'Scream Queens' Review: Sex and the Sadistic Sorority Sisters
There is so much talent working at such a high level of energy in Scream Queens that it seems churlish to say that the two-hour premiere on Tuesday night doesn’t yield too much pleasure. This latest production by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan blends the scary-movie parody of Murphy and Falchuk’s American Horror Story with the chipper-but-poisonous school atmosphere of Glee, and features a wildly diverse cast headed up by Emma Roberts and Jamie Lee Curtis.
The premise is pretty simple: Life in the sorority Kappa Kappa Tau at Wallace University is hell. Presided over by a sadist named Chanel (Roberts), the organization is under attack by dean of students Cathy Munsch (Curtis), who represents the general, real-world trend toward a more severe attitude about hazing and discriminatory practices in campus Greek life these days.
But as with any Ryan Murphy show, this realistic set-up quickly comes untethered from reality, and soon we’re dealing with a mass killer who dresses in an elaborate red devil costume; Chanel’s screechy instructions to a barista to heat her pumpkin spice latte to her preferred warmth (120 degrees); and such punishments as pushing one character’s face into boiling frying-oil.
Chanel is the leader of a group of followers so servile she doesn’t bother to remember their names, instead just assigning them numbers. Forced by Dean Munsch to accept anyone who wants to pledge, this queen bee is compelled to come into contact with undesirables such as Hester, a nerd in a neck-brace played with her usual over-eager-beaveriness by Lea Michele, and Grace (Skyler Samuels), a good girl who wants to subvert Kappa Kappa Tau and avenge the 20 year-old death of her mother, a former Kappa.
Related: Jamie Lee Curtis Previews ‘Scream Queens’: ‘Any Day Could Be Our Final Day on Set’
The show continues to explore a theme Murphy has been working out in every one of his shows since Nip/Tuck, a theme Roberts’ character articulates succinctly after being called “an awful person”: “Maybe, but I’m rich and I’m pretty, so it doesn’t matter.” The interesting problem is that a viewer can never be sure that Ryan disagrees with this sentiment — one reason his punchlines are frequently so pungent (“I can’t date a garbage person”) is that they carry the zing of conviction.
The supporting cast is impressive. Jamie Lee Curtis exudes a fine, bitter vindictiveness laced with malicious humor. The always-terrific Niecy Nash is by far the show’s greatest asset as a mediocre campus security guard who’s understandably ambivalent about protecting the cruel, often-racist sorority girls. Abigail Breslin and Nasim Pedrad add a kind of ditsy depth to the proceedings.
And here’s a sentence I never thought I’d write: Ariana Grande does not appear frequently enough on the show. She does a fine job as one of Chanel’s minions, and engages in a highly amusing battle with the Red Devil. Less surprising to me is the solid performance by Nick Jonas, who navigates his role with the same barely-tamped-down sexuality he’s brought to his recent music.
Ultimately, with its ceaseless meanness and barrage of put-downs, Scream Queens is more exhausting than exhilarating. But the producers are promising to kill a cast member every week for the season’s 13 weeks — it’s Ryan Murphy-as-Agatha Christie! — so there’s a built-in curiosity factor that may help keep an audience tuning in.
Scream Queens premieres on Fox tonight at 8 p.m.; its regular time period is 9 p.m.
