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The Most Killer Cold Opens of The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula Season 4

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The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula’s move to Shudder arrived with its largest prize to date and some welcome production upgrades – c’mawn Shudder! Aside from a sleeker boudoir, stronger editing, and some other bells and whistles, one aspect that’s been noticeably elevated is the cold open at the start of each episode. I’ve always loved these artistic segments that tie into the week’s theme with flair and reverence for the horror genre, and now the higher-budget shorts are more stylish and spookier than ever.

These openings and their respective closers – in which the exterminated queen stars in a flashy murder scene – truly blend a reality competition series with the horror films that the Boulets and their Monsters treasure so dearly. Like everything else on The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula, the concept is unique and adds to the excitement of tuning in each week. So, in honor of these devilishly entertaining shorts, the following are my Top 3 Cold Opens of Season 4, with a few runners up for good measure.

Episode 1 – The Witch Queens of Samhain: The best opening of the entire series, in my opinion, Season 4’s premiere brings us way back to one of the earliest competitions, The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Origins Serving us Galadriel from Lord of the Rings doing ASMR, an ethereal voice narrates the ceremony as a group of unholy peasants participates. We witness a barbaric extermination of yore, and a former Drag Supermonster is crowned, drenched in their competitors’ blood. Suddenly, we’re in the present-day, watching horror fans with newly acquired Boulet Brothers masks ogle their prize. One by one, the masks possess their hosts and transform them into killers on behalf of their Boulet overlords – you really should leave collector’s items in their original packaging, dearies. Later, during the Extermination, we see these masked minions hunt the bottom two through the woods in a music video homage to 80s slashers.

These sequences bookend the episode to let you know Season 4 is here in a big way. This isn’t simply a cute promo teaser or a bad skit…we’re given an actual, fantastical backstory to the series and an introduction to the season in the form of a legitimate short film. The imagery in the flashback is genuinely unsettling, and the present-day bit is the stuff of a classic slasher, gradually building tension as it goes. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think you were starting up Witch Queens IV: Curse of the Drag Queenon Shudder.

Episode 4: Hair Metal Strip Club: This opener welcomes the Boulets favorite episode of every season, the Monsters of Rock challenge. It fittingly and perfectly manifests their bad bitch attitude. After reintroducing us to Season 2 winner Biqtch Puddin’s iconically filthy janitor, we watch as the Boulets enter their club in transcendent hair metal couture and take a seat at the poles. Surrounded by male erotic dancers and (presumably) mounds of cocaine, the duo sits back for a show. Unfortunately, the male in their gaze spills a solo cup full of tequila all over Madame Swanthula, and, with the snap of her fingers, the cold-hearted bitch has him choked out between some meaty thighs. Unbothered, the party continues.

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Once American Idol introduced the world to Simon Cowell, every reality television competition felt it needed that one “asshole judge” persona to keep things spicy. The Boulets are not mean, but they don’t take anyone’s crap and effortlessly embody two fabulous c-words who, now and again, show a softer side to their Monsters. These two are who they say they are, not a pair of jesters delivering zingers for our entertainment (although they do have some good ones), and the hair metal opener is entirely their brand of sex, drugs, and rock & roll. The all-white contacts and the fact that we’ve never seen them out of drag certainly help to perpetuate their intimidating mystery.

 Episode 8: Murder Marionettes: Pupaphobians beware! This week’s theme may be Killer Clowns, but the real stars of the show are the marionettes made in the Boulet’s likeness. These cackling puppets welcome us to the Circus of Clowns and its journey into madness like the good satanic ringleaders they are. Soon, their clowns are on the attack, and innocent dolls looking for a show are spewing blood at high velocity.

Of course, the creativity displayed throughout a season of The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula knows no bounds, but I was absolutely delighted by the appearance of these Barbies of the Bordello. Their pouty facial expressions and chaotic movements were a joy to behold, and I always welcome a dose of comedy with my horror. By the episode’s end, we’re even treated to marionettes of the Final Four awaiting judgment before the finale. I guess your very own personalized Annabelle is a nice consolation prize for falling short of $100,000.

Runners-Up: These two certainly stood out to me, but ultimately couldn’t murder the hair metal marionettes of Samhain.

Episode 2: Nosferatu Beach Party: In what is surely the zaniest cold open of the season, the Boulets let their guard down to reveal a campier side not often seen on the show. Shot in the style of a 1950s beach party flick, we’re treated to Drac and Swan letting loose with their men and moonscreen until an unwelcome outsider encroaches on their fun. All tea all shade to the exterminated queen of the week.

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Episode 7: Exorsisters: This blasphemous opener finds the Boulets in a tiny electric chapel, on the prowl for human sacrifice. Swan spits acid onto a crucifix via a nasty little practical effect, and it’s there they see a hunky priest at the pulpit. He’s forced to disrobe and is left cowering in fear and humiliation as they prepare for ritual sacrifice. It’s no “Judas” or “Montero” video in sheer production scale, but even so is fervently offensive to those of the cloth.

Horror openings often hook you in with a macabre precursor of what’s to come, and these gutsy Season 4 cold opens allow the show’s unique viewpoint to pop from reel one. With another season in the grave, I look forward to experiencing the Boulets one-up themselves for many more to come.

The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula is available to stream on Shudder.

Alex Warrick is a film lover and gaymer living the Los Angeles fantasy by way of an East Coast attitude. Interested in all things curious and silly, he was fearless until a fateful viewing of Poltergeist at a young age changed everything. That encounter nurtured a morbid fascination with all things horror that continues today. When not engrossed in a movie, show or game he can usually be found on a rollercoaster, at a drag show, or texting his friends about smurfs.

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The Creep Tapes: Mom (and Albert) (S1E6)

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We’ve reached the end of The Creep Tapes Season 1! Whew, time flies.

This season has taken us through the wild kills of Josef (Mark Duplass) over an unspecified amount of time. From open wetlands to making a true crime story, Josef has shown us the depths of his maniacal depravity. Episode 6 follows in the footsteps of Episode 5 (Brandt) by showing us a deeper look into the psyche of Josef and what makes him him.

“Mom (and Albert)” follows Josef as he makes a surprise visit to his mother’s (Krisha Fairchild) house. Shortly into Josef’s visit, he’s introduced to her new beau, Albert (John Craven). Josef isn’t sure how to take his mother’s partner and does whatever he can to make the visit as awkward as possible. But will the awkwardness turn into murder? Will this be the first Creep Tape without a kill?

(Spoilers from here on out.)

First and foremost, we finally get what we’ve all been begging for…DONG! Josef throws a fit and runs away. His mother goes looking for him and finds him naked with half of his body (head first) in a jacuzzi. He eventually comes out of the hot tub and we finally see the penis of a madman. So, for those who stuck through the first five episodes just to see if we got it, well, there you go!

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Everything about Episode 6 is freaky and paints Josef in somewhat of a sympathetic light. One of the things we learn is Josef’s unique obsession with Forest Gump. As someone who has only seen bits and pieces of Forest Gump on TNT over the years, I cannot really comment on if/why that is important. What I can comment on is the information that directly impacts Josef as a character.

When Albert arrives, his mother introduces Josef to Albert, saying, “This is my favorite son, Wolfie.” This lends us two important pieces. But before we unpack that, Josef’s mother reveals she still has his stuffed animal named Wolfie. We also learn that when Josef was six, he had a bad dream and ripped the wolf’s head off. His mother goes on to say that she didn’t sew it back on completely so that he remembered what he did. Josef has an age regression issue. He goes to check out his bed, and when he realizes it’s not his “special bed,” he throws a fit.

What does this teach us? The most obvious thing it teaches us is that Josef has been babied far too long. His mother calls him by the name that he calls his stuffed animal, which he ripped the head off of. From what we’ve learned, his mother has purposely stunted his emotional growth OR didn’t do anything to make sure Josef’s mental health was addressed from a young age. Returning to how he was introduced to Albert, she says that Wolfie is her favorite son. This either implies that Josef has siblings OR that his mother is also a pathological liar and is feeding Albert a false narrative of her life.

Given what we’ve seen to the point of Albert’s introduction, either of those two options is possible. By the time that Josef kills Albert, his mother doesn’t really seem too upset. Even though his mother shoots down Josef when he tells Albert that he wants to film with him, it’s clear she knows more than she’s leading on.

But that’s when we get the all-too-telling final shot of the season. Josef and his mother have a conversation on the ground next to where Albert is now buried. Earlier in the episode, Josef’s mother comments on how he breastfed for 6 years; he was also a biter. Cut to post-Albert kill. Josef and his mother awkwardly embrace and Josef suckles from her. It’s truly appalling and tells us all we really need to know.

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Episode 6 was fantastic and gave us a proper backstory into who Josef is and why. Now we must take into account that Josef’s mother may be just as pathological as he is, but I feel there is some truth in what she says.

The Creep Tapes has been a welcome entry into Creep cannon, and if Shudder is smart, they will have already asked Duplass and Brice to start Season 2.

What did you think about this series? Was it everything you wanted from a Creep expansion? And what was your favorite tape?

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The Creep Tapes: Brandt (S1E5)

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The Creep Tapes is nearing its finale, which is a damn shame! This season has been a blast to go through, and with any luck, we’ll hear news of a second season shortly. But there’s no need to sing our sorrows because we still have Episodes 5 and 6 to get through! Episode 5, “Brandt”, is the most experimental and mind-boggling of what we’ve seen thus far.

It’s difficult to get into this episode without spoilers, so fair warning.

“Brandt” finds Josef (Mark Duplass), who goes by Kyle, alone in a hotel room, patiently awaiting Brandt’s arrival (Scott Pitts). Brandt’s persistent tardiness slowly throws Josef into a spiral of psychosis and anger. A missed opportunity with a random hotel guest (Tai Leclaire) makes Josef angrier at a wasted opportunity. Will Brandt show up and finally meet his end at the hands of Josef? Or will This be Josef’s first kill-free tape?

This episode will surely ruffle some feathers regarding the lore of the franchise. It’s been made clear that editing goes into Josef’s tapes, which we’ve seen in some of these previous tapes and in the films. Josef spends most of this tape alone in this hotel room with Peachfuzz. And not just with the mask of Peachfuzz, but actual Peachfuzz. If you haven’t seen the episode, that might not make sense.

The scene that really makes Josef’s editing prominent is when he sits across from himself (as Peachfuzz) on the bed while they eat P.F. Chang’s—at first, this confused me. Is there a second person helping Josef commit these crimes? Then we get to the scene where Peachfuzz somehow cuts the power to the room while Josef is on camera doing something else. And this culminates in Josef getting knocked out by the butt of an axe when he opens a closet door.

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Everything points toward Peachfuzz being a second person who is NOT Josef. When Josef wakes up from being knocked out, he is in the bathtub with his hands tied above his head. BUT when Brandt finally shows up, Josef slips out of his binds. So it’s clear that Josef put himself into this situation and edited the footage in a way that made himself out to be Peachfuzz.

Whether or not this episode will work for everyone is up in the air. It took a second rewatch for it all to really sink in. Josef’s mania is on full display here. When he thinks his victim will not be showing up, it leads him down a path of self-destruction. Even though Brandt does show up, Josef follows through with editing the tape in a way that propels the idea of Peachfuzz being a separate entity from Josef the man.

One of the things we learn early on in the episode is that this is Josef’s “first solo project.” We can assume this means Brandt will be Josef’s first Peachfuzz-less kill. But in the end, Peachfuzz wins and throws the axe at Brandt. What this also does is give us somewhat of a timeline to go on. At this point in the series, we’ve witnessed Josef kill people without the use of Peachfuzz. This leads us to assume that Brandt was early on in his kill list.

It will be fun to watch people pick apart and analyze this episode over the coming weeks/months, and I’m genuinely interested to see what audiences think of this episode. With one more creep tape left in the season, what do you think will happen? Will there be any more factually accurate Josef lore? Or will we get more of a deep dive into his unhinged, pathological lying psyche?

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