Something Is About to Happen – Movie Review | Shudder (3/5)

SOMETHING IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN on Shudder is a Spanish genre-hybrid (org. title: Que nadie duerma). It has me quite torn. This isn’t a bad movie, but it will probably disappoint many Shudder members as it isn’t much of a horror movie. Read our full Something Is About to Happen movie review here!

SOMETHING IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN is a Shudder addition, and I am always curious about those. With this movie being a Spanish genre-hybrid (org. title: Que nadie duerma), I was even more excited as I usually love genre movies from Spain.

NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH…

The brilliant Netflix series Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen >

Unfortunately, for those expectations, this isn’t much of a genre movie in the classic sense. It’s character-driven, which is something I usually like in my Spanish genre-mix movie. However, it also comes across mostly as a drama. Not the “horror romance” hybrid label, used when describing it.

Continue reading our Something Is About to Happen movie review below. Find it on Shudder from May 15, 2026.

What happens when life takes a turn?

The very simple plot of Something Is About to Happen is “A woman’s life takes a definitive turn the day that she loses her job as a computer programmer”, and this doesn’t say much. And yet, it is very much what this Shudder movie is about.

We meet a woman who is already struggling in many areas of her life, just as she is fired. Well, not just her, but the entire company.

As a way of taking back some control, she ends up driving a taxi and taking some chances on people she meets.

A dark drama about life and choices

This could all have evolved into something reminiscent of the horror-dramedy The Coffee Table. Admittedly, I was probably hoping that it would.

But it didn’t.

Instead, it’s a dark drama with a romance element (and romance can always turn into a horror story, I suppose), but it’s more about her life. The choices she makes tend to be on the basis of choices others have made for her.

Having said that, I do feel Malena Alterio was amazing in the lead. She certainly made me want to keep watching Something Is About to Happen.

Watch Something Is About to Happen on Shudder

Something Is About to Happen (org. title: Que nadie duerma) was directed by Antonio Méndez Esparza, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Clara Roquetis. It’s based on a novel by Juan José Millás. As fascinating as I found her as a character, this movie did not deliver on the horror element I was expecting.

Does that make it a bad movie? No, not at all. But it meant that I kept waiting for a twist or a different element or vibe that never came.

I felt let down, which I recognize may have more to do with my expectations than the quality of the movie. I still don’t know why this movie is on Shudder, though. As someone who loves a good genre hybrid (and is a fan of horror dramas), I couldn’t say exactly why this didn’t work for me.

Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for this particular flavor of genre-mix when I watched it. Also, the two-hour runtime didn’t help. But hey, give it a shot when you come across it on Shudder, and do let me know if you see something in it that I clearly didn’t.

Something Is About to Happen is on Shudder from May 15, 2026.

Details

Director: Antonio Méndez Esparza
Cast: Malena Alterio, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Rodrigo Poisón, José Luis Torrijo, Ignacio Ysasi