Into the Dark: Pooka Lives! (2020)

Rating: ⭐⭐

April's entry of Into the Dark anthology series is a first for the series .. a sequel of sorts to one of its Season 1 episodes Pooka which was a December episode. Pooka is an ugly looking and quite frankly, annoying doll that looks like a scruffy bear with two huge round eyes. Apart from the similarity in the name and toy and a penchant of killing people violently, there seem to be zero relation to the earlier episode, and this new story is very much standalone. Additionally, I am not even sure what festival or holiday this entry is suppose to be related to, which is in turn not following the spirit of the anthology series' theme.

Again we are faced with a bunch of young adults thrown into a supernatural and violent situation as they confront a manifestation of giant versions of the Pooka doll that goes around killing people who have been deemed as being "naughty". The way and manner of how the monster toy comes about is ridiculous and in an attempt to disguise how silly the whole premise is, the whole thing is done semi-comedy style with characters still being able to crack jokes and one liners while running or fighting for their lives. If you like this sort of humour mixed with your horror then, this episode will probably be right up your alley. To me not many horror movies can succeed in crossing to comedy as it can be a difficult balance to juggle between two conflicting genres. An American Werewolf in London, and Fright Night are two examples of how this can be masterfully done and had stayed in my fond memory. Pooka Lives sadly to me, was just another endurance test as we wait in vain for any big climax or big revelations, in between the absence of any big laugh out loud moments. The way the movie ended was also a bit confusing. It appeared as if the film makers think they have themselves a great idea and potential franchise as the final shot was done in the fashion that is often used when introducing the beginning of a new series. Let's hope not for all our sakes.