The Beauty may be horror television, but it misses the point of the genre

TheBeauty
Ryan Murphy and Matthew Hodgson, Disney+/FX

Intentions and limitations TheBeauty (Disney+/FX), the new series from TV titan Ryan Murphy and collaborator Matthew Hodgson, is on full display in its first scene. Among the models strutting down the catwalk in Paris, one face smoulders more than the rest—literally. The hapless Ruby (Bella Hadid) is drenched in sweat, so she’s desperate for water and kills the fashionistas for their water bottles. Cornered, panting with thirst, she spontaneously bursts into flames.

This may or may not catch you. But that’s what audiences have come to expect from Murphy (I think Festivity and American Horror Story). His horror and awe should have been perfect TheBeautyA glossy, terrifying plot in which two FBI agents investigating deaths in Europe’s fashion capitals uncover a lucrative drug and a sexually transmitted infection, both with glamorous but deadly effects. In practice, the series is confusing.

One thing Murphy’s show has long shared with body horror is that it hinges on finding the truth buried in its distaste. But the only truth TheBeauty peddles is the futility of climbing the endless ladder of our beauty standards. So while he sometimes gets excited about his gory transformations, including the massacre on the pier, TheBeautySocial commentary is (sorry) deeply tinged, manifesting mostly in cheap swipes at Ozempic users.

Between that and its aesthetic flaws, the series rarely captures the transgressive spirit that makes body horror so special. Worse, it feels unoriginal, not because it’s an adaptation of a popular comic book series, but because it just offers the obvious.

See what TheBeauty could have been, consider Flya masterpiece from David Cronenberg that, despite its very different plot, covers remarkably similar ground to TheBeauty. Scientist Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) tries to make his experimental teleportation pods work for living creatures. After becoming romantically involved with reporter Ronnie Quaife (Geena Davis), a night’s uncertainty prompts him to test his machine and accidentally crosses paths with a stray fly.

Fly is an incredibly original love story about the limits of intimacy that reveals remarkable truths. The slow transformation never completely destroys the love between Seth and Ronnie. Fly cleverly combines romance and gut-wrenching horror without detracting, while subtly speaking to topics ranging from ego cost and gender dysphoria to mania and the AIDS epidemic.

TheBeauty It touches on those themes, too—one character pleads that years of PrEP should help her fight off a strange new infection, while a transgender woman about to undergo a medical transformation fears a beauty drug will stop her from doing so. The show even includes a scene where the character slowly pulls off his fingernails, just like Seth does when he realizes something is wrong.

But anytime TheBeautyProducers play with richer material, doing so in the most didactic way possible. Not so Cronenberg, who lets the resonances of Seth and Ronnie’s story speak for themselves. The lesson here is that while we remake the body in terrible, wonderful ways, the real horror is that we can’t imagine anything new at all.

Bethan also recommends…

Substance
Coralie Fargeat

Full disclosure: I’m not sure I liked this movie very much. But it’s a must-watch, if only for the scene in which fading star Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) takes the titular drug for the first time and her back splits open to reveal a younger, prettier version of herself.. Substance achieves what TheBeauty slackers and with much more vigor and drive.

Bethan Ackerley is a subeditor in The new scientist. He loves sci-fi, sitcoms and anything creepy. Follow her on X @inkerley

topics:

• Science fiction/
• TV