‘The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Titans’ Review: Horror, Honey
In its first All-Stars edition, "Titans," The Boulet Brothers unearth the best drag monsters for another shot at glory.
It must be hard living in the shadow of RuPaul’s Drag Race. The drag competition show has perfected the format, while also dominating the entire world and putting its stamp on drag. Still, The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula has worked hard to place itself outside of RuPaul’s shadow, with its focus on messy gore, nightmarishly good looks, and Fear Factor-esque challenges, even if it still sometimes follows the Drag Race playbook.
Titans (★★★★☆) is the franchise’s first all-star edition, choosing some of the most promising contestants from the first four seasons to return and compete for $100,000 dollars and a spot on a world tour. To shake up its own status quo, Titans makes some major changes, most notably with the absence of Extermination Challenges.
Now, every contestant will be required to do a “fright feat” mini-challenge, which from the first demented apple-bobbing challenge, will delight any who love seeing the contestants fight through horrific challenges. The winner of the fright feat will get a special treat for that week’s floorshow, and any loser who refuses to take part will be sent home. Whether it be spicy food or bobbing in animal blood, Dragula’s filth factor is still very present, making the missing extermination challenges feel not too far gone.
The floor show main challenges seem to be pretty standard for Dragula with the first two being lip syncs that are really just excuses for the contestants to show off their looks. Dragula’s floor shows have always been a weak spot, and so far for Titans as well, with the first two being rather tame compared to the other aspects of the episodes. While the contestants have clearly upped their game for this new season, the awkward challenges weigh their talent down. The second episode makes for a campier take on the floorshow, which works better, but isn’t up to the standards that the first all-star edition should have.
There are some other interesting twists to the Dragula formula that are clearly yanked from Drag Race, especially in the all-stars editions. However, it’s clear that The Boulet Brothers’ are hellbent on making Dragula better each year, so the improvements are welcome, even if we have seen it before. While changes to the formula are good enough to add some tension, it’s the cast of this all-stars season that will make bloody history.
At first, the cast members of Titans seem like a mixed bag, with some major standouts, like Hoso Terra Toma and Abhora, easily filling the front-runner spots. However, there are a decent number of earlier outs like Yovska, Astrud Aurelia, and Koco Caine, who weren’t on their original runs long enough to know exactly how things will play.
Runner-ups like Victoria Black and Melissa Befierce quickly establish they are not to be messed with once again, while contestants like Erika Klash and Kendra Onixxx bring some fiery flavor to the show. No contestant ends up being the clear “filler-queens” by the end of the first episode, making for an overall better viewing experience.
Despite over half of the contestants having not made it through even half of their original seasons, the grit and grime of Dragula’s aesthetic transfers to its cast, who come in hot and ready to kill their competition, quickly becoming the main highlight of the season. While Dragula still has some room to grow, its Titans cast wasted no time bringing the drama, quickly setting up old beefs from prior seasons, while adding some unexpected turns to set up some amazing storylines for later in the season.
While this is only the fifth full season of television in the franchise, there is a very high production quality that makes the show look better than ever. The Boulet Brothers’ look fantastic, and their primary sets are way more polished than in past years (the contestants aren’t un-miked in a badly lit back closet this time around).
There are a few clunky moments that stick out through the polish of Titans, including some awkward transitions between scenes and stiff moments from the hosts, who look quietly static sometimes when they are trying to transition things along. The judging situation has improved, with the critiques not feeling out of place, and the guest judges feeling in tune with the show’s vibe. Most of the problems in Titans are fixable ones that get better even by its second episode, which benefits from a shorter runtime that tightens things up nicely.
Ultimately, Titans isn’t a complete reinvention of the formula, but a delightful change of pace for a drag show clearly in its stride. Some of the mainline series’ weaknesses are still present, especially in its challenges, but the show overall is better than it ever has been.
Despite its slight stumbles, the cast of monsters chosen to be brought back from the dead are some of the most promising in the show’s franchise, and it’s clear every party involved is determined to make Titans a new benchmark for the Dragula series.
New episodes of The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Titans roll out every Tuesday on Shudder and AMC+. Visit www.shudder.com.
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