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‘Dragula’ Is a Netflix Horror Drag Competition Worth Binging On

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The Boulet Brothers are the connoisseurs of filth so it makes sense that their competition reality series Dragula is an unsettling experience for player and viewer alike.

The show, now streaming on Netflix (US), can be characterized as sort of the antiRu-Paul’s Drag Race because Dragula finds artists who are into gore, horror and all things disgusting whereas RuPaul seems to want her queens to represent the cleaner-cut side of the femme-mystique.

For Dragula the whitebread usually served to the public as drag, is burnt to a crisp, covered in maggots then force-fed to the contestants.

Yes, these are men who dress in drag, but it depends on what their definition of that is. Is it a cannibalistic creature with copious amounts of blood oozing from their mouth, or is it the classic silhouette of the wicked witch, it depends on your perspective, and in Dragula, that perspective is often terrifying.

What’s more, Dragula was the first to feature a drag king, something never-before-done in any show of this type.

For each colorful episode, the brothers sit behind a judge’s table and assign challenges with a specific horror theme in mind, usually one with a freaky undertone. The players then create a look that epitomizes that prompt.

The endgame is to be able to score high in the categories of “Drag”, “Filth”, “Horror” and “Glamour.”

Included in those assignments, are events that mess with the player’s minds. Called “extermination challenges,” these grim tasks are never easy and push the player’s threshold for trauma to the very edge.

The over-the-top nature of the tests can be physical, psychological or both. Players have had to lay in coffins and get buried alive with roaches and water pumping in, forced to eat disgusting foods, or in one episode, survive an extreme haunt.

The loser is the one who fails to impress the judges and is then killed off at the end of each episode in a murderous skit.

In 2016, The Boulet Brothers brought the series to life on the small screen after its huge success at drag clubs. The Canadian network OutTV snatched up the show and gave it an extended full season with two more to follow.

Fans immediately fell love with the punk aesthetic which is rarely seen on the more pallid Drag Race. Part special effects challenge, part freaky cabaret show, Dragula allows artists a platform to beat their faces in blood, not bronzer.

The Boulet Brothers have become world-renown drag producers second only to RuPaul in the world of televised drag reality series.

If you find yourself all binged out on laugh-tracky sitcoms and questionable big cat docs, you, especially as a horror fan, should queue this up and check it out.

Bring your strongest stomach.

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Netflix Releases First BTS ‘Fear Street: Prom Queen’ Footage

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It’s been three long years since Netflix unleashed the bloody, but enjoyable Fear Street on its platform. Released in a tryptic fashion, the streamer broke up the story into three episodes, each taking place in a different decade which by the finale were all tied together.

Now, the streamer is in production for its sequel Fear Street: Prom Queen which brings the story into the 80s. Netflix gives a synopsis of what to expect from Prom Queen on their blog site Tudum:

“Welcome back to Shadyside. In this next installment of the blood-soaked Fear Street franchise, prom season at Shadyside High is underway and the school’s wolfpack of It Girls is busy with its usual sweet and vicious campaigns for the crown. But when a gutsy outsider is unexpectedly nominated to the court, and the other girls start mysteriously disappearing, the class of ’88 is suddenly in for one hell of a prom night.” 

Based on R.L. Stine’s massive series of Fear Street novels and spin-offs, this chapter is number 15 in the series and was published in 1992.

Fear Street: Prom Queen features a killer ensemble cast, including India Fowler (The Nevers, Insomnia), Suzanna Son (Red Rocket, The Idol), Fina Strazza (Paper Girls, Above the Shadows), David Iacono (The Summer I Turned Pretty, Cinnamon), Ella Rubin (The Idea of You), Chris Klein (Sweet Magnolias, American Pie), Lili Taylor (Outer Range, Manhunt) and Katherine Waterston (The End We Start From, Perry Mason).

No word on when Netflix will drop the series into its catalog.

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Live Action Scooby-Doo Reboot Series In Works at Netflix

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Scooby Doo Live Action Netflix

The ghosthunting Great Dane with an anxiety problem, Scooby-Doo, is getting a reboot and Netflix is picking up the tab. Variety is reporting that the iconic show is becoming an hour-long series for the streamer although no details have been confirmed. In fact, Netflix execs declined to comment.

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!

If the project is a go, this would be the first live-action movie based on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon since 2018’s Daphne & Velma. Before that, there were two theatrical live-action movies, Scooby-Doo (2002) and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004), then two sequels that premiered on The Cartoon Network.

Currently, the adult-oriented Velma is streaming on Max.

Scooby-Doo originated in 1969 under the creative team Hanna-Barbera. The cartoon follows a group of teenagers who investigate supernatural happenings. Known as Mystery Inc., the crew consists of Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Shaggy Rogers, and his best friend, a talking dog named Scooby-Doo.

Scooby-Doo

Normally the episodes revealed the hauntings they encountered were hoaxes developed by land-owners or other nefarious characters hoping to scare people away from their properties. The original TV series named Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! ran from 1969 to 1986. It was so successful that movie stars and pop culture icons would make guest appearances as themselves in the series.

Celebrities such as Sonny & Cher, KISS, Don Knotts, and The Harlem Globetrotters made cameos as did Vincent Price who portrayed Vincent Van Ghoul in a few episodes.

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BET Releasing New Original Thriller: The Deadly Getaway

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The Deadly Getaway

BET will soon be offering horror fans a rare treat. The studio has announced the official release date for their new original thriller, The Deadly Getaway. Directed by Charles Long (The Trophy Wife), this thriller sets up a heart racing game of cat and mouse for audiences to sink their teeth into.

Wanting to break up the monotony of their routine, Hope and Jacob set off to spend their vacation at a simple cabin in the woods. However, things go sideways when Hope’s ex-boyfriend shows up with a new girl at the same campsite. Things soon spiral out of control. Hope and Jacob must now work together to escape the woods with their lives.

The Deadly Getaway
The Deadly Getaway

The Deadly Getaway is written by Eric Dickens (Makeup X Breakup) and Chad Quinn (Reflections of US). The Film stars, Yandy Smith-Harris (Two Days in Harlem), Jason Weaver (The Jacksons: An American Dream), and Jeff Logan (My Valentine Wedding).

Showrunner Tressa Azarel Smallwood had the following to say about the project. “The Deadly Getaway is the perfect reintroduction to classic thrillers, which encompass dramatic twists, and spine-chilling moments. It showcases the range and diversity of emerging Black writers across genres of film and television.”

The Deadly Getaway will premiere on 5.9.2024, exclusively ion BET+.

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