Dragula Season 4 Episode 7 Review (TV Series, 2021)
content warning: blood, flashing lights, foul language, religious content
Editorial note: these Dragula reviews will feature spoilers.
In the opening sketch, the Boulet Brothers enter a Catholic church dressed like nuns. Swanthula spits a strange bile at a crucifix while a priest is reading through Leviticus 18:16 through 18:30. If the Boulet Brothers are going down the Catholic horror route (one of my specialties) and spend the time showing off the specific chapter and verses in the bible, I’m assuming it’s not an accident. This is the part about nudity, lust, and relations, which certainly fits the brand. The Boulets strip off their robes to reveal far less modest costumes and begin to tempt and defile the priest. I love waking up to a good nunsploitation moment.
Back in the Boudoir, the contestants are met with a care package from Dread. There are posters and DVDs all over the place, including the iconic grin of Art the Clown from Terrifier. Everyone assumes Sigourney Beaver survived the Extermination and they’re right.
This week’s challenge is Exorsisters. The contestants have to star in a short horror parody of The Exorcist. They have to work together to costume and rehearse the short. Then, they have to present an original demon look in the Floor Show. The winner will receive a role in an upcoming film from Dread.
Peaches Christ returns to direct the production. If you don’t know, Peaches Christ has made a name for herself producing fabulous theatrical drag parodies of popular and cult movies. There is no better person to help out on this challenge. She knows these films, she knows drag, and she knows how to bring the best out of her casts.
This week’s Fright Feat is a makeup challenge in tribute to Peaches Christ. The contestants have to recreate her signature eyebrow. Whoever wins the challenge gets to cast the movie. Peaches Christ is camping it up, creeping around the Boudoir and intimidating the contestants. La Zavaleta wins, but I have to shout out Sigourney Beaver for actually following the assignment. The Boulet Brothers asked for thick, glittery, caterpillar eyebrows and Sigourney literally painted thick, glittery caterpillars in the shape of Peaches Christ’s eyebrows.
La Zavaleta casts herself as the priest. Sigourney is her assistant. Hoso Terra Toma is the possessed teenager. Dahli and Saint are the moms. The table read features some of the most bizarre character choices I’ve seen in any reality show acting challenge, with Saint channeling Venture Brothers’ Dr. Girlfriend and Dahli channeling Jennifer Coolidge to be suburban housewives.
In the rehearsal, Peaches Christ and script writer Michael Verrati give notes to the contestants. They love what Hoso and Sigourney are doing and just give Hoso a push to go more in a childhood possession style with her character. They have concerns about Dahli and Saint’s character voices. La Zavaleta is a walking gay stereotype as the priest and it’s either going to hit or not in the final performance. It’s a big risk that could pay off in a big way.
The guest judges this week are Ray Santiago and Misha Osherovich. Both are experienced horror actors, with Santiago starring in Ash vs Evil Dead and Osherovich starring in Freaky. It’s always good to have actors judge performance-heavy challenges.
“The Exorsisters” short is really good. The production values are solid for not being able to shoot on a specific location. COVID-19 restrictions mostly limited the production to the theatre the Floor Show/Boudoir/Cauldron scenes are filmed in and the professional haunt they’ve returned to for a few of the Exterminations.
Hoso really commits to the physicality of the role, throwing herself around the bed while switching between the possessed and regular character. Sant’s reactions read really well on camera. She looks like an actual actor performing a suffering mother role in an early 90s horror film. Sigourney is a great ensemble player, constantly in character and clearly studied on how a horror movie assistant like this is meant to be performed. Dahli’s performance is a little flat by comparison, and La Zavaleta might be a bit too camp.
For the Floor Show, Dahli’s demon feels like a Cenobite. That’s a high compliment around here. They’re this androgenous force covered in chains, horns, forceps, and leather skulking down the stage. This is Dahli in their element and it works.
La Zavaleta’s look is incredible. She’s this winged demon in fetish gear. The inspiration is somewhere between a succubus and Baphomet and I’m here for it. The impact is great onstage, especially when the wings are ripped off like the angels cast down to hell.
Sigourney Beaver is filthy this week. She revealed in the Boudoir that her inspiration is Lilith and the demonization of women if anything goes wrong in pregnancy. She has some great cheek prosthetics that add unnatural angles to her face and a string of babies wrapped up in intestines and IV tubing that she pulls out of black swaddling cloth.
Hoso Terra Toma is serving a campy red demon that still reads as horror. This creature is in a patched up and burnt suit trying to make some kind of deal with you. The eye prosthetics with teeth sticking out are nightmare fuel.
Saint is also doing a fallen angel, which is very on brand. This angelic white costume slowly being consumed in the corruption of blood is stunning. They said it in the Boudoir. Religious horror is their brand and they finally get a chance to show it onstage.
For me, I’m torn between Saint and Sigourney on this challenge. Saint really took Peaches Christ’s direction well and delivered a heartbreaking performance as the suffering horror mother in “The Exorsisters." Sigourney delivered Universal monster movie camp in a way that fit the style of the script without falling into self-parody. I give the edge to Saint for having the harder role and a stronger costume in the Floor Show.
In their private conversation, the Boulet Brothers basically have the opposite reaction that I did to the Floor Show. They hated it. They say that they could exterminate everyone tonight based on those performances. The contestants are pretty much equal and they can’t decide if anyone is pulling ahead. Saint still isn’t taking the performance note no matter how many times they’re given it and the Boulets are frustrated.
Saint is praised for their acting and their costume. They get the same note about not pushing their performance far enough. Hoso Terra Toma did well in the acting and the Floor Show. They love her demon, but wish she pushed further with the possessed teenager role.
Dahli took direction well, but didn’t change their makeup to be more human for a human role. Sigourney Beaver stole the show in “The Exorsisters.” However, her baby prop didn’t work as intended and she got thrown off in the Floor Show. La Zavaleta is praised for their acting, but that moment with the wings was actually another prop malfunction onstage.
Hoso Terra Toma wins. She did do well in both aspects of the challenge and I could see Dread, as a production company, wanting to work with her to create a really impactful creature onscreen.
Dahli, La Zavaleta, and Sigourney Beaver are all up for Extermination. These three are going to the Chapel of Calamity, where they will be hung from the wall in a latex vacuum chamber. I’m going to be honest. I’d tap out right away. I hate vacuum chambers in haunted houses, I hate confined spaces, and I hate feeling like I’m trapped. Then the actual Extermination isn’t even like a haunted house vacuum chamber—these giant inflatable hallways that that press against your body while you transition between rooms in a haunt. The contestants are actually strapped into a frame against a giant vacuum form wall and held in place by some kind of breathable fabric that gets pulled right into them. This is hell. There are very few things I struggle with watching in horror films anymore and those suffocation scenes with plastic bags always make me squirm.
Ultimately, La Zavaleta is exterminated. They did a phenomenal job on this show. Going from bottom two in the first challenge to top five is no small feat. They proved themselves an incredible performer who clearly belongs in the Dragula family. I want to see La Zavaleta perform live.
New episodes of Dragula premiere Tuesdays on Shudder.
***
Check out all the Dragula reviews here.
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