‘Scream Queens’ Preview: Haunted House

They’re accosted by a couple of sexist fraternity brothers on their way out, and after telling them off, they absolutely kick the crap out of them. Up until this point, I’ve been looking forward to Scream Queens for the nearly schlocky entertainment factor.

It hopes to keep that buzz alive with Tuesday’s “Haunted House” episode.

I suppose, however, one really ought to start with Chanel-O-Ween.

The final ingredient in the recipe for disaster that is ZayDay’s haunted house party-Denise may be kinda off-base with her ZayDay theory, but she’s right that a Halloween party during an unsolved murder spree is basically a buffet-is the budding romance between pervert Chad and psycho Hester. Denise arrives to tell them that the abandoned house is haunted. In the last fortnight, we’ve only seen a couple of characters offed and those were two individuals introduced and killed in their respective episodes. Meanwhile, Denise continues to search for the Red Devil; and Dean Munsch struggles to keep the university open.

Halloween is a scream on tonight’s new episode of Scream Queens, airing at 9 p.m. ET/PT on FOX. Doesn’t help Dear Ol’ Dad’s case that she finds him lecturing about the sins of our youth coming back to violently murder us, because Grace doesn’t know we’re only four episodes in and this can’t possibly be over yet. Writer Brennan did it so well that this might have been the show’s best instalment yet. Mandy hears a knock on the door and answers it with a baseball bat…and after a few stumbling and bumbling, gets knifed by the Red Devil. After class, Grace finally confronts Wes with the question that’s been brewing since the show’s pilot: Is she the bathtub baby or nah? What connection does Gigi have to the Red Devil? After the students leave, a disturbed Grace asks her father why they never talk about her mother, who conveniently died in a fire that also destroyed all records of Grace’s birth. Chanel creates a devious plan after a shocking announcement from Zayday, which leads to a haunted pumpkin path at the sorority house. Zayday calls the police, but they don’t take her seriously and she turns to see the Red Devil, who attacks her.

All the while, Zayday (Keke Palmer) decides it is time to announce her candidacy for president of Kappa Kappa Tau, much to the surprise of Chanel and her minions. She’s excited at the prospect of Zayday winning the election, so she can kill her and take over from there. She clearly knows her way around a chainsaw (Thanks Grandma!)…and the Red Devil has one…hmmm…

While we’re on the topic of the Chanels, the scene in the cafeteria was something I’d like to see more of.

“Her dreams are as dead as she is, while mine still burn bright”. Chanel herself seems determined to recapture Chad’s heart and with Hester secretly vying for it, it is only a matter of time before the pair come to blows. We get to see Niecy Nash dressed as an ’80s sorority sister, which is incredible – but 100% less incredible is how she was shamed into leaving because the sorority was whites only back then. It felt suspiciously like the writers were trying to shoehorn in a potential motive for the security guard and add her to the list of suspects, so it’s likely it won’t result in much.

Back at the sorority house, cops interview Dean Munsch (Jamie Lee Curtis). Haunted House was moreish and had me itching for the next instalment more than ever before. Also, Pete gets to do a quick Matthew McConaughey impersonation. That simply made the episode.