Hulu’s new reality queer ghost-hunting series Living for the Dead is fully aware that there’s nothing campier than paranormal activity. Horror has always been the queer genre by definition, witchcraft and spirituality are more often than not synonymous with lady-loving-ladies, and Halloween is basically just a huge worldwide drag show.
From Kristen Stewart and the creators of Queer Eye, Living for the Dead joins five queer paranormal experts on a road trip across the United States to help the living by healing the dead. Haunted mansions, haunted hotels, a haunted theater, and even a haunted strip club serve as backdrops for séances, possessions, tarot readings, human ghost boxes, and a lot of Electromagnetic Field Meter shenanigans throughout eight episodes of genuine surface-level fun and cheap thrills.
The five leads are magnetic. Roz Hernandez, a paranormal researcher and former drag queen, is the soul and glue of the group. Her personality is both large and intuitive, her tendency to binge eat donuts when she’s stressed is hilarious, and her impromptu performance during the episode where the “Ghost Hunties” try to cleanse an old theater is a definite highlight. At one point, a particularly mean-spirited apparition tells her they hate her haircut, but she defiantly tells them she’s “keeping the bangs.”
Roz is often found linked arm-in-arm with Ken Boggle, the Kentucky-native tarot card reader and psychic. And, if one is the soul, the other is definitely the heart. Since there are a couple of episodes set in his home state, there’s a bigger sense of connection with the Diane Keaton-esque hat-wearing ghost-hunter than with any other member of this mystical version of the Fab Five. He’s also often the one tasked with “therapizing” the people affected by the episode’s hauntings and, whether thanks to his southern drawl or his tarot abilities, he does it all quite convincingly.
Alex LeMay is the hushed-voiced tech expert who, out of everyone, seems to be the most sincerely passionate about their craft. They’re often giddy with excitement at the prospect of talking to the trapped souls, and whip out a new gadget every episode that’s supposed to facilitate contact. Alex is always the most courageous, unafraid to get stuck into claustrophobic nooks and even a literal coffin, just as long as it brings them closer to the undead.
Juju Bae and Logan Taylor end up being slightly overshadowed by the other three. The former is a “self-proclaimed witch” in charge of crystal and pendulum readings, cleansing rituals, and séances, while the latter is a psychic medium. Although they each bring their own energy to the gang, lesser acting skills or ease in front of a camera sadly affect what comes through to the other end.
Even still, the group dynamics and the individual members save Living for the Dead from being just a roughly scripted, evidently staged reality program. Even for the easily spooked, this ghost-hunting extravaganza is so forced you will have a hard time biting into most of the events transpiring on screen. That doesn’t make it less fun, however. If anything, it takes the edge off, allowing you to just relax into this mindless campy spiritual journey and learn a few things about the craft of communicating with the spirit world.
The episodes are all similarly structured to include interviews with those directly affected by the ghostly activity, with the five experts usually going out for a kiki at the local bar afterward in order to build a rapport with the local community and carry out a few Queer Eye heart-to-hearts of their own. They then conduct “night readings” to figure out what type of threat they’re dealing with, usually followed by a second evening of making peace with the spirits and demons. Each episode has its own narrative, heroes and foes, and highs and lows, which grants the show a lot of dynamism and vitality. If in one chapter someone has an attachment with a spirit, in another someone has an attachment with a house. In one, the person affected can also talk to the dead and hides family secrets, and in another, the love for clowns overthrows the fear of the occult.
There is always a lot going on in Living for the Dead, but as long as you’re happy to approach it as nonchalantly as its hosts and the pun-drunk narrator that is Kristen Stewart, you will undoubtedly enjoy eight hours of unabashed queer supernatural fun. Its target audience might be niche, but if there’s a subsection of the LGBTQIA+ community that always shows up and shows out, it’s the spooky enthusiasts.
