Emma Roberts’ 23-Episode Masterpiece Horror Series Deserves Every Slasher Fan's Attention

Published Oct 6, 2026, 11:36 PM EDT Dani Kessel Odom (they/them) is an autistic lead writer and TV critic who covers sci-fi shows like Doctor Who and Pluribus, fantasy shows like The Magicians and Percy Jackson, and horror of all kinds. They also cover Marvel and DC TV shows and movies, with a robust knowledge of comic books. Their TV reviews can be found on Rotten Tomatoes. Dani is also part of ScreenRant's books team, using their fiction writing and literature studies as the backbone for their book analyses. They have covered events, such as the Denver Fan Expo. Professionals in the field, such as Damien Leone and Lucy Hale, have shared their articles. Their review of Ponies was quoted in the show's TV trailer. In university, they majored in English Writing with a minor in psychology. They have always had a passion for analyzing TV and movies, even taking filmography and scriptwriting classes in university. They also studied and participated in onstage and onscreen acting extensively from the ages of 7 to 18. Aside from working at Screen Rant, Dani has worked as a freelance editor and writer over the past decade, often in a ghostwriting capacity. The slasher TV genre has some fantastic shows that get overlooked, and one masterpiece series starring Emma Roberts deserves more attention. The horror genre spans far and wide. Though every subgenre ebbs and flows, some have more perennial appeal. The slasher subgenre boomed in the 70s and 80s, went through a lull, and then was revived by Scream. Since then, it has stuck around. I could write a love letter to slashers, because the genre is, without a doubt, my favorite. Slasher is the only genre where a truly awful movie can be considered a masterpiece without anyone batting an eye. Fun and creativity matter more than technical brilliance. Great kills increase a movie’s ranking more than great acting, though that certainly helps too. Being boring is more of a sin than being campy or cheesy. Low-budget isn’t automatically seen as a bad thing. So many of the genre's most iconic movies are so bad they’re good. The TV side of the slasher genre doesn’t get nearly as much attention, but the best shows still follow the genre's tropes, just in a longer format. We still get masked killers, memorable weapons, high body counts, and a final girl or final guy. Plus, comedy slashers add social and genre satire, plus funny characters. A particularly fantastic TV show in the genre is Scream Queens. I am not one to praise Ryan Murphy, as I hate most of his shows. However, I’m willing to give credit where credit is due. He may not have invented the horror-comedy genre, despite his 2014 claim (via The Week), but he did knock it out of the park with the show. Scream Queens Fits In With Slasher Comedy Classics Like Scream & Happy Death Day Set at the Kappa Kappa Tau sorority, Scream Queens follows a group of young women, led by the snobby Chanel Oberlin (Emma Roberts), who get targeted by a serial killer dressed up like the school’s Red Devil mascot. The murders link back to an unsolved tragedy in the KKT sorority’s dark history. Season 2 changes locations and introduces a new killer. I can’t say too much about the second season because it ties into the reveals at the end of Scream Queens season 1. At first glance, it may seem strange to consider Scream Queens anywhere near its classic predecessor, Scream, or the iconic successor, Happy Death Day, but the show uses satire and flips genre conventions on their head, just like both horror comedy movies. The idea of the "final girl" is completely reversed, with the hypersexualized, drug-using characters having a better chance of surviving than the more straight-laced folks. Rather than a woman’s scream being a victim’s cry, the most notable scream of the season is an expression of aggression and agency. On top of that, they play up the “mean girl” character archetype by making the sorority sisters laughably over-the-top. While Scream Queens season 2 is a little lower quality in terms of writing, it makes up for that with campiness and absurd humor, plus genuinely suspenseful moments and really entertaining kills. On top of that, Scream Queens really brings it with the cast, visuals, and homages. The FOX slasher TV show has an absolutely stacked cast of actors who feel like they belong in the horror genre even though not all of them have a horror background. The visuals are hypersaturated and almost candy-pop, which is an entertaining contrast with the brutal murders. What's more, the show pays respect to Scream with a big-name kill at the beginning. They also give nods to Psycho, Halloween, The Shining, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and many others. The show feels like it appreciates the slasher classics and the wider horror genre. The Slasher TV Show Is One Of The Many Times Emma Roberts Has Been A Scream Queen As the main character, Emma Roberts has to really bring it as a scream queen. Luckily, it isn’t the first or last time she's proven herself in the horror genre. Her first horror movie role was Jill Roberts in Scream 4. Then, she joined the American Horror Story cast, which she’s continued in since then, as Murphy reuses actors every season. The year Scream Queens debuted, she appeared as Joan in The Blackcoat’s Daughter. Since then, her credits include Paradise Hills, The Hunt, and Abandoned. Currently, she’s appearing in American Horror Story season 13. Roberts has essentially become a staple in the genre, and it would be a mistake if she turned away from horror in the future. She does a great job playing the mean girl and the scream queen in Scream Queens and American Horror Story. She's also been great on both sides of the knife, though I won’t reveal which movie she plays a villain in, in case anyone wants to go back and watch her horror movies. Scream Queens Proves Slasher TV Shows Can Work Just As Well As Movies As I mentioned in the introduction, the slasher genre rarely gets credit as a viable TV genre. Slasher movies get attention and praise all the time. Unfortunately, slasher shows often don’t get advertised well, and then they are canceled way too soon. Despite this, Scream Queens is a great example of the genre working on TV. The series embraces the very things that make slashers great, not shying away from blood and violence. At the same time, it knows how to lovingly laugh at the genre, leading to a self-aware, campy comedy-slasher that’s still deeply entertaining even at its weakest moments. The dialogue includes truly laugh-out-loud moments, and the times offensive and outdated jokes happen, as is common in Ryan Murphy shows, they come from the intentionally unlikable characters. The story kept momentum across episodes, which mattered since it aired weekly. Yet, it's just as good to binge the show now. On top of that, the FOX series shows how multiple seasons can tie together to create a cohesive story while still keeping things fresh. Ultimately, Scream Queens provides a framework for future slasher shows to build from. Additionally, it's a great horror show to revisit this spooky season. Release Date 2015 - 2016-00-00 Network FOX Showrunner Ryan Murphy