Scream Queens Season 1 Review!

Horror is an endless genre that keeps terrorizing, evolving, and thrilling viewers for decades. They've invaded the small screens in our own homes via Halloween specials and Gothic soap operas. From anthology horror to pure fun. Horror, more than most genres, has an elasticity that can be applied to any form, and in Scream Queens it presents a smart self awareness that loves to play with stereotypes and revels in the atrocities of young adults.

Scream Queens is about a cover up one fateful night at a sorority where one of the sisters died in childbirth while a party was raging downstairs. Now, 20 years later, a serial killer wearing the University's mascot is going around and hilariously killing University stereotypes of the rich and famous.

At first this series can be difficult to get into because of its jarring tone. On one hand it wants the creepiness and tragedy to hit and stay with you, but on the other hand their pushing these well known stereotypes to their limits and could send the wrong message to some viewers as bad writing. With each character cranked up to 11, Scream Queens presents a harsh comedic look at our society today, so naturally this won't be for everyone.

The first three episodes are fantastic and the best out of this freshman season. They present the inciting incident, introduce the cast of characters, and cast a mystery that is very engrossing while also presenting you with twists and turns. Because you haven't gotten used to the comedic tone these characters can really throw you off and make you bust a gut at random moments depending on their actions. After this initial introduction for the season it felt like Scream Queens started to be too self involved in the comedy and carnage the characters wreck upon each other that the middle episodes make the season feel bloated, and slows down the overall pacing (Bingers beware).

The biggest reason anyone will stay for episode after episode is thanks to their delightful cast. Everyone is bringing their A-game and each character is so distinctly written that it's easy to distinguish between everyone. Every character has their own unique individualism that is quirky and lovable. You will fall in love with some of these characters like Chanel #3, others you'll go "Oh, honey no" like Chad Radwell, while others will leave you laughing in every scene such as Denise Hemphill. Scream Queens is delightfully full with quirky lovable characters.

Overall, I found this show to be both hilarious, smart, and well written as well as bloated, misguided, and lazy. As mentioned previously the middle episodes felt less advancing the plot, and more enjoying the characters in cheesy hilarious scenes involving death. At first the deaths were creative, funny, and meaningful. From lawnmower, to arms cut off, the beginning episodes made it feel like the serial killer knew what he was doing...but those middle episodes are where the killer made more mistakes, the sorority girls were able to hurt him more often, all resulting in scenes that didn't feel as relevant as the ones before. Not only that, but with each new kill the show seemed to be shooting itself in the foot.

For instance, Chanel #3 has a big character moment in the middle of the show where one of the pledges brought out a change in her, but then that pledge dies and Chanel #3 goes back to step one. This would have been fine in the end if not for the fact that the show brings that character arc back in the final episode making you wonder why that death was even necessary. Then you have reveals that take away part of the foundation of the show, and the season slowly crumbles around you as you start to question why certain characters are left alive, did the killer's motivation make any sense, etc.

Even though there are difficult episodes to get through, and once you think about the ending and the season as a whole it starts to crumble, Scream Queens is above all else a good time. There are some hearty laughs in there, the cast is fabulous in each of their characters, and the writing really made you care for these selfish, arrogant, rich millennials.

Currently season 1 is out on DVD.

B-