Tuesday, September 20th, 2016 was the second season premiere of Scream Queens. I was such a fan of the first season and could not have been anticipating this show more. Have you seen the first season? Unfortunately it’s not available yet on Blu-Ray (WHY!?) so a quick recap was that the Red Devil Killers were stalking a sorority headed by “The Channels” with the campus ruled by Dean Cathy Munsch. A red herring within almost every episode saw more and more victims fall including Nick Jonas’s Boone character; Jonas was absolutely fantastic and made me appreciate his work as a performing artist all the more. Lea Michele (Glee), Emma Roberts (American Horror Story and Scream 4) and the all-time great Jamie Lee Curtis (no movie references needed YOU should know!) make up the show leads and with incredible writing, made this show something unlike any horror and/or comedy series in history. The direction was sharp, the story moved like a rollercoaster, and it became a guilty pleasure. The killers were apprehended and that was the end…or was it?
We join the second season at an incredibly creepy hospital
Flash forward or flash backward rather to 1985 and that’s where we join the second season at an incredibly creepy hospital setting during a Halloween party. The Doctor (Jerry O’Connell Scream 2 and Piranha 3D) is more concerned about the party than his male patient so he, along with his cohort, subdue the patient and they throw him in the swamp. Patient turns out was a Father-to-be with his wife waiting patiently for husband to make it through whatever treatment was necessary. Seeds firmly planted but granted, much the same mirroring premise of the first season.
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Now it is two years after the campus murders and Curtis’s Munsch character got rich quick off of her near-death/ survival experience and has used the money to buy the now defunct hospital. Her goal: Cure the Un-curable. Here is where we are introduced to the female fan base’s eye-candy (and this season’s Jonas replacements) in John Stamos (Full House) as Dr. Brock Holt and the Twilight Saga’s Taylor Lautner as Dr. Cassidy Cascade. The chemistry actually plays perfectly and I felt that both actors really sunk into their roles; playing the moments with a secret wink the whole time. First season survivor ZayDay Williams (Keke Palmer) is hired on as an M.D. as well. But where are the Chanel’s? It took that first 20 minutes of the show to really feel out where they were going with this and how the fan favorites were going to be incorporated.
Here they are! Chanel No. 1, 3, and 5 (Roberts, Billie Lourd and Abigail Breslin) are all brought in by Munsch as Doctors-in-Training and immediately start with their in-your-face snappy dialogue and out-of-this-world mannerisms. Robert’s Chanel is the young star of this show and there is no denying that without her, it would suffer. I think that is general consensus but the same with Curtis, who has absolutely given herself over to this character and in turn, us horror fans. She is the Scream Queen through and through. PROPS to newcomer Kirstie Alley (Cheers and Look Who’s Talking) because her delightfully devilish, hard-edged and seriously bitchy Nurse Ingrid Hoffel is the perfect role and her opposition to the Chanels is what I feel will be driving this season out of the swamp. Legends like Alley and Curtis on screen together is viewership gold and for horror fans, this is her first genre work since “Village of the Damned” so I am satisfied 110% to see her back in the fold.
This show is all about keeping things on the beat
Creators Brad Falchuk, Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan have not slowed down at all with this show and the quality and effort of keeping in the front seat rather than the back pays off. No other show provides this kind of blink-and-you-miss pace both in dialogue, character and storytelling. Reading some other online reviews, I also noticed this became not just something to praise but something to criticize. Some viewers saying it is not giving them the chance to let information settle in and become invested. People – this show is all about keeping things on the beat, the current trends, what’s hot, what’s not – and how many people have attention spans nowadays? The creators know it too and that’s why I feel Scream Queens blasts through other programs on television because it’s a deliberate wild ride that is laughing in your face the whole time. Don’t worry horror fans – if you don’t want to watch because there is just too much comedy, well look again, because this isn’t “Scream If You Know What I Did Last Friday The 13th” spoofing, and with the climactic final moments going down with the creepy “Green Meanie” killer monster and a machete-style weapon that caused some serious bloodshed and body part dismemberment, then that should be enough to tune in next week and the week after. This review could go on and on because there was so much to pack into this one hour. Serious horror like American Horror Story and Scream is great, and the light-hearted sitcoms of Big Bang Theory unload the stress levels of the day, but Scream Queens provides that witch’s brew combination that can make you feel gross but still a little yummy inside all at once and I recommend you all check into that hospital and see what happens next.
What did you think of the season premiere of Scream Queens?
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