Adam Mason’s “I’m Just Fucking With You” is about business as usual for Hulu’s “Into the Dark,” the anthology horror series that’s given viewers a new episode every month. Like all episodes before this April entry, there’s a slow build up, a very good hour, and a final twenty minutes that drag in to a luke warm climax. All in all it’s another mediocre episode that never quite recovers once the second act is introduced. I think it’s time worth spent, don’t get me wrong, as one of the fun things about anthology films is the ability of the authors to convey social commentary. “Into the Dark” has covered social commentary in droves, whether it’s rabid consumerism (“Pooka!”) or the Me Too movement (“The Treehouse”), they’ve covered some interesting bases for the modern generation.
With “I’m Just Fucking With You,” director Adam Mason almost has the right idea, but the overtones and sharp message is lost in an episode that drags by the time it reaches the finish line. “I’m Just Fucking With You” is a look at trolls and how one of the most notorious internet trolls meets the ultimate troll who proves to be one of the most deadly of his kind. Keir O’Donnell plays Larry, a bespectacled and meek man who spends most of his time on the internet as “ProgrammingFlaw3489” leaving vicious comments on people’s pictures. He is on the way to basically troll his ex-girlfriend’s impending wedding after a bitter break up, and plans to implement his own brand of revenge.
While driving to the wedding, Larry decides to stop at a motel for the night, and meets the sarcastic check in guy Chester (Hayes MacArthur), a man who is also tending bar at the motel. Larry gets a healthy uncomfortable introduction to Chester’s brand of humor, as he tends to take his jokes way too far, and greets every response to his humor with a snarky declaration of “I’m just fucking with you.” With Chester making it apparent that he doesn’t know when to quit, Larry gradually becomes the victim of Chester’s pranks, all of which become more and more invasive, intrusive and downright uncomfortable.
As Larry eagerly awaits his sister’s arrival, Chester begins to take his jokes to the extreme. A lot of “I’m Just Fucking With You” is reliant on wondering where this is all going, as the writers structure the narrative like a one big joke with a punch line. Mason packs the episode with dark comedy, gruesome violence, and a healthy dose of ambiguity, never quite filling us in on the characters’ true intentions. While Chester is a slimy antagonist, Mason packs the episode with irritating characters, including Larry who is about as irritating and annoying as can be. He’s stunningly uptight and sour, and once left to his devices, he’s a slimy internet troll with no sense of restraint or empathy for anyone he hurts.
The idea of the internet troll meeting the real life troll has potential to be genius, and in brief moments, “I’m Just Fucking With You” is engaging with MacArthur committing to this role as an insufferably prickish prankster. Like many episodes from “Into the Dark,” this installment could have benefited from ten or so minutes shaved from the narrative, but it does pack enough to warrant one passive viewing. I’m still waiting for “Into the Dark” to rise above the level of just a “Good enough” anthology horror series.
Now Streaming on Hulu.