"The Horror of Dolores Roach" Review: Don't Push Her

The adapted screenplay for this gory horomedy turned scripted fiction podcast, The Horror of Dolores Roach, is now streaming on Prime.

Source: Cosmopolitan / Dolores Roach (Justina Machado) as the many faces of Dolores.

Note: Virtually no major plot reveals spilled here. 

Accentuating the Positive

It’s refreshing and healthy to see actress Justina Machado, a 50-year-old woman, with a normal body and non-surgically enhanced face be the star of a show. It’s a rare thing these days, which is why I'm calling it out here. To boot, Dolores is deemed strong and desirable by those in her orbit. 

The Premise of the Horror 

Dolores Roach (Justina Machado), a Washington Heights native, and a down-on-her-luck, middle aged, ex-con is recently released from prison, after serving a 16-year stint for taking the fall for her gangster drug-dealing boyfriend. Upon her release from prison with a train ticket and $200, Dolores goes back to her old neighborhood to find it’s been gentrified in what’s definitively the best scene in the entire 8 episodes because well yes, the difference between 2003 Washington Heights and 2019 when the show takes place is pretty staggering. Through the hustle and bustle of young and hip upwardly mobile city dwellers, Dolores is priced out and aged out of the neighborhood.

Seeing this, I envisioned that the show would go deeper into the passage of time and its impact on a predominantly analog Dolores (pre-prison) who now has to adapt to using smart phones and tech, deal with the generational and socio-economic clashes between Xers and millennials/Zers by way of her neighbors, which it does sparingly, but the show places its heaviest emphasis on the ex-con theme as Dolores’ drug-dealing past and prison time is a continuous wrench in her dreams of a better life, making for much less comedy.

Instead, we see Dolores putting up a makeshift massage business (“Magic Hands” is her nickname) in the basement of Empanada Loca, the sole remaining familiar storefront from 2003, because this is the only marketable skill she has, which she also learned in prison from her hands-less cellmate, Tabitha. In the present day, Luis (Alejandro Hernandez), the son of the previous empanada restaurant owner who remembers Dolores from when he was a kid, gives Dolores her fresh start, offering for her to live and work free of charge in his basement. We are to read into this that Luis has a massive crush on Dolores because she’s a legend.

Source: The Daily Beast /  Luis (Alejandro Hernandez) and Dolores (Justina Machado) uncover more problems, with Luis telling himself, “I got 99 problems but Dolores ain’t one [of them].”

Dolores’ preoccupation with her past and specifically, with her ex Dominic, the guy who left her without a penny and with a prison sentence, can track in a universe where Dolores is in an unhealthy, codependent relationship. You might even be able to attribute her placement of trust in such a douche as les erreurs des jeunes or mistakes of  youth, but Dolores is no wilting flower and all the flashbacks of the romance seem to point to genuine affection between the two of them. Plus, she’s from the school of hard knocks and this obsession with her ex felt off brand for her, even if you buy the woman scorned bit long enough to accept the sheer gratuitousness of some of the acts she commits as revenge. Note: All of the press for this show has made mention of it being a modern-day “Sweeney Todd” adaptation, so don’t go all Dolores loca on me here.

The Actual Horror

The Prime Video horror-comedy is co-produced by the Blumhouse team who is responsible for a slew of original horrors films for Prime, and whose recent hit and cultural icon, M3GAN, has inspired a multitude of TikToks, memes and gifs, including this one, which illustrates the weird death dance M3GAN does that precedes a kill: 

Interesting tidbit on The Horror of Dolores Roach is that this show was originally a monologue based on Broadway actress’ Daphne Rubin-Vega’s “Empanada Loca.” It then became a serialized scripted podcast where Rubin-Vega voiced the character of Dolores to where we are with this 8-episode show being headlined by Justina Machado (One Day at a Time, Jane the Virgin, Six Feet Under). Rubin-Vega is also a consulting producer on this show.

Source: Elle / Daphne Rubin-Vega as Mimi Marquez in Rent on Broadway.

Horror is not a preferred genre for me, but where other horomedies, like the recent Based on a True Story or the genre-defining and bending staple Only Murders in the Building (S3 releases on August 8th) are able to successfully navigate the tricky, nuanced world of making a comedy based on a serial killer and still keep the suspense and comedy cadence intact, this show falls short. One of the core challenges is the translation from stage production to camera. When Machado’s narrating for us her ruminating thoughts as she moves throughout the show, the camera follows her, capturing her in a shaky and uneven way, from going up and down the basement stairs to walking a city street. On stage you can see how this could work. Onscreen, it presented as an oddly paced monologue to somewhat claustrophobic and The Blair Witch Project effect.

Where the show makes up for this shortcoming is with its cast. Machado is a worthy star and capable of the role she has been tasked with. Any fault in her execution of Dolores is more with to do with how the show could have benefitted from more TV format customization. In addition to the camera effects, the story needed a redemption arc in my mind.

Alejandro Hernandez as Luis is a perfect foil for Dolores and a compassionate, kind, and solutions-oriented presence in her otherwise zany existence. Even characters with less screen time like K. Todd Freeman (A Series of Unfortunate Events as the lawyer dude) and the newer-to-acting Kita Updike leave their mark, taking up the prerequisite space to leave you wanting more of them. They are funny and natural in their acting, and can play off both Machado and Hernandez effortlessly. 

Source: IMDB /  K. Todd Freeman as Mr. Poe, in A Series of Unfortunate Events, Pt 2. 

For Cyndi Lauper fans, you are in for a treat as she has a small role here as does comedian Marc Maron, as a slumlord and Judy Reyes (Scrubs).

Given that the podcast has a season 2 and continued storyline for Dolores, it’s anyone’s guess if this show will be back.

• Yay or nay to Lauper’s “Oh, Dolores”?

• What horemedies are you watching this Summer? Or is this genre you just can’t get into?

• Swarm, the much anticipated Donald Glover production, is a critically lauded horomedy also on Prime. It’s about “an obsessed, Houston-based fan who goes to increasingly violent lengths for her favourite R&B singer.” Think extreme Swiftie or member of the Beyhive. I couldn’t get past the second episode. Should I give it another try?

Sound off in the comments and let me know your theories as to why horemedy is everywhere.