Review: 'Fear Factor' Meets 'Drag Race' in 'The Boulet Brothers' Dragula - Season 4'
"Fear Factor" meets "Drag Race" meets Ryan Murphy in Season 4 of "Dragula" on the Shudder Network. Ten performance artists vie for $100,000 and a chance to headline a world tour in a series curated for "drag, filth, horror and glamour."
Producers/hosts the Boulet Brothers aim for a real reality show, a gritty fetish fest from Haus Haunt that includes genuine scares and unscripted cast interactions as well as longer takes and fewer, super-polished jump cuts and interstitials.
The series also seems be more inclusive than other drag competitions by including transgender people like Bitter Betty, former "RuPaul's Drag Race" contenders like Jade Jolie, and women like Chicago's Sigourney Beaver, who wants "to throw my vag in the pag." The other contestants are Merrie Cherry, Astrud Aurelia, Mexico's La Zavaleta, Koco Caine, Seoul's Hoso Terra Toma, masked queen Formelda Hyde, and Saint from season 3.
The contestants walk the gauntlet of haunted house scares, plus physical challenges, before they are up for extermination (rather than elimination) in rather terrifying ways. The first episodes has them reinvent, then runway walk, their favorite horror movie icons. Joining the Boulets for the premiere episode are guest judges Tananarive Due and Darren Stein. Future celeb participants include Vanessa Hudgens, Harvey Guillen, Kristian Nairn, Misha Osherovich, Orville Peck, Poppy, Ray Santiago, and Bob the Drag Queen.
"The Boulet Brothers Dragula, Season 4" premieres on Shudder starting October 19.
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