‘Grotesquerie’: Ryan Murphy’s Morbid Horror Procedural Pits Good Against Evil

Alci Rengifo

There is anxiety in the air as the world continues to spiral into conflict, fanaticism and superstition. Whenever that happens, horror stories are some of the best cultural vehicles to capture the times. Ryan Murphy certainly felt it and has now returned to one of his beloved genres with “Grotesquerie.” The producer is having morbid fun here, combining the classic style of a police procedural with the otherworldly spooks of religious-themed thrillers. However, it is not a parade of cheap scares. In the tradition of good noirs, “Grotesquerie” is a detective story with genuinely tortured souls, trapped in a modern world where everyone seems to be going crazy. Even the nuns have flaws. 

Niecy Nash is Detective Lois Tryon, who works in a shadowy town. She’s called into a gruesome crime scene where an entire family has been butchered at the dinner table, left with their organs stuffed into their mouths and one headless corpse. There also seems to be a religious undertone to the killings. Mysterious dark goo is left on the crime scene floor as well. Lois’ world is already full of enough stress back home. Her husband Marshall (Courtney B. Vance), a respected professor, is in a coma at the hospital. His nurse, Nurse Reed (Lesley Manville), is a bit of a sly tyrant scrutinizing Lois’ decisions. At her house, Lois lives with daughter Merritt (Raven Goodwin), who wastes away snacking while having delusions of getting into a TV show. Back to the murder case, where Lois makes an intriguing new connection with the arrival of Sister Megan (Micaela Diamond), a nun who writes for the progressive The Catholic Guardian. Megan is obsessed with occult and crime, sensing how they manifest good and evil forces in the world.

“It was a very personal piece and a meditation on what I think is going on in the world and what we’re all going through. There’s that existential question in the air of, ‘are these the end times?’ If so, what can we do to fight and keep our humanity?” This is how Ryan Murphy recently explained the inspiration behind “Grotesquerie.” There is more thought put into its narrative than just another throwaway nuns versus evil plotline. A vivid, eerie world is created that takes its time to be established. Early on, the pacing is more slow burner than screeching suspense. Visual metaphors reference our collective anxiety, as when Lois drives down dark streets where random brawls take place in alleyways or corners. Distant howls and screams echo on the soundtrack. Close-ups of junk food being eaten give the show’s title a double meaning, as if modern life itself can be as grotesque as the ongoing murders.

Visually Murphy also slightly shifts the usual palette of his shows. His knack for rich colors is present, combined with a gothic grit reminiscent of shows like “American Gods” or movies in the style of “Seven.” The gore does not become too prominent, with some of the more horrifying details, like the murdered family forced to eat their own father’s flesh, are kept off screen. If you want to evoke evil, there’s no better way than having the baby boiled too. Murphy isn’t playing around when he wants to tell a horror story, yet he respects the genres he’s playing with enough to stay focused on telling a good detective story. “Grotesquerie” is most entertaining when we spend time with its characters. Lois drinks a lot of vodka, not so much for coping but for her own kind of mental clarity. Sister Megan first appears as the expected, angelic face representing holiness, but after she first cusses, we know there’s more to her.

The crop of characters Murphy has created for this show is all entertaining in unsavory or tortured ways. Always fascinated with sexual repression, Murphy introduces a comrade for Sister Megan in Father Charlie (Nicholas Alexander Chavez from the producer’s recent “Monsters: the Lyle and Erik Menendez Story”), who shares her obsession with serial killers. He also flogs himself after masturbating. Another tortured psyche is Nurse Redd, played with cold authority by Lesley Manville. She badgers Lois for not being more “present” by her husband’s side, warning that she has cameras in every room. Lois feels the despair of not seeing her husband any more as a living being, yet Redd insists he can very much still sense what goes on around him. It’s a great character who could be a villain or turn out to be something altogether different. The same could be said about Merritt, who frustrates her mother by knowing every answer on “Jeopardy” but refusing to get her life going in any meaningful way. 

It can be heavy, engaging content interrupted by the crime scenes where the usual satanic activities take place, such as corpses found pinned to a wall in odd shapes, completely drained of blood. Like any good storyteller, Murphy engages more fully through what the show is actually about. Lois is a modern American sensing society is going off the rails. She feels someone is following her. Subsequent flashbacks reveal there are indeed traumas haunting this classic, chain-smoking detective. Sister Megan has more hope, considering she’s an agent of faith where good is meant to battle evil. Knowing how this showrunner works, we can bet those sensibilities will be brutally challenged. “Grotesquerie” grabs with these battling poles, which anyone can relate to whether you’re religious or not. It is a stylish, smart procedural with a strong cast that makes its terrors grounded and relatable.

“Grotesquerie” premieres Sept. 25 and airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on FX.