‘Scream Queens’ Pilot Episode Review
The minds behind “Glee” and “American Horror Story” are putting together their love of mayhem and irreverent humor for a brand new series that looks to take a stab at the slasher genre. Is “Scream Queens” the best of both worlds or does it fail to balance humor with horror?
“Scream Queens” features an ensemble cast of characters coming together on a college campus to deal with an old mystery and a new serial killer. It all starts when Skyler (Grace Gardener) decides to attend the same college her deceased mother attended and join her former sorority in an attempt to understand her better.
Unfortunately for Skyler the sorority is now run by Chanel (Emma Roberts), a cut throat egomaniac who will do anything to stay in power. However, Chanel’s tyrannical grip on the sorority is threatened when Dean Munsch (Jamie Lee Curtis) declares that anyone who wishes to join Chanel’s sorority may do so. This, of course, brings in all the off-beat kids who Chanel so desperately tried to keep out. On top of all that, a mysterious red devil is stalking the campus and killing off anyone who gets in their way.
Right from the start of the pilot it’s clear that this show has it’s foot firmly planted on the comedic side of things. This is a show that starts with a death, but the severity of said death is immediately glossed over by quick jokes and quirky asides. In fact the first scene is a good indication of the episode’s overall tone. There are serious things afoot in this show, but most of the characters are too detached to recognize the severity of what’s going on. In a weird way it’s like someone mashed “Scream” together with the first “Scary Movie.”
The show doesn’t get quite as slapstick as “Scary Movie”, but it damn near gets there. There’s one scene in particular where a character is being attacked by the killer and she’s desperately trying to send a message on Facebook for help when her phone is right next to her. But then it also has violence on par with a typical slasher film with people being stabbed and run over by lawn mowers. Still, even when people are dying, there’s a bit of levity to the situation that keeps it all pretty light. These aren’t the kind of deaths that appeal to the hardcore horror crowd, but they might be enough for those that don’t have a lot of horror in their lives.
If you’re coming to this as a fan of “American Horror Story” and looking for the next great “horror” show, then you won’t find it here. There’s nothing here that’ll disturb or terrify you unless you have a severe phobia of early 90’s-00’s slasher flicks. However, if you’re in the mood for something that is more horror parody than straight horror, then “Scream Queens” might be the show for you.
The humor in this show crosses many types and styles and does so pretty rapidly. At any given moment you’ll have witty banter, toilet humor, physical comedy, dark humor, self-referential humor, and so on. When the show sees a need for a certain comedic element it goes for it. Given the nature of this show I can see individual episodes parodying different types of horror as well. We know that a future episode will have Jamie Lee Curtis recreating the famous “Psycho” shower scene so it’s easy to imagine an episode where they all go camping together and take a shot at those kind of horror flicks.
But all this humor wouldn’t work without the aide of a good cast and “Scream Queens” has an interesting ensemble of new names and familiar ones to keep things entertaining. The biggest name in the cast is Jamie Lee Curtis who plays the stern Dean of the campus, but she’s also a sex starved vixen, which lends itself for some great awkward comedy. Then there’s Emma Roberts who plays the wicked tongue character type she’s known for. Skyler Samuels, our lead heroine, is more a of straight man for the other characters to bounce off of. She brings a little bit of grounded reality to the situation as she tries to uncover what’s going on at the campus and who the Red Devil really is.
Then there are great performances sprinkled throughout by side characters who will probably have bigger plots later on. Characters like Boone (Nick Jonas) and Denise (Niecy Nash) play smaller roles in the pilot, but give memorable performances that allow them to really shine.
Jokes and mild scares aside, there is also an interesting story going on under all of this. Like most slasher flicks, the film starts off with a tragedy and flashes forward a few decades later where a new group of people are dealing with the ramifications of said tragedy. How it all connects, though, is a big mystery and the show is perfectly content with leaving you with way more questions than answers by the end of the first episode. And if the first episode is any indication, there will be plenty of absurd twists and turns by season’s end. There’s one in particular, which I won’t spoil, that requires a major leap in logic in order to be rationalized.
Still, this show isn’t about sensical things happening to reasonable people. It’s a caricature of a horror slasher film and it does an excellent job of taking what you’d normally expect and cranking it up to absurd levels. “Scream Queens” won’t be for every horror fan, but it is a hysterical romp through slasher movie tropes. If you’re on the fence, just watch the first 10 minutes and you’ll instantly know whether or not this show is for you.
“Scream Queens” premieres Tuesday Sept. 22nd on Fox at 8pm pacific.
