As with any exotic item on a menu, convincing newcomers to try the dark delicacies of The Horror of Dolores Roach depends entirely upon word of mouth. But the Amazon series starring Justina Machado as a downtrodden woman who becomes a reluctant serial killer to protect herself from the various predators circling her neighborhood has been struggling with two disadvantages.
One, it’s such a strange creation that it almost defies description. Calling it a blistering social satire doesn’t capture its sunny approach to the macabre. The story takes place in New York’s vibrant Washington Heights community and involves disposing of bodies through baked goods, so one might call it In the Heights crossed with Sweeney Todd—minus the music. (Except, actually costar Cyndi Lauper does contribute a song about the besieged title character.) Suffice to say, The Horror of Dolores Roach is as uplifting and joyful as a cannibalism story could possibly be.
The show’s other word-of-mouth problem is that the lips of its creators and stars are sealed, at least as long as the Hollywood strikes drag on. Dolores Roach debuted all of its episodes at once on the streaming service July 7, a week before the actors joined the writers in a walkout that has sidelined them from promoting their work, even if it is work they believe in. Social media influencers have also been warned by the guild not to hype films and TV shows presented by struck companies, which further stifles the chatter.
Dolores Roach, perhaps more than other shows this summer, needed its talent out there stoking the conversation as tentative viewers gave it a shot. The “spooky season” of autumn would be especially rich for building interest in the horror-comedy, just as Amazon is deciding whether to renew it for a second season. Instead, Dolores Roach has been one of the primary victims of the stoppage—a show about working-class people who literally eat the rich, stifled by a knock-down, drag-out between laborers and employers.
Creator and showrunner Aaron Mark had shepherded The Horror of Dolores Roach for nearly a decade, from its origins as an off-Broadway play in 2015 to its first adaptation as a dramatic podcast in 2018. He describes it as a necessary choice to stand away from the show’s distributor just as Dolores Roach was hitting screens. “I was able to do some press arranged through my personal PR, through my manager. But I didn’t go to premiere events that were Amazon sanctioned. I didn’t go to our press junket,” he says. “I didn’t do anything that was official.” (For this article, Mark was reached by Vanity Fair through his manager, per WGA guidance to members. The actors have much tighter restrictions from their guild banning all media interviews no matter how they are coordinated.)
Even more significantly, Mark also had to halt all work on the second season he hopes to get. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m emphatically with the guild on this,” Mark says. “I am proud to stop that work. We’ve had to stop that work. It was very, very necessary for us to stop that work.”
Anthony Breznican
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