Scream Queens
Genre Horror
Comedy
Created by; Ryan Murphy
Brad Falchuk
Ian Brennan
Starring: Emma Roberts
Skyler Samuels
Lea Michele
Glen Powell
Diego Boneta
Abigail Breslin
Keke Palmer
Nasim Pedrad
Lucien Laviscount
Oliver Hudson
Billie Lourd
Jamie Lee Curtis
No. of seasons: 1
No. of episodes: 5
Duration: 42 min
SPOILERS AHEAD!!
REVIEW: Episode 1: Pilot
REVIEW: EPISODE 2: HELLWEEK
I had been staying away from most of the press releases and coverage of Scream Queens because I wanted to go in mostly blind. I knew it had Jamie Lee Curtis (the biggest draw for me) and Emma Roberts (American Horror Story) and was a pseudo-slasher parody set in a Sorority house. After getting a chance to check it out today, I have decided I am in extreme like with this show. Could be love.
So essentially, Emma Roberts stars as Queen Bitch Chanel who embodies ever wretched stereotype of a sorority girl. She is followed by her minions, whose real names she does not know, Chanel #2 (Ariana Grande), Chanel #3 (Billie Lourd), and, of course, Chanel #5 (Abigail Breslin). There was a Chanel #4, but evidently she died of meningitis as we are told by Roberts’ narration. Kappa Kappa Tau is the house of scandal, starting from the prologue which is set in 1995, 20 years before the Chanel Invasion. One unfortunate sister has a baby during a big party and the other members accidently let her bleed out in the upstairs tub while they jam to TLC. The sisters have to cover not only the death up but also the baby. Flash forward 20 years and here we are!
Grace (Skyler Samuels) is determined to join KKT to honor her mother who was a sister back in the day. Upon arrival, she learns about the horrid stunts and discrimination that goes on in the house and gathers her new outcast friends to join. All of this would not be possible without the dean’s help, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, who is determined to destroy KKT. Her first executive order is to force KKT to accept anyone who pledges to be a sister. Soon Grace and her friends are wrapped up in a web of murder and salacious scandal.
SCREAM QUEENS: Lea Michele stars as new Sorority pledge Hester on SCREAM QUEENS premiering September 2015 on FOX. ©2015 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: Steve Dietl/FOX
Now that we have the plot basically out of the way, I want to address something. This show is entirely played for laughs. ENTIRELY. Yes, there is murder and disappearing corpses but it’s all done in a very tongue in cheek way. So, unlike Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story that is sometimes funny but mostly horror, Scream Queens is basically if Mean Girls and Heathers had a baby. If you are looking for another new horror-themed show don’t expect this one to attempt scares. Just enjoy the laughs, because they are unending.
Scream Queens really surprised me in how funny it actually was and also made me realize how out of touch I am despite being 25. When Grace’s dad is taking her to college he puts on a playlist he’s made of songs from her childhood. One of them being a song that I gathered was something from Twilight when he awkwardly yells “Team Edward” and says it was her first PG-13 movie. So, ouch. Now I feel old. Thanks, Ryan Murphy!
Murphy is slowly becoming this generation’s Joss Whedon, but it has yet to be seen if he can really stick it out with this show. The snappy dialogue is great and very reminiscent of shows say like, Buffy (Cordelia Chase could show Chanel a thing or two) and the pacing works really well, especially for a 2-hr premiere (I’m looking at you Fear the Walking Dead). But Murphy is notorious for biting off more than he can chew and sending most of his endings to crash and burn. I do really enjoy American Horror Story, but I’m not blinded to its shortcomings. I really hope that isn’t the case with Scream Queens. Of course, the last 2 seasons of Buffy were kinda shitty so maybe he IS this generation’s Joss Whedon.
I want to spend some time on Jamie Lee Curtis here. Initially, I was thinking she would make an appearance in the premiere and be hyped up as the main character only to meet an early demise, much like her mother in Psycho. But it would appear she is going to be hanging in there longer than I thought and that’s totally fine by me. Curtis is a badass in this show and isn’t just sleepwalking through it. She really has taken on her character with as much sincerity as anything else she has done. Thank you, Jamie Lee Curtis, for becoming and remaining a loyal horror icon.
Final thought, even though this show is more a comedy than anything else, it’s got a pretty decent body count for the premier and they don’t hold back too much on the gore. So that’s fun. And if your complaint is that “none of this is believable” you haven’t been paying attention.
Favorite lines:
“Waterfalls is my jam!”
“We’re having a white party, where everyone is encouraged to wear and/or be white.”
“I would love you more if other people loved you too.”
“Pissy Spacek”
“And I was so going to go to third base with you tonight! Dammit!”
Favorite deaths (spoilers…obviously):
“Shondell! Why you got a knife in your throat?!?!” RIP Shondell, we didn’t know you
The hilarious text exchange between killer and Ariana Grande… “Wait…whaaaaat?!!”
The poor deaf girl singing Taylor Swift before she gets lawn mowed.
REVIEW: EPISODE 3: CHAINSAW
This week on Scream Queens proved the main point from my last review. With a Monty Python style limb slicing, this show careens into full-fledged satire. While the Chanel group begins to implode the rest of the pledges, lead by Grace, are still hunting the Red Devil. In a hilarious attempt to do away with the Red Devil as the school mascot, Dean Munsch introduces a new mascot known as “Coney” a giant dancing vanilla ice cream cone and moves into the KKT house with KKT representative GiGi. Munsch may have ulterior motives, though, she is incredibly jealous of the relationship blooming between GiGi and Grace’s father Wes (Oliver Hudson). Oh, and Chanel #2’s body has also disappeared.
The third episode opens on Grace and Zayday heading to the convenient store to get some much need snackage since the cook is dead. While discussing the benefits of syrup covered chips they encounter the red devil and in a perfect final girl style, Grace zaps him in the nards with a taser and Zayday topples him with a display. Unfortunately, this devil was just a stand in school mascot.Ooops.
Meanwhile, Grace tries to hold it together and proceed with classes as normal, until her father shows up as her Film Analysis professor. After she storms out, Wes is left to teach the class about what he deems the greatest movie of all time, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. We get a few iconic snippets from the film as well as shots of students throwing up in their backpacks. Where was this class when I was in college?
SCREAM QUEENS: Pictured L-R: Nasim Pedrad as Gigi, Jamie Lee Curtis as Dean Cathy Munsch and Emma Roberts as Chanel Oberlin in the “Chainsaw” episode of SCREAM QUEENS airing Tuesday, Sept. 29 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2015 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Skip Bolen/FOX.
We’re reaching prime KKT explosion time. Chanel #5 (Abigail Breslin) has decided she is out and that Chanel (Emma Roberts) should be overthrown as house president. And when Chanel decides to make over Hester and turn her into Chanel #6 shit really hits the fan. I’m really loving Abigail Breslin in this show, she’s crass and hilarious. I don’t see her as being the killer but now that we know not only she and Chanel #3 (Billie Lourd) were hooking up with Chanel’s main squeeze, the King of Dudebros, Chad Radwell (Glen Powel) anyone could be the killer.
But that brings me to what I really wanted to mention in this review, the boys. Last episode, Chad’s bff Boone (Nick Jonas) was going to leave the Dicky Dollar Scholars and join KKT under their new rule of accepting anyone. Supposedly he wanted to join so he could come out as gay on his own terms and help the KKT house instead of being ruined by Chanel. The night he decided to join he ended up face to face with the Red Devil and got his throat slashed. But not really, at the very end of the premiere it’s revealed Boone is not dead but actually scheming with the Red Devil. “Chainsaw” brings Chad Radwell, who is the most superficial crier I’ve ever seen, out for revenge. He and the rest of the Dicky Dollar Scholars decide to go out and find the Red Devil themselves using the “gang rule” of going out in the street and yelling for someone until they come out and fight you, according to Chad Radwell it’s fool proof. Unsurprisingly, he turns out to be right but not before he and his bros don their all-white outfits and go on a bashing spree with baseball bats to the tune of “Backstreet’s Back” and which point 10-year-old me cracked up. As the Devil appears with a chainsaw the bros charge him but soon realize you never bring a wooden bat to a chainsaw fight. Also, there are two devils both wielding chainsaws causing the group to separate with Chad taking on one himself. As he is about to get sliced up like Thanksgiving turkey a fellow bro runs to save him and promptly gets his bat arm sliced off but that doesn’t stop him! Oh no, with his other hand he grabs the bat from his detached limb only to have his other arm sawed off as well. We know that Boone is involved somehow and most likely one of the faces behind the masks. His motive still remains unknown.
As the Devils walk off leaving the decimated Dicky Dollar Scholars, we head back to KKT where GiGi and Dean Munsch are having issues of their own. In an earlier scene, we see Munsch warn GiGi about staying away from her man so when they appear later as roomies we know something is up. As bedtime arrives Munsch explains she needs a white noise machine to sleep. No problem, except that the volume is cranked and the sounds as less then soothing, as a “compromise” Munsch decides on Slasher Movie sounds. GiGi, who is so totally not putting up with it heads to the couch downstairs only to be attacked by the Red Devil, chainsaw and all. The Devil flees when Wes bursts in to save his lady love, just in time for Munsch to run downstairs to see what the commotion was. Wes and GiGi accuse her of being the killer and that’s where we end.
From the first episode, I was wondering if they would make Jamie Lee Curtis a villain, which I would totally be for despite it’s predictability, but after this episode I’m thinking it’s not her. Announcing her as the killer this early in the season generally means she’s a red herring but who knows in this weird ass universe. What do you guys think? Comment below or tweet me!
Notable Cameos
While Grace and Zayday investigate the disappearance of Chanel #2 (whom they do not know is dead) they visit her parents played by the beautiful Charisma Carpenter (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Roger Bart (Stepford Wives 2004).
SCREAM QUEENS: Pictured L-R: Roger Bart as Dr. Herfmann, Charisma Carpenter as Mrs. Herfmann and Skyler Samuels as Grace in the “Chainsaw” episode of SCREAM QUEENS airing Tuesday, Sept. 29 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2015 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Skip Bolen/FOX.
Favorite Lines
“I was bored so I came out here to look at #2’s body”
“Stabbed her in the face and she wasn’t that cute to begin with but that is not the point!”
“You violated my closet vag”
Favorite Deaths
RIP Coney the Ice Cream Cone, may your sawed off head be found in hilarious glory.
REVIEW: EPISODE 4: PUMPKIN PATCH
This week on Scream Queens the plot thickens as questions are answered and more arise. In a hilarious opening poking fun at Taylor Swift’s “squad” of fans (what’s Ryan Murphy’s obsession with T-Swift anyway?) we find out every year Chanel gives gifts to girls she feels are dumpy and needy, so all of them, as a way to reach out to the public. Of course, her gifts are mere crap like fake blood, severed legs, etc. We learn her favorite time of year is Halloween which is usual for Murphy. This year Chanel has her pledges carve pumpkins to send to the “less fortunate” and via pumpkin carving, Zayday reveals her plan to shove Chanel off bitch mountain and take over as president of KKT by throwing a haunted house party in an abandoned house off campus. Meanwhile, Hester is making a play for Chad Radwell and indulging all of his twisted fantasies of hooking up with dead girls. Hester plans on supporting Zayday, but we learn she eventually wants to claim KKT as her own.
Some spoilers to follow, reader beware:
Of course throwing a Halloween party in a supposedly haunted house with a killer on the loose is a phenomenally bad idea but that’s why I love this show. The party itself reveals a lot of answers, namely where the dead bodies went but also that there is a story of a mysterious old hag who supposedly lived in the house with a baby. We discover exactly who the hag is at the end of the episode, not that it’s a surprise at all, but I doubt she’s the killer. Stuck in the 90s and delusional, yes. Killer, obviously not…unless there are 3?
Dean Munsch continues to be a treat with her attempts to corner Wes and is easily let off the hook when we find out she’s bffs with the head detective on the case. Her agenda in the events is devious for sure, but I don’t think murderous. And now that GiGi is revealed to be entirely out of her mind, is Wes even safe with her?
Perhaps the most revealing point is that after speaking with one of the original girls from the Class of ’95, we learn the baby was a girl. Because we know Chanel #3’s dad to be Charles Manson (although that could be a lie) and Grace is automatically off the hook we are left with Chanel, Chanel #5, Hester, and Zayday. All signs point to Hester, but I’d really like to see Chanel #5 have a complete meltdown and reveal herself. The cliffhanger we’re left with is Zayday being kidnapped by the Red Devil which is suspicious because we know Boon’s death was a set up. And where is he anyway?
Scream Queens is coming along nicely and even creating a decent mystery and backstory out of all its outrageous antics. These last couple episodes have slowed down a bit, which is good because we still have 9 (10 if you don’t count the pilot as 2) episodes to go so a lot can still happen. I’d kind of like the killer to take on a Sleepaway Camp twist and have it be one of the guys but who knows? We don’t even know if it’s only two killers at this point.
What did you guys think? Comment or tweet me!
Final Thoughts:
Diego Boneta’s Matthew McConaughey impression is spot on…just…damn…
That slow-mo fight scene against the douche bros is so entirely accurate that I almost rooted for Chanel…almost.
Chad Radwell is THE scream queen.
Denise Hemphill was a fabulous pledge.