Where to begin with the star power fuelling the new horror series Swarm? It is co-created by Donald Glover, showrunner and star of the awards-festooned Atlanta, alongside Janine Nabers, writer on Atlanta and Watchmen. The cast features Chloe Bailey, one half of the Grammy-nominated duo Chloe x Halle, along with Paris Jackson (offspring of Michael), Rory Culkin and a Very Big Pop Star who can’t be named but who makes her debut as the leading light of an all-female commune with twinkling aplomb. Oh, and former first daughter Malia Obama is credited as one of the writers.
Most importantly, this is the first lead role for Dominique Fishback, who appeared in 2021 film Judas and the Black Messiah, who is darkly compelling as Dre, the socially awkward anti-hero who is obsessed with Ni’Jah, an R&B star unambiguously modelled on Beyoncé (she comes from Houston, her fans are called The Swarm and she has a sister who got into a ruckus with her cheating spouse in an elevator). Not for nothing does Swarm open with the words: “This is not a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is intentional.”
Dre is best friends with Bailey’s Marissa although lately they have been growing apart, with Marissa spending more time with her boyfriend (Damon Idris), who tries to seduce Dre when Marissa’s back is turned. When tragedy strikes, the darkness bubbling beneath Dre’s surface spills out as she embarks on a cross-country killing spree. When she asks “Who’s your favourite artist?”, you’d better come up with the right answer or you risk facing her bloody wrath.
There are echoes here of Black Mirror’s “Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too”, in which a lonely teenage girl fixates on a pop star played by Miley Cyrus via an interactive doll, and of Ari Aster’s hallucinatory folk horror film Midsommar. As a comment on the toxicity of stan culture, Swarm doesn’t tell us anything especially insightful, though the appearance of real pop royalty is a nice touch. Mainly, Swarm should be watched to see Fishback in action, moving between vulnerable and vicious as she plays a once-invisible woman who finally makes her mark.
★★★★☆
On Amazon Prime Video from March 17
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