Into the Dark’s newest entry, Pooka Lives! is a very exciting installment in the anthology horror series, not just because it brings back a fan favorite character, but because of the creature from monster lore that it utilizes.
Hulu’s Into the Dark has done an exceptional job scratching horror fans’ itches for monthly doses of the macabre. The series finds creative and frightening ways to apply a horror filter to classic holidays, but they’ve also experimented with all sorts of monsters and demons from aliens to serial killers. The show’s second season has been able to take the premise to even more ambitious places.
The big selling point from the newest installment of Hulu’s anthology series is that it’s the first time the series has returned to an old character and delivered a kind of sequel. Pooka Lives! once again brings a murderous furry monster into the mix, but the big gamechanger here is that an old fashioned and somewhat obscure demon is actually the cause for Pooka’s brutal rampage here.
What Is A Tulpa And Why Are They Popping Up Everywhere?
Everyone in Pooka Lives! begins to freak out when the urban legend and viral challenge that they create around Pooka begins to evolve and take a life of its own. In the original Pooka story, the plush terror is a threat on its own. Pooka Lives! goes a different direction and instead has a tulpa to blame. Pooka Lives! explains that a tulpa is an entity that's brought to life as a result of intense belief. Pooka Lives! plays around with the idea of imaginary friends and they're actually not dissimilar from tulpas, only belief in tulpas is so severe that it brings them into existence. This is exactly what happens with the viral Pooka Challenge, but the vengeful spirit of Pooka's creator adds the final supernatural element here.
Pooka Lives! uses the idea of tulpas to provide commentary on the power of storytelling, mob mentality, and how viral Internet rumors can become more powerful and important than the truth. It takes the danger of how quickly information can spread and grow and turns it into an evolving monster. It’s one of the more clever applications of a tulpa to come along in pop culture, which is becoming increasingly common. Tulpas have shown up in series like The X-Files, Supernatural, and are a major presence in Twin Peaks: The Return. Even characters like Tyler Durden from Fight Club, Freddy Krueger, Pennywise, and Olaf from Frozen are technically forms of tulpas.
Tulpas are becoming so popular because the public is becoming more susceptible to believing whatever they read, or more importantly, believing that they’re correct. It doesn’t matter if someone is right or wrong when a tulpa is created. It just comes down to a stubborn belief system, which has never been more prevalent in society. It’s never been easier for people to surround themselves with like-minded individuals and be in an echo chamber that only reinforces their beliefs. Add to that society’s general push towards the idea that everyone is a storyteller and it’s natural to see this kind of creature that thrives on imagination and mob mentality find such a major calling. Hopefully more texts will continue to push the creature to exciting places, like Into the Dark.