The Beauty may be horror TV but it misses the genre’s point

beauty
Ryan Murphy and Matthew Hodgson, Disney+/FX

The intentions and limits of beauty (Disney+/FX), the new series from television titan Ryan Murphy and his collaborator Matthew Hodgson, is on full display in its first scene. Among the models walking on a catwalk in Paris, one face is hotter than the others – literally. Unhappy Ruby (Bella Hadid) is drenched in sweat, so desperate for water that she kills fashionistas for their water bottles. Cornered, panting with thirst, she burst into flames spontaneously.

It may grab you – or it may not. But that’s what audiences expect from Murphy (think Joy And American Horror Story). His schlock and awe should have been perfect for beautyThe brilliant and gruesome plot of, in which two FBI agents investigating deaths in the fashion capitals of Europe discover a lucrative drug and a sexually transmitted infection, both with glamorous but deadly effects. In practice, the series is a confusion.

One thing Murphy’s shows have long shared with body horror is that they depend on whether they find the truth buried in their vapidity. But the only truth is that beauty peddling is the futility of climbing the infinite ladder of our beauty standards. So while it’s sometimes thrilling with its bloody transformations, including that catwalk carnage, beauty‘s social commentary is (sorry) superficial, manifesting mainly in cheap swipes at Ozempic users.

Between that and its aesthetic misfires, the series rarely captures the transgressive spirit that makes body horror so special. Worse still, it feels unoriginal, not because it’s an adaptation of a popular comic book series, but because it only has the obvious to offer.

To see what beauty could have been, consider The flya David Cronenberg masterpiece that, despite its very different plot, covers remarkably similar ground to beauty. Scientist Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) is having trouble getting his experimental teleportation pods to work for living creatures. After becoming romantically involved with journalist Ronnie Quaife (Geena Davis), nighttime insecurity drives him to test his machine, accidentally hybridizing with a stray fly.

The fly It’s an incredibly original love story about the limits of intimacy, which reveals remarkable truths. The slow transformation never completely destroys the love between Seth and Ronnie. The fly cleverly blends romance and stomach-churning horror without diminishing either, while subtly tackling themes ranging from the price of ego and gender dysphoria to mania and the AIDS epidemic.

beauty touches on these topics as well — one character pleads that years of PrEP should help her fight off the strange new infection, while a transgender woman about to medically transition worries that the beautifying drug will prevent her from doing so. The series even contains a scene in which a character slowly pulls off his nails, just like Seth does when he realizes something is wrong.

But every time beautyThe producers play with richer material, they do it in the most didactic way possible. This is not the case for Cronenberg, who lets the resonances of the story of Seth and Ronnie speak. The lesson is that although we remake the flesh in horrific and astonishing ways, the real horror lies in not imagining anything new.

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The bottom
Coralie Fargeat

Full disclosure: I’m not sure I liked this movie very much. But it’s simply worth watching, if only for the scene in which fading star Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) first takes the titular drug and her back opens, revealing a younger, more beautiful version of herself.. The bottom realize what beauty errors, and with much more liveliness and vigor.

Bethan Ackerley is sub-editor at New scientist. She loves sci-fi, sitcoms and anything scary. Follow her on X @inkerley