Prime Video serves up something wickedly original this summer with its darkly irreverent cannibalism comedy The Horror of Dolores Roach. Based on the hit Spotify podcast series of the same name, think of it as a modern-day tale of love, mood swings, betrayal, weed, survival, and, well yes, cannibalism.
Starring Justina Machado (One Day at a Time, Six Feet Under, Jane the Virgin), Alejandro Hernandez (New Amsterdam), model Kita Updike, and K. Todd Freeman (A Series of Unfortunate Events), the eight-episode horror comedy series hails from Aaron Mark, who took the premise of his one-woman play Empanada Loca and expanded it into an online sensation. In this streaming version, the creator gives audiences a memorable protagonist in Dolores, who’s becoming a serial killer, but not a sociopath.
Here’s the lowdown: After being released from a 16-year prison sentence, Dolores (Justina Machado) returns to her suddenly gentrified Washington Heights neighborhood and reconnects with old stoner pal, Luis (Alejandro Hernandez). Feeling bummed about a lost love and with nowhere else to go, Luis sets Dolores up in the basement under his empanada shop, where she soon becomes a masseuse to rake in some cash. Stability at last. When her new footing is threatened, “Magic Hands” Dolores turns to shocking extremes to survive. As such, the empanada shop customers get a refreshed menu.
The series is inspired by the “legend” of Sweeney Todd, which tracks back to the mid-1800’s — so, this isn’t a creative offspring from the hit musical. Kita Updike and K. Todd Freeman, who costar as Nellie and Jeremiah, respectively, in the new series, shared more with MovieWeb in the exclusive clips featured here and the interview below. Dig in.
Kita Updike on the Show’s Clever Spin
The Horror of Dolores Roach is based on Aaron Mark’s hit Spotify podcast series of the same name. In a statement to the press, Mark noted that Dolores is, “an ex-con-turned-masseuse in a Washington Heights basement whose strangled massage clients are cooked into empanadas by the stoner chef upstairs.” Would you like salt or pepper with that? Also working in the shop is Nellie, a cheerful young woman who’s delightfully surprised by the sudden uptick in business. If only she knew the mishaps that happened downstairs.
“I think audiences are going to be surprised by what’s going to happen, because they might be familiar with the source material and some of the numerous iterations of the Sweeney Todd story, but it’s different here,” said Kita Updike of her character. “This is not based on any of the plays or movies or anything like that. If they have that idea in their mind, it’s a good starting point, but that doesn’t mean that’s what the story is about. As a TV show, we have more time to go to new places than in a movie or play. It’s not finite.”
She calls Nellie an “ingénue,” somebody innocent who doesn’t necessarily know what’s going on. “Aaron Mark was so welcoming to what we had to say about our characters,” added Updike. She continued:
If we didn’t feel like something was honest, or we didn’t think that something would really be in that location — I lived in The Heights, three blocks away from where this takes place — he would really take that into consideration. There’s nothing better than playing a character where the creators actually want to hear from you. That made this experience so much easier.
K. Todd Freeman Delivers the Goods
As Jeremiah, K. Todd Freeman, is the friendly and sharp delivery guy who seems to be keeping an eye on Dolores and Luis, and the sudden boom in business. Jeremiah is a good guy, somebody Dolores can trust. But can she trust him with the truth: that through a series of twisted mishaps, somehow Luis got a new batch of fresh meat to include in his snacks? Talk about plot twists.
Freeman shared:
The most fun for me in shooting this was that Aaron and the writers truly welcomed us actors into the writers’ room. We were very able to contribute very much to the arc of our characters — who we were; the real ‘who’ of our characters. It felt very collaborative in that regard.
As the episodes roll out, viewers learn more about all the characters, and it’s entertaining to see how each of these actors play off of each other. The scenes between Machado and Freeman may stand out here as the story evolves. “I was excited to play something that’s off-kilter, that’s left of normal, which I really love to play,” Freeman added. “It’s not predictable.”
What is predictable is that anyone who tunes into this new series will have a morbidly great time. The Horror of Dolores Roach will be served beginning July 7 on Prime Video.
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