Fox’s new series is sensational

Rhiannon Stroberg, Features Editor

 

Fox’s new horror-comedy “Scream Queens” is destined to be a hit. On Sept. 22, Fox aired back-to-back episodes of the new series’ pilot and its second episode “Hell Week,” which gave viewers an idea about how the series will pan out.

With a star-studded cast including Jamie Lee Curtis, Emma Roberts, Lea Michele, Abigail Breslin, and Diego Boneta, it is no wonder why this series looks amazing.

Created by the brilliant masterminds behind popular hit series, such as Fox’s “Glee” and FX’s “American Horror Story,” writers Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk make a dynamic duo that know exactly how to grab viewers attention with their catchy plots and well-developed characters.

The show reminds me of  if “Mean Girls” and “I Know What You Did Last Summer” were mashed into one big series with Roberts as the modern-day Regina George of the sorority house Kappa Kappa Tau that she, as kappa queen, reigns over.

The plot mostly revolves around a sorority house at Wallace University whose occupants are being terrorized and murdered by a guy in a creepy awkward red devil costume. The strange part about the murders is the fact that after they are murdered, the bodies vanish.

Throughout the episode, there is non-stop catty behavior not only between Roberts and the new pledges, but also with Jamie Lee Curtis, the school’s dean who strongly dislikes Roberts’ character and who was also involved with covering up a murder back in the mid-1990s.

Curtis’s character is probably my favorite so far. She seems like an uptight school official during school hours, but off the clock, dean Cathy Munsch blackmails male students on probation into having sex with her and she smokes pot while boasting about doing so. It’s completely different than the roles she has been doing in recent years, but she’s awesome in this new series.

Roberts naturally has that “I’m better than everyone and I hate them, too” attitude that not only is obviously apparent in her role as Madison Montgomery in the third season of “American Horror Story,” but it is also beneficial for her role as Chanel, the kappa queen.

I strongly believe that Skyler Samuels’ character Grace Gardner, a new kappa pledge, has the potential to solve the several mysteries and secrets that linger within the walls and past of the sorority house. She, along with the character Pete trying to dig up the hidden dirty secrets so they can both find a way to end Chanel’s reign as kappa queen. I feel as if Chanel does in fact either dies or steps down as kappa queen, Grace will be the one to surpass her. The only difference between Grace and Chanel is that Grace is not a spoiled, selfish stuck up brat.

Many “Glee” fans believed that with the ending of the show, Lea Michele’s time with Fox was finished, but Murphy surprised fans when he announced that Michele would be included in “Scream Queens.” This time, Michele’s character is way different than her “Glee” character Rachel Berry.

Michele plays Hester Ulrich, a weird pledge with scoliosis and a neck brace, who has an odd obsession with Roberts’ character. Chanel thinks she’s weird because of the strange things she says and does, but I think that Hester will play an important role later on in the series.

Abigail Breslin, best known for her role as Olive Hoover in “Little Miss Sunshine,” usually plays the sweet, innocent girl in nearly every movie. I feel as if her role as Chanel’s minion, Chanel number 5, will be cut short because she didn’t agree with Chanel most of the time in the first two episodes.

The character Pete, who is played by Diego Boneta, known for his role in “Rock of Ages,” is the editor of the school’s newspaper who is teaming up with Grace to unveil the secrets behind the fraternities past, which could help determine the assailant behind the devil costume.

Overall, I strongly believe that these characters will add a distinctive element to the story line that will be what makes this show great. I have high hopes for this series and I really hope it lives up to the expectations and hype that the Internet, and television generate due to Murphy and Falchuk being involved.

4 Stars