TMC
10-22-2022, 04:49 AM
https://slate.com/culture/2022/10/los-espookys-what-we-do-in-the-shadows-telenovela-reno.html
As another spooky (https://www.salon.com/2022/10/21/spooky-tv-shows-netflix-hbo-hulu-peacock/) season descends upon us, let us turn our attention to horror. The genre is all over series TV: zombies are rampaging through All of Us Are Dead and multiple Walking Deads; Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches is soon to join her Interview With the Vampire on AMC; Mike Flanagan simply can’t stop raising ghosts on his various Netflix shows. Horror has even permeated comedy: some of TV’s edgiest sitcoms are steeped in it. And yet, as Los Espookys (https://www.polygon.com/23416378/los-espookys-season-2-review-rules) showed in its most recent episode, there may be no horror more chilling than an old-fashioned TV show.
For the uninitiated, HBO’s Los Espookys revolves around the titular “horror group.” In an unidentified Spanish-speaking country, Renaldo (Bernardo Velasco), Úrsula (Cassandra Ciangherotti), Andrés (Julio Torres), and Tati (Ana Fabrega) hire themselves out to create scary effects to their clients’ specs. Sometimes these are endearingly unconvincing simulacra of paranormal situations. When a seaside town risks ruin because the wig-wearing owl that serves as its primary tourist attraction loses its wig, for example, Tati posts up at the waterfront as the ghost of Marilyn Monroe, yelling “Yabba dabba do!” at passersby. Other times, Los Espookys trigger real supernatural events, as when American ambassador Melanie Gibbons (Greta Titelman) wants to fake her own kidnapping to double the length of her vacation, and Los Espookys accidentally trap her in a cursed mirror. Basically, it’s a show about practical effects for moderately practical use.
As another spooky (https://www.salon.com/2022/10/21/spooky-tv-shows-netflix-hbo-hulu-peacock/) season descends upon us, let us turn our attention to horror. The genre is all over series TV: zombies are rampaging through All of Us Are Dead and multiple Walking Deads; Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches is soon to join her Interview With the Vampire on AMC; Mike Flanagan simply can’t stop raising ghosts on his various Netflix shows. Horror has even permeated comedy: some of TV’s edgiest sitcoms are steeped in it. And yet, as Los Espookys (https://www.polygon.com/23416378/los-espookys-season-2-review-rules) showed in its most recent episode, there may be no horror more chilling than an old-fashioned TV show.
For the uninitiated, HBO’s Los Espookys revolves around the titular “horror group.” In an unidentified Spanish-speaking country, Renaldo (Bernardo Velasco), Úrsula (Cassandra Ciangherotti), Andrés (Julio Torres), and Tati (Ana Fabrega) hire themselves out to create scary effects to their clients’ specs. Sometimes these are endearingly unconvincing simulacra of paranormal situations. When a seaside town risks ruin because the wig-wearing owl that serves as its primary tourist attraction loses its wig, for example, Tati posts up at the waterfront as the ghost of Marilyn Monroe, yelling “Yabba dabba do!” at passersby. Other times, Los Espookys trigger real supernatural events, as when American ambassador Melanie Gibbons (Greta Titelman) wants to fake her own kidnapping to double the length of her vacation, and Los Espookys accidentally trap her in a cursed mirror. Basically, it’s a show about practical effects for moderately practical use.