The mixture of horror and comedy usually pairs well. After all, it is quite normal to end up laughing after a scare in a movie: both genres use the same mechanisms to get visceral reactions in the viewer. From misunderstood cinema like the sixth part of ‘Friday the 13th’ to fabulous goofs like ‘Happy Death Day 2’ or seminal films like ‘The Cabin in the Woods’, we love to laugh while looking at puddles of hemoglobin. For that (and many other things) ‘Scream queens’ is one of the best series that we can finally see in Spain.
The Chanels vs. the Red Devil
Imagine what would happen if a serial killer appeared in ‘Mean Girls’ and you will get slightly closer to what Ryan Murphy, the author behind ‘Dahmer’, ‘Glee’ or ‘Feud’ (my favorite), managed to create in a series full of nods to the history of horror movies that mixed laughter with stabbings wild. ‘Scream queens’ aired between 2015 and 2016 and over the years has achieved cult series status. Now, finally, Disney + brings it to Spain so that We can recommend it without fear.
The protagonists of this teenage fantasy are the Chanels, a group of girls commanded by Chanel Oberlyn that are called by numbers: Chanel 2, Chanel 3, etc. Thing is, someone, dressed in a varsity football team mascot costume, he starts killing them one by one… and seems to be tied to something that happened twenty years ago.
And if you think this plot can’t last two seasons, Ryan Murphy agrees with you: the second season takes place in a psychiatric hospital in which the survivors face a new murderer who is about to do his thing. Luckily, the change of scenery doesn’t make ‘Scream queens’ lower its quality a bit: it remains ironic, poignant, daring and very, very bloody.
Do you like horror films?
It’s surprising that ‘Scream queens’ went unnoticed back in the day, because watch out for the cast. Emma Roberts, Lea Michele (as you haven’t seen her before), Diego Boneta, Taylor Lautner, John Stamos, Ariana Grande, Nick Jonas and, of course, the scream queen among scream queens passed through its two seasons. Jamie Lee Curtis eats the series as he wants with the best character: that of a sarcastic and irreverent headmistress who hates college sororities. In fact, Murphy stood up to her: If Curtis wasn’t on the show, there wouldn’t be a show.
Only in the first chapter we have beheadings, body parts in deep fryers, bloodshed and stabbings. Of course, Ryan Murphy did not leave meat on the grill, and that is why this series is so fabulous: it shows that, if it fails, it is not because the team does not believe in it, but because it is so eccentric and, deep down, niche, which the average viewer may be confused.
But it is that, in addition to hemoglobin, each phrase, each situation, each absurdity is a success: they are characters that should never be starring in a horror movie and, between murder and murder, they fall into the most absolute ridicule. It’s hilarious, it’s tense, it’s absurd, it’s terrifying: ‘Scream queens’ is a perfect addition to your Halloween nights during 23 episodes full of extreme personalities, knife-wielding posh, masked killers and continuous laughter. A wonder in which you will never be able to guess who is behind the mask. Don’t miss it.