Scream Queens Episodes 1-2 Reviews: Who Is The Red Devil? (Series Premiere)

"Scream Queens" is the latest Ryan Murphy ("American Horror Story" and "Glee") offering. The two hour premiere aired this week on Fox. It's a campy mashup of older slasher movies with lots of comedy thrown in. Over the series we'll see shout outs to many of our favs including "Nightmare on Elm Street", "Scream", "Halloween" (of course, because Jamie Lee Curtis is staring), and Psycho (because Jamie's mother was Marian Crane) to name only a few.

Before I get started, if you haven't seen the "Scream Queen" title sequence, it's K-I-L-L-E-R (no pun intended). It's great fun and introduces the main characters (while casting suspicion on each). Check it out at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIQ1fixUuvg

The series opens with a flashback to 1995. A sorority sister has a baby in a bath tub. The other sisters can't be bothered because "Waterfall" is playing downstairs. They abandon her. When they return, she is dead but the baby lives. Chanel says Munsch covered up the incident (after Ms Bean squealed on the girls).

The Queen Of Insults

And fast forward to 2015...The Kappa Kappa Tau sorority at Wallace University is run by uber bitch Chanel Oberlin. She is the meanest of the mean girls and absolutely horrible to everyone around her. Newly promoted Dean Munsch hates her and threatens to close the sorority. Instead she forces KKT to accept any and all pledges (no matter how undesirable).

Then a Red Devil shows up and starts killing everyone. Are the current deaths payback for the 1995 incident? And is the Red Devil the child that was born to the sorority sister? The timing would be right since it's twenty years later.

One Chanel Down, Three To Go

THE BODY COUNT-- the writers say there will be at least once death per episode. Thus far we have:

Ms Bean- the sorority's maid, her face is burned off in a deep fryer by Chanel #1. It was supposed to be a ruse to scare off the new pledges. It looks like she's definitely dead but her body is missing.
Chanel #2 (Ariana Grande)- lost her life to the Red Devil after a quick dance and a texting battle. Note: her plea for help on Twitter was hilarious. Yeah, you might want to try running away in such situations (see Denise's rules below for suggestions).
Tiffany, ie "Deaf Taylor Swift"- was decapitated by a Red Devil driving a lawn mower.
Chanel #4- got meningitis, went home and died... or did she?
Boone- roommate of Chad. He wants to join the KKT after he wil presumably be outted by Chanell for being gay. His throat was supposedly slit but wait... it was all a fake out. I'm adding him to the suspect list.

SUSPECTS-- Who is the Red Devil? There is a LONG list to choose from (and the Devil does not have to be a "he" or even a single person):

Chanel #1 (Emma Roberts)- Sure she appears terrorized by the Devil at the beginning of the show but she could be lying.
Chanel #3 (Billie Lourd)- time will if the remaining Chanels survive.
Chanel #5 (Abigail Bresliln)- she doesnt seem like the typical "pretty girl" pledge to me. Maybe she's undercover till she can plot her revenge.
Grace (Skylar Samuels)- Her dead mother was a KKT so she wants to follow in her footsteps. The story is she died when Grace was two and all she has left is a pin from her prom gown. Hmmm, that sounds fishy. Grace looks innocent so far but it could be a ruse. Right now Grace seems to be the "final girl" (meaning she will be the last one standing).
Zayday (Keke Palmer)- Grace's roommate. She wants to be the "first black woman president".
Hester- ie "Neckbrace" (Lea Michele)- Hester certainly does know a lot about disposing of bodies.
Pete- works at the coffee shop and is the editor of the school paper. He's trying to solve the mystery of what KKT is really up to. He has an encounter with the Devil in the Dean's office (after discovering 5 names in a "Kappa House Party 95" folder) but isn't killed. Hmmm. He also has a Red Devil costume in his closet which Grace sees. Supposedly it's because he's the school mascot. And is it just me or does that guy look a hell of a lot older than 20? And why does the show make a big deal of pointing out that Grace is 18?
Gigi- KKT national chapter president and a lawyer (she graduated from a fourth tier law school in the Caribbean). She's permanently stuck in the 90's due to some "traumatic event". She's arrives to save the sorority from being closed by Munsch. I assume she is the girl holding the baby back in 1985.
Chad- It seems everyone loves Chad. He's the boytoy of both Chanel #1 and Dean Munsch (who is blackmailing him for sex since he's on academic probation). Roommate Boone also has a crush on him. Could Chad be the baby? If so maybe he is in cahoots with Boone. Chad also has a thing for corpses. OK then, that's weird.
Wes- Grace's father. He begs her to stay away from sororities and KKT. He secretly is watching her from outside the sorority. Wes just so happens to be a professor so he makes Munsch give him a job on campus so he can be close to Grace.
Dean Cathy Munsch (Jamie Lee Curtis)- I LOVE Jamie Lee so am so happy she's on "Scream Queens". I hope she seriously kicks some sorority and Red Devil ass.
Officer Denise Hemphill (Niecy Nash)- the security guard assigned to the sorority. She doesnt have a gun but has a walkie talkie, night stick and lots of sass. Her three step plan should the sisters encounter the Red Devil is: 1. If you are in danger scream Denise's name real loud and she'll come a running (if she's on the premises); 2. Call 1-866-KLJ-0199. She will be notified immediately and she will come a running (if she's on the premises); 3. Get the hell outta here. Run away-- real fast. Her friend and fellow security guard Shondell is killed by the Devil in the beginning episode so it doesnt seem likely she is the Red Devil... unless it is all a trick. I love Denise. More air time for her please!
"Predatory Lez"- a butch lesbian. She doesnt even get a real name (which is sad). I'm afraid she's Red Devil chowder (which is a shame since you dont see any Asian butch characters on TV).
Jennifer- the candle vlogger. She likes to eat candle wax. Odds are she's another early victim and not the Red Devil.
Melanie Dorkess- previous KKT president- Horribly burned when someone replaced her tanning spray with hydrochloric acid. She supposedly saw the Red Devil appear to her at the end. We know she is still alive because the manufacturer settled with her over the mishap.
Earl Grey (Lucient Laviscount)- No he's not the tea. Earl is one the frat brothers that discovers Boone's body. I'm sure we'll see more of him in upcoming episodes.
Someone Else- Of course we could be completely off base and it could be someone we haven't even been introduced to yet.

Favorite Quotes:

"I'm going to be honest, I hate sororities and I hate you!"- Dean Munsch to Chanel.
"Life is a class system and the sorority is the one place left in the world where you get to pick and choose who's around you."- Channel.
"I call her White Mammy because she's basically a house slave."- Chanel about Ms Bean.
"No one forced that goat to get as drunk as he got. That's on him."- Chanel to Dean Munsch when she accuses the sorority of bestiality.
"We have a mixer...followed by a white party where everyone is encouraged to wear/be white."- Denise to Chanel.
"I cant date a garbage person Chanel. I just can't."- Chad to Chanel on his standards regarding girl friends.
Grace: "You're an awful person." Chanel: "Maybe, but I'm rich and I'm pretty so it doesnt matter."
"I just googled blood oath and this is what came up."- Chanel.
"Idiots, you dont get STDs from blood oaths. You get them from dirty toilet seats and drinking the water in Mexico."- Chanel.
"Not on my watch!"- Dean Munsch about the beheading of Death Taylor Swift.
"It's like a friends episode but someone in trying to murder all the friends."- Gigi on the girls trying to have fun while hiding from a serial killer.
"If anyone dies will protecting a sister then you'll be allowed to skip the rest of Hell Week."- Chanel to the pledges.
"She's asleep. Chanel's #2 is asleep."- Chanel #3 to Hester. Nope, I'm pretty sure she's dead.
"I'm sorry everybody wants to have sex with me...I cant help that everybody wants to get with this-- women, men, animals in the zoo, probably plants... You can't deal with how hot I am. I'm breaking up with you."- Chad to Chanel after she finds he and Boone in the bed together and Boone has a "broner".
"What took you so long?"- Boone to the Red Devil after he pulls him out of a drawer in the morgue.

Grade: 4 Monsters (out of 5). A good solid start. The show has great potential but I'm not going to get my hopes up too much. Ryan Murphy has a reputation for creating so many story arcs that a number just disappear into thin air.

I will say Emma Roberts is EXCELLENT as an over the top evil sorority president. I would hate her IRL but as a TV character she's a delight to watch. You never know what horrible thing will come out of her mouth next.

"Screen Queens" continues the trend of having two hour premieres. Instead, I would like to see an action packed hour that keeps audiences coming back for more. To be honest, I got a little bored after two hours.

Here are my favorite scenes/characters thus far: Red Devil (LOVE him/her), Chanel's snarky comments, Denise the security guard (she is hilarious), Chanel #2's text battle with the Devil, Denise (I hope she's the last one standing), death by lawn mover for Deaf Taylor Swift and Boone's surprise reveal at the end.