Crisp cool air. Sweaters and flannels. Red, green, orange, and yellow leaves traveling through the air. These are the ingredients that make up the autumn feel. It’s the most spooktacular time of the year and everyone is breaking out their favorite Halloween classics. These could be songs, movies, TV shows, or anything else that brings out the Halloween spirit.
When it comes to this spooky season, some love the adrenaline and being truly scared. On the other hand, there are some people that are not so enthusiastic about getting frightened out of their skin, but still want to enjoy something mildly thrilling.
American Horror Story (AHS) is a renowned American physiological thriller series created by Ryan Murphy. Released in 2011, each season has a new and unique theme that it follows. Some of the content is taken from real life and the series has claimed a successful following. American Horror Story is not for the faint hearted as it involves gruesome murder, heavy sexual content, and explores unconventional topics that may be triggering for some. Because of this, Ryan Murphy decided to create an alternative show within the same genre that catered to a wider audience. This show would be Scream Queens.
Scream Queens is a satirical comedy-horror starring AHS alums Emma Roberts and Billie Lourd, along with stars Keke Palmer, and Jamie Lee Curtis. It takes place at the fictional Wallace University where the main character Grace Gardner (played by Skyler Samuels) is a freshman in college and joins the sorority her mother was in; Kappa Kappa Tau (KKT). She becomes friends with Zayday (Palmer) and meets Emma Roberts’ character Chanel Oberlin who is “the queen of Kappa Kappa Tau”. Chanel is of course, the resident mean girl. One of her most memorable scenes is from the first episode when she yells at a barista for getting her Pumpkin Spice Latte order wrong.
At any rate, the series follows the Sorority sisters and Fraternity brothers of Chanel’s boyfriend (the Dickie Dollar Scholars) and pokes fun at how extreme, obnoxious, and exclusionary the Greek system can be. All the while there is a serial killer dressed as their mascot the Revil Devil on the loose — who’s targeting the sisters of KKT and occasionally the brothers of DDS. This is due to the gross negligence and extreme apathy shown by previous sisters in 1995 which led to a sister dying.
There’s a Halloween episode, Thanksgiving episode, Black Friday and Christmas episode. In the end, the killer is revealed and the next season gives a new location with a similar backstory of a serial killer coming due to gross negligence at a party — this time in 1985. While the series only (currently) has two seasons, it’s still a worthy watch. After you binge the first two, you can get excited for a possible season 3! There are reports that a brand new season will drop in December! Whatever the update, the show has memorable moments, scenes that startle, and it is overall less gruesome and easier to digest compared to American Horror Story.
Scream Queens is available to watch on Hulu, Apple TV+, and the CW app, so go check out your new favorite thriller series!