Creation of the duo Murphy/Falchuk, scream queens is a two-season horror series that follows the bloody misadventures of an insufferable rich kid.
American Horror Story meet Revenge of a Blonde
More than a horror series, Scream Queens is a horror comedy. There are more or less gory and bloody scenes, but they are absolutely not scary. We laugh more than we shiver – and that’s perfectly assumed by the creators. We find the actors of the AHS franchise, including Emma Roberts.
When one reads the biography of the latter, one may be tempted to howl at nepotism. In reality, she has real acting talent, superior to that of her aunt. The statement may sound biased, but the reader will not be surprised. Le Zapping Décrypté is more adept at horror films than romantic comedies. And let’s say it: we love seeing Emma Roberts interpret a “bad guy”. Without going so far as to say that she is not credible as a nice girl, she is less interesting when she plays the “girl next door” than when she exploits her repertoire as a bitch.
Emma Roberts plays the role of Chanel Oberlin, an unbearable and undrinkable kid, president of her sorority. Like any good dictator, she martyrs her “sisters” and goes out with the president of a brotherhood. Unfortunately, the corpses multiply around her: she falls into the sights of the dean of the campus, Cathy Munsch, played by Jamie Lee Curtis. Forget everything you know about her: her character is the opposite of those previously embodied in horror films.
scream queens is the meeting of two “Scream queens” precisely, of different generations. If we had already seen Emma Roberts interpret roles of plague – to remain polite – it is different for Jamie Lee Curtis. You will be pleasantly surprised by its performance. We also find Billie Lourd, in a totally hallucinated and hallucinating character, quite far from what she had done in AHS. Again, that’s the mark of a great actress. As for the male characters, they are nice, but uninteresting. Not because of the actors, but because the script makes them cute props. They’re like trinkets: they look pretty on the shelf, but if they disappeared, that wouldn’t fundamentally change the decor.
Wink at Scream 4
In Scream 4, Jill Roberts – played by Emma Roberts – says she wants fans. Chanel Oberlin has fans. And when you know the saga well Scream and we decorate screen queens, we see a continuity. But this desire to have fans is pushed to the point of social satire.
An example: Chanel Oberlin is doing a social media operation for Halloween. She does not send sweets, but presents of a very special kind. In a nutshell, she sends garbage and goes to meet her fans at the time of receiving gifts. Fans who are obviously delighted with the gifts and the presence of their idol.
At first glance, you may find it far-fetched. That Internet users, even addicted to social networks, are not devoid of self-esteem at this point. Then, we open Twitter and we see the hashtags circulating in TT France: Hanouna, Poupette Kenza and all the other trepanned people from reality TV, entertainment or social networks.
Chanel Oberlin does exactly the same thing as influencers: she takes them for idiots. When we see what Internet users are ready to accept or believe or buy when it comes from an influencer, we will admit that taking advantage of collective intelligence becomes very complicated.
Jubilant deaths
Some kills are particularly satisfying. So when Sonya gets killed by the Red Devil, we can’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. We almost come to want to invoke it so that it releases it. Or to look for the spoilers of the series to know when we will finally be rid of this or that character.
In the case of Sonya, the scene is particularly comical: while the Red Devil finishes her off, she takes the time to send a tweet. If you think that’s far-fetched, remember that during accidents, assaults and the like, the current fashion is to film and broadcast live rather than calling for help.
The plot of scream queens is globally eccentric, with very caricatural situations, but it is a style assumed by the creators. The goal is not to scare with realistic situations, but to make people laugh with absurd scenes.
We are in the same spirit as the Chucky series, where we laugh more than we shudder with terror (especially in season 2). It works, but true horror movie fans might get frustrated. Unlike AHS or Abuela or other horror productions, we are not afraid and there is not this unhealthy atmosphere, specific to horror films, which can make us jump at the slightest noise in a house. This nagging anxiety, which rises gradually, does not exist in scream queens. The horror is an accessory to the series, not the main character. Nevertheless, it remains a very good entertainment, which has the advantage of being accessible to those who are not crazy about horror movies.
scream queens is available on Disney+.