October is a special time for film and television buffs. For thirty-one days, All Hallows' Eve is celebrated by watching horror movies and Halloween-themed episodes. No other time of the year provides the same protracted opportunity to consume as much media as this one, so what happens when November 1st inevitably rolls around? There are a surprising amount of Thanksgiving horror films, and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is always a good time, but there now also exists two seasons of fantastic television that provide the perfect off-ramp from the spooky season into the last two months of the year.
Los Espookys, the HBO comedy created by Julio Torres, Ana Fabrega, and Fred Armisen, just completed its second excellent and bizarre season. The show, which stars its creators alongside Bernardo Velasco and Cassandra Ciangherotti, tells the story of the titular Los Espookys, a group of friends who start a business replicating horror movie clichés in real life. The show's silliness doesn't end with the premise and permeates the entirety of the program, creating a world that is both familiar and odd. There's nothing else quite like it on television. While there hasn't been any news about a third outing, its first two seasons are definitely worth a post-Halloween watch.
Los Espookys Uses Horror But Isn't Scary
Nothing about Los Espookys is actually spooky. Rather, the show uses the horrific and macabre to give the show a unique look and satirical edge. Indiewire called Los Espookys a "reverse Scooby-Doo," a descriptor that is apt in more ways than one. Similar to how Scooby-Doo uses the trappings of horror to tell kid-friendly stories, Los Espookys employs aspects from classic science-fiction and gothic films as quirky plot elements and set dressing.
One of the most delightful parts of the show is how none of the effects used by the Los Espookys look realistic, yet everyone in the world treats them as terrifying. It's all a big, weird love letter to the classic Universal Monster movies and Hammer Film Productions, which are more silly than scary today.
The way actual supernatural characters are integrated into the show is also incredibly fun. For example, Andrés Valdez, played by the absurdly funny comedian Julio Torres, has a parasitic water spirit named the Sombra del Agua that leaves him in the second season for a job at the American embassy in Mexico. No one questions this odd occurrence, along with the fact that Andrés can talk to celestial bodies, like the moon, and ask them for favors. The faux-horror created by the Los Espookys petrifies the denizens of the show, while no one bats an eye at the appearance of magic. The result is a show that embraces the most preposterous facets of horror.
Los Espookys Is Surreal and Silly
Los Espookys' closest comedic relative might be The Mighty Boosh, the cult-classic British sitcom from the mid-aughts. While the similarities are minimal, both shows mine comedy out of the surreal. Nothing makes sense in the world of Los Espookys; even the show's internal logic is nonsensical. Nowhere is this clearer than with the character of Tati, played by Ana Fabrega.
Almost every episode of the show finds Tati getting involved in a new cockamamie scheme, such as publishing her own abridged versions of classic novels with original plots, getting involved with a multilevel marketing scam, or working as a human fan. She does this all with a hilarious ignorance that is hilarious to watch, even if it makes no sense.
Fred Armisen's Tico is also ridiculous but in a different way. Tico is a valet who loves his job and can even park two cars at once. The idea of a valet parking prodigy is such an exquisitely goofy concept, and Armisen sells it one hundred percent.
In season two of the show, tragedy befalls Tico as self-parking cars cause his job to become irrelevant. In one of the show's funniest throwaway gags, a depressed and unemployed Tico watches a car chase in an action movie until he exasperatedly asks when the driver will finally park the car. Only Fred Armisen could milk so much humor from such a one-note, inane character.
Los Espookys is decidedly not for everyone; it's weird, esoteric, ludicrous, and above all, wacky. However, if it sounds at all appealing, chances are you will love it. Los Espookys has only been its unique self from the beginning, having no immediately obvious influences or predecessors. It was destined to become a cult hit from its first episode and has only cemented its status as such since then. However, if you're a horror enthusiast or a lover of the bizarrely comedic, then the twelve existing episodes of Los Espookys might just be the perfect new binge-watch for you.