The Scariest Thing on TV Isn’t Vampires or Ghosts

As another spooky season descends upon us, let us turn our attention to horror. For the uninitiated, HBO’s Los Espookys revolves around the titular “horror group.” In an unidentified Spanish-speaking country, Renaldo, Úrsula, Andrés, and Tati hire themselves out to create scary effects to their clients’ specs. Given the high stakes of our heroes’ travails, many viewers may not have even noticed the establishment of a season-long fixture that doesn’t seem to involve any of Los Espookys’ series regulars: Mi Puta Suegra. The effect works, and Isabel takes one final bow with her colleagues, all of them sadly reciting the Mother-in-Law’s classic catchphrase in unison: “Get off the couch, you drunk, and come give your fucking mother-in-law a foot massage.” It’s not until the final episode of Mi Puta Suegra airs that we understand Renaldo’s personal connection. Because the spoof of a home renovation show can easily integrate What We Do in the Shadows’ cast members, on the other hand, the full-length Go Flip Yourself gets to send up many tropes of the genre: the identical twin co-hosts who also have a signature line of home goods at Kohl’s, like Property Brothers’ Drew and Jonathan Scott; the unconvincing acting of the homeowners; the 11th-hour construction holdup; Simon’s claim that he absolutely can still air this episode, despite the murder caught on camera, since no one at the network actually watches it before putting it out.