but-chilling antagonist, Russell. “Just because someone’s handsome doesn’t mean they aren’t crazy,” she says. “You have to remember that when romanticizing these killers, stalkers, rapists—whatever they are—you still have to remember the crimes they did and the lives they affected, if we’re talking about real life.”



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The Society Review: Netflix's New Show Is a Creepier Version of Gossip Girl


Gossip Girl left a hole in my heart when it went off the air seven years ago. The popular CW series epitomized one of my favorite sub-genres in entertainment: hot people running around with zero consequences. There hasn’t been a show to come around since then that’s hit quite the same spot for me…until now. On Friday, May 10, Netflix‘s latest drama The Society comes out, and Gossip Girl fans need—I repeat, need—to tune in.

The show is essentially a more bonkers version of GG with a little bit of Riverdale and Lord of the Flies thrown in. It centers on a group of high school seniors from a wealthy suburb who are bused away for the weekend to the mountains. What soon follows, though, is terrifying: In lieu of a luxe hiking resort, the kids are dropped off in an exact replica of their town. Everything is the same (the buildings, the streets, the restaurants) with one big exception: No one else is there. Their parents, siblings, and other friends have all disappeared. There’s no cell phone reception, no Wi-Fi. They don’t even have cable. Freaky, right?

Well, these kids don’t think so at first. Instead, they revel in the lack of parental supervision, much like the Gossip Girl characters did for years. They throw a party at the town’s church, which turns into quite the scene: a fantasia of underage debauchery and Natty Light. But the hangovers come quick, and so does the revelation that all is not well. What starts out as sheer ecstasy soon becomes a nightmare, and the descent into chaos begins.

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To be clear, there’s nothing relatable about The Society. I didn’t identify with any of the characters (all hot, all troubled—Blair Waldorf is shaking in her Louboutins). I didn’t feel particularly moved by any of the narratives. What I did experience after the first episode, though, was a rush of dopamine: the type of high only a show like Gossip Girl—with its froth and illogical stakes and chiseled jawlines—can deliver. Pop-culture these days is filled with relatable programming: movies and TV shows designed to make us feel seen and less alone. Don’t get me wrong, we still need that content desperately, but sometimes it’s nice to escape into a world so steamy and far-fetched, you forget about your problems. That’s what Gossip Girl was for me in 2007. And that’s what The Society is for me now.

Riverdale is perhaps the only show currently on that matches The Society’s level of camp and ridiculousness (I mean that in the most complimentary way, obviously). When I tune into Archie and the gang’s shenanigans every week, I’m looking to dissociate a little bit—transport to a world where everyone’s ripped and 17-year-olds own and operate speakeasies. The eye-rolls and jaw-drops are part of what makes Riverdale so addictive and fun. The Society follows this exact formula to gangbusters results.

For one, the characters are just as delicious. There’s Campbell (Toby Wallace), an antagonistic oaf who makes Chuck Bass look like a saint; Allie (Kathryn Newton), who matches Jenny Humphrey’s blond, brooding aesthetic minus the eyeliner; and Will (Jacques Colimon), the Dan Humphrey of this universe, though I’m pretty sure he’s not running an anonymous blog.

I am, however, confident that someone (or something) is watching over these kids. That’s really why The Society gives me such distinct Gossip Girl vibes. Of course, the all-seeing eye on GG turned out to be Dan, and his reasoning for essentially stalking his friends was quite shallow: He simply wanted to see what life was like on the Upper East Side. The only price his peers paid, really, was having their adolescent secrets revealed, which was devastating in the moment but negligible in the great scheme of things.



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*You* Is Even Creepier Without Joe's Narration


You is easily one of the creepiest new shows of 2019. The Netflix original—which first aired on Lifetime last fall—centers on a bookstore manager, Joe (Penn Badgley), who develops an unhealthy obsession with a woman named Beck (Elizabeth Lail). Joe’s fascination causes him to do some bonkers things, like stalk Beck and her friends, manipulate everyone around him, and, oh yeah, murder. Why some people are actually romanticizing Joe is beyond me. He’s a killer—a very, very creepy killer.

But do you know what makes him even creepier? Removing his voiceover from You‘s episodes. If you watch the show, you know it’s heavily guided by Joe’s narration—but what you might not realize is without it, the characters don’t actually say much. In fact, as Netflix points out in this video, in one scene the only word Beck and Joe say is “falafel.” That’s it: just “falafel.” The rest is Joe’s voiceover, which makes the scene very awkward when you remove it.

“For someone so obsessed with keeping a relationship alive, Joseph, there’s a lot of dead air,” Netflix writes in the video, and it’s so true. Joe spends most of his time on this show staring blankly into space and saying literally nothing. Why did Beck fall for him? How did she not realize he was suspect from the start? He doesn’t know any words—and he works at a bookstore! (Also, side note: We never see Joe read on this show, either. He just keeps books in that weird glass box.)

Watch You without voiceover for yourself, below.

“I don’t see him as a portrayal of a real person, I see him as a representation of the part of us that identifies with him,” Badgley told Today about his polarizing You character. “The part of us that is a troll; that part of us that is victim blaming; the part of us that is privileged and blind. We’re meant to identify with him.”



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Penn Badgley Is Way Creepier Than Dan Humphrey On His New Show *You*


It’s hard to forget when Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley) was revealed as Gossip Girl‘s titular blogger in 2012—mostly because it made zero sense. Dan routinely sat and read Gossip Girl multiple times in his room by himself. Gnarly rumors concerning him and his inner circle ended up on the site. He’d even act genuinely shocked when Gossip Girl pulled her tricks. So was all of this…pretend? The entire bombshell, ultimately, made Dan creepier in the eyes of the viewers. He went from Lonely Boy to Stealthy Stalker Who Duped Everyone all in the course of one episode—and pop culture has never been the same.

But if you thought Dan Humphrey was creepy, wait until you see Badgley’s new character in Lifetime’s fall series You, which premieres Sunday night (September 9). He plays Joe Goldberg, a bookstore clerk who falls madly in love with a customer named Guinevere Beck (Beck for short, played by Elizabeth Lail). “Madly in love” is a nice way of saying Joe becomes full-on, Fatal Attraction-level obsessed with Beck. Without giving away too many specific details, here’s a hodgepodge of absolutely bonkers things Joe does only days after learning Beck’s name:

  1. Tracks down her address and watches her through her large bay windows. (What he watches—and does—specifically is insane, and you’ll have to tune in to find out.)

  2. Follows Beck and her friends to a birthday dinner and eavesdrops on their conversations.

  3. Breaks into Beck’s house to skulk around and learn more about her. He also steals her underwear.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Joe takes cyber-stalking to new, terrifying heights—and what’s worse is he thinks there’s something chivalrous about it. The entire first episode is told through Joe’s POV and, in his mind, his gross invasions of privacy are perfectly justifiable. In the first scene of the pilot, for example, Joe assumes that Beck wearing loud bracelets to the bookstore implies she wants his attention. When she declines his help to reach for a book on a high shelf and does it herself, he thinks it’s because she wants to show off her body.

And the wildest assumption of all: Joe thinks Beck paying for her book with a credit card means she wants him to know her name. These are all totally innocuous things that Joe takes as pointed signals toward him—a dangerous thing men do all the time to women that can lead to harassment, assault, or, in Beck’s case, stalking. It’s a pretty on-the-nose commentary for our current political climate.

But let’s scale back a bit. This is a Lifetime show, and while You does make some important statements, it’s largely just an unabashedly—and unapologetically—over-the-top series that will audibly make you shriek. I certainly did. Seriously: Some of the things Joe does in the pilot episode—all in the pursuit of winning over Beck—will literally make you say, “What the fuck?”

Shay Mitchell also stars on You, and she’s deliciously campy in her first big role since Pretty Little Liars. She plays Peach, a relative of J.D. Salinger (???) whose opulent lifestyle and rich-bitch attitude is super fun to watch. She’s a good friend of Beck’s who routinely offers her money as a form of protection. Peach seems a little too invested in her friend off the bat, though, so there’s a good chance she may also turn into a Joe Goldberg-level obsessive. Of course, we’ll have to wait and see on that front.

PHOTO: ©Lifetime Television/Courtesy Everett Co / Everett Collection

Overall, You is definitely worth a watch this fall, if only because it’s so ridiculous (in the best way possible). Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars were pretty outrageous shows on their own, so imagine if they aired on Lifetime: a network known for shock-and-awe programming. That, my friends, is You—and it’s about to be your next obsession. Just make sure it’s a healthy one.

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'Riverdale' Season 2 Episode 3 Recap: Veronica's Dad Gets Even Creepier


Oh, Riverdale, you really messed with my emotions tonight. I’m moved, shook, and turned on all at once. Spoilers ahead, obviously.

We start with Kevin sucking face with a random dude in the woods. He stumbles across Midge, who somehow survived being shot at point-blank range. Teen show logic, I guess? (Moose is alive, too. Whatever.)

Meanwhile, Veronica’s having the squad over to watch The Bachelorette premiere. Hiram seems pissed about this, probably because this means he can’t skulk around creepily like he always does.

At Riverdale High, news of Midge and Moose’s shooting has everyone freaked, especially Archie. Kevin lies about why he was in the woods that night even though everyone knows he’s gay…so there’s some fuckery afoot there. Jughead, who hangs out at Betty’s school but doesn’t go there anymore, abruptly leaves the powwow because he’s late to meet his mentor at South Side High. I’m not even going to question how he’d get there so quickly if the South Side is as far away as this show makes it seem. Also, why isn’t his old school just letting him trespass? He doesn’t even go here!

Alright, what the hell? Kevin was literally cruising the woods for dudes. What is this, 1970? Betty reprimands him for this, but in a slut-shamey way I don’t appreciate. She tells Kevin not to go back there until the killer’s caught—sound advice he surely won’t follow ’cause hormones. Cheryl overhears this entire conversation and smirks diabolically. Does she…also want to cruise for gay men in the woods?

Archie and Reggie visit Moose in the hospital. Reggie makes some lame, hetero joke about Moose “popping a boner” in front of his nurses (I keep forgetting they’re teens), and Archie asks him about the shooter like he’s Olivia Benson. Everyone’s slowly starting to realize the same person is responsible for Fred’s shooting, Miss Grundy’s death, and Moose and Midge’s shooting.

Meanwhile, at South Side High, Jughead’s mad about having to walk through a metal detector. He pouts, and it’s annoying. Safety’s important, Jughead! He meets Toni Topaz, the girl all the blogs say will drive a wedge between Bughead. I can see why: She’s cool, has pink hair, and is a South Side Serpent. She gives Jughead a tour of the school, where kids are doing Jingle Jangle in plain sight.

Toni invites Jughead to sit with her and the other Serpents, but he declines and says some convoluted nonsense about how he “self-identifies as a loner.” Toni urges Jughead to sit with them, though, because the Ghoulies (a rival gang at the school) will mess with him if he doesn’t. I love how all these groups sound like plucky ’50s social clubs.

Back on the north side of town, Archie tries to convince his dad that his shooter also attacked Grundy, Midge, and Moose, but Fred dismisses his childish ramblings. Naturally, Archie ruins Veronica’s Bachelorette viewing party because of this. Hiram awkwardly meets the Core Four and tells them the police aren’t always the solution to ending crime, which puffs Archie’s paranoia up even more. Oy.

In the most bravura display of straight masculinity on this show, Archie rounds up the football players and suggests they serve as “watch dogs” at school to make sure the shooter doesn’t attack again. They all hoop and holler about this and call themselves “The Red Circle”; it’s cringey, but also kinda hot because they’re shirtless. Sheriff Keller isn’t pleased with their group, but they’re actually helpful; later in the episode, they rescue Ethel Muggs when she suspects the shooter was following her in a car.

At South Side High, Jughead finally finds a friend in his insanely sexy English teacher, Mr. Phillips. He asks Mr. Phillips if it’s possible to revive the school paper, which I’d usually be all for but not in this case. No one needs any more angsty Jughead journalism. The Serpents are trying so hard to hang out with Jughead, but he’s dragging his feet. Rightfully, they tell him to not come crying to them for help if he can’t even hang. They have a tense tête-à-tête, which Toni diffuses.

PHOTO: The CW

Later, Betty visits Jughead at South Side High, and he says she shouldn’t be there at night unless she’s “armed,” which is a little unnerving. Jughead realizes Clifford Blossom’s local drug business started at the school with the Ghoulies, who deal Jingle Jangle, and he wants to write an exposé about this. Betty, however, deters him from this plan because he goes to school with the Ghoulies. (Jughead should listen to this, but he won’t because his beanie causes him to rebuke all logic.) Then Betty meets Toni, and it’s awkward. Oooh, the love triangle begins!

Later, Betty gets on Kevin’s case about going into the woods to bang. He says he doesn’t need her approval, which is true. (In Betty’s defense, though, she’s only concerned about Kevin running into the serial killer on the loose.) Cheryl overhears this entire spat and tells Betty that Kevin’s only trolling for dudes in the woods for validation. What a queer icon.

Meanwhile, Alice Cooper receives an ominous package in the mail. It’s from someone who calls himself the “Black Hood,” and he asks the Coopers to publish a letter he wrote in the paper. Not-so-surprising twist: This is the masked shooter, and he wants everyone to know he’s responsible for all three attacks in Riverdale. He included Fred’s lost wallet in the package as proof he’s the real deal. Bah!

And oooh, this is interesting: In his letter, the Black Hood calls Fred “an adulterer,” Grundy a “child predator,” and Moose and Midge “drunk-and-sex-addicted teenagers.” He’s some kind of morality killer punishing Riverdale for its hypocrisy. Polly’s afraid she’s next because she’s having a child out of wedlock with her cousin. I mean, I’m not judging her for that, but this deranged guy probably will. She leaves Riverdale because of this.

At the hospital, Kevin and Moose share a really tender moment. Kevin confesses that he’s aware cruising in the woods is dangerous, but he can’t stop—he doesn’t care. Moose understands this, saying Riverdale is hard for “guys like them” (read: queer) and finding bliss for just two minutes in the woods is a coping mechanism. Ugh, why aren’t they dating? They’d be the hottest couple on this show!

After his visit to the hospital, Cheryl spots Kevin running into the woods again and tells Betty about it. They ambush Kevin, and Betty tells him he should have more self-respect—which is the wrong thing to say. He gives a genuinely moving speech about how he doesn’t have the same options as Betty in Riverdale. This is the only way he can find intimacy, and she needs to stop judging him for it. All true things. Yeesh, this subplot is taking me back to high school.

Hiram invites Archie to dinner, which, for some reason, Hermione thinks is a bad idea. I’m starting to think she’s the sketchiest one out of this whole family. It’s clear Hermione still thinks Hiram is dangerous, but she won’t admit it—and until she does, Veronica says she doesn’t have the right to ban Archie from family dinners. Hiram overhears Hermione and Veronica arguing about this and straight-up threatens Hermione to stop poisoning his relationship with Veronica. It’s scary. He’s scary. He’s definitely the sketchiest of this twisted Brady Bunch.

Chapter Sixteen: The Watcher in the Woods

PHOTO: The CW

Hiram and Archie have a super-tense chat in Hiram’s mysterious office; he gives some ominous warning about how Archie shouldn’t sneak into Veronica’s room anymore. He then gives some whack-a-doo advice about how Archie’s Red Circle should use fear and violence to defeat the Black Hood. If this means more bloodshed, I’m done.

And, yup, Jughead should’ve listened to Betty: The Ghoulies jump him, probably because they’re onto his snooping. He lies to Betty about it, and Toni tells him this should give him more incentive to join the Serpents. He probably won’t because he’s dumb.

Oh no. Oh God. Kevin goes back into the woods, and a strange dude asks him if he needs a ride. He has a vision about this guy being Black Hood and rejects his invite; the dude then gets aggressive, but Kevin runs off before anything happens. My nerves! At home, Kevin’s dad (the sheriff) confronts him about his cruising and says he cares about his safety. It’s a truly endearing moment with distinct shades of Kurt and Burt Hummel on Glee.

We end things with Veronica asking to have a more active role in Lodge Industries. (This is just so she can see what Hiram’s doing in his eerie office space, TBH.) Jughead, clearly shook from the Ghoulies beatdown, decides to eat lunch with the Serpents. Kevin’s still pissed at Betty. And Archie’s Red Circle films a mildly intimidating—but mostly just sexually arousing—video threatening Black Hood. Hiram’s thrilled. I care about this subplot the least, yet it’s the most prominent one.

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