Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Into the Dark: Treehouse’ on Hulu, A #MeToo Revenge Fantasy Giving A White Male Jerk His Just Desserts

Hulu’s Into the Dark monthly horror anthology series returns with Treehouse, which takes the perspective of a creep who’s about to get #MeToo‘d right where it hurts the most. The TV movie cleverly teases out the true nature of its circumstances framing the main character. He isn’t the nicest guy, but might be something worse; the things that happen to him might be a little disturbing, or something out of a Wes Craven fever dream.

INTO THE DARK: TREEHOUSE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: There’s really no way around it — Peter Rake (Westworld‘s Jimmi Simpson) is an a-hole. He’s a celebrity TV chef who, in Treehouse‘s opening scenes, cruelly berates his underlings, then has a somewhat sweet, open conversation with his adolescent daughter. So the true extent of his a-hole-ism is in question, and is slowly revealed throughout Treehouse, which peels away layers of his character — and ego — as it progresses.

Peter is clearly inspired by the Mario Batali types who exacerbate the toxic environments in restaurant kitchens, and now deservedly face significant slapback. Ducking some ugly headlines, he escapes for a weekender at his family’s remote home, a manse in the mountains, empty of all life save a crotchety housekeeper, Agnes (Nancy Linehan Charles). The gauche locale clearly paints him as the product of significant Caucasian privilege and a lousy father, now dead, whose large, painted portrait stares at him grimly as he sleeps.

He visits briefly with his sister Gwen (Amanda Walsh), who he hasn’t seen in years, and verbally spars with Agnes, who takes no guff, and doles out her share of it, too. Peter has a sharp-tongued quip for every conversation, framing him as someone who’s fun and amusing until he crosses the line to grating and insulting.

Such is the experience of Kara (Julianna Guill), who’s staying nearby with a few friends (played by Shaunette Renee Wilson, Mary McCormack, Sutton Foster, Sophia Del Pizzo and Stephanie Beatriz) for a bachelorette party. Their power goes out, so the ever-“charming” Peter invites them over for a famous chef’s multi-course gourmet feast. He gets drunk. He says some a-hole-ish stuff. He passes out. And the next thing you know, strange things begin to happen, things that not only invoke primal Satanic vibes, but also threaten to quite literally render his man parts from the rest of his body. Yipes.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Well, the clever — maybe a little too clever — dialogue makes reference to Psycho and The Witch before you can even say, “Getting a Norman Bates vibe here,” or “Hey, that goat looks like Black Phillip!” The treehouse from the title is a visual cue to Hereditary, maybe. And as the plot escalates, Peter finds himself bound to a bed like James Caan in Misery, and the musical score borrows the tinkles and whispers from Dario Argento’s original Suspiria. So whip all that together with some cracking dialogue and nut-cracking #TimesUp topical subject matter, and you’ve got Treehouse.

Performance Worth Watching: Simpson plays an extraordinary jerk, borrowing the rakish, squinting mannerisms of Christian Slater (who he sometimes physically resembles).The character is a worm who’s used his gender and status to slip out of many situations, but now finds himself on a sharp, barbed hook. Watching Simpson wriggle and squirm is quite entertaining.

Memorable Dialogue: “It’s the things I can’t unsee that keep me up at night,” Agnes says, staring down Peter through cataracts. Hmm. A line like that sure seems to imply things, and foreshadow some other things, doesn’t it?

Single Best Shot: You’ve gotta love a good canted angle, especially when our beleaguered protagonist begins to question if the hallucinogenic things he’s seeing are actually real.

Sex and Skin: Nothing worth noting, unless you consider Peter in his skivvies with a crossbow aimed at his junk to be sexy (hopefully not!).

Our Take: Treehouse unravels with enough what-the-hell’s-going-on suspense to keep us watching, even though it doesn’t quite generate the type of intensity that gnaws on our nerves. Without giving away too much, I’ll say his comeuppance is telegraphed well in advance. The screenplay is clearly inspired by boiling-hot catchphrases and headlines from the current #MeToo movement, especially those that are shaking the entertainment industry to its core. It doesn’t have anything profound to add to the conversation, but it functions reasonably well as a moderately cathartic revenge fantasy.

Our Call: STREAM IT. I’m not sure the ending works as well as it could, and the direction can be a little vanilla compared to similar recent horror films. But there’s enough comedy in the first half and rousing feminist energy in the second to inspire a recommendation.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

Stream Into The Dark: Treehouse on Hulu