The Horror of Dolores Roach

The Horror of Dolores Roach is an American black comedy horror series, starring Justina Machado in the title role. It is based on the one-woman off-Broadway play Empanada Loca and the podcast of the same name, created by Aaron Mark. The series was released on Prime Video on July 7, 2023. In November 2023, the series was canceled after one season.
Dolores Roach is released after an unjust 16-year prison sentence, and she returns to a now-gentrified Washington Heights neighborhood. She reunites with an old stoner friend, Luis, who lets her live and work as a masseuse in the basement under his empanada shop. When the promise of her newfound stability is threatened, she must go to extremes to survive.
On May 6, 2020, it was reported that Blumhouse Television was adapting The Horror of Dolores Roach, a Gimlet Media podcast, as a drama series in development for Amazon Studios. Dara Resnik is the showrunner, working alongside Aaron Mark, creator of the podcast, who would be adapting the series from his own script. The podcast is based on Mark's one-woman off-Broadway play Empanada Loca, starring Daphne Rubin-Vega, which Mark subsequently adapted into a podcast, also starring Rubin-Vega.
Amazon Studios gave a pilot order for the series in June 2021, and on February 3, 2022, it was reported that Amazon had given it a series order.
The 8-episode series is executive produced by Mark, Resnik, Rubin-Vega, Jason Blum, Chris McCumber, Jeremy Gold, Justin McGoldrick, Dawn Ostroff, Mimi O'Donnell, Gloria Calderón Kellett, and Roxann Dawson. Dawson directed the pilot episode, which was written by Mark.
On February 3, 2022, it was reported that the series would star Justina Machado, Alejandro Hernandez, Kita Updike, and K. Todd Freeman. On June 29, 2022, it was announced that Marc Maron, Jean Yoon, Judy Reyes, and Jeffery Self had joined the cast in recurring roles. On August 1, 2022, it was reported that Cyndi Lauper had joined the cast in a recurring guest role.
On November 21, 2023, it was reported that the series was canceled after one season.
The first three episodes premiered on June 15, 2023, at the Tribeca Film Festival as part of its Festival TV lineup. The series was released on Prime Video on July 7, 2023.
The series received generally positive reviews, with Machado's performance being widely praised.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season of the show garnered a 79% score from critics, a "positive" score, with the critic's consensus being "The Horror of Dolores Roach bites off more than it could chew with the delicate balance between horror and humor, but Justina Machado's commitment to the zany premise makes for a savory snack of a series."
Joel Golby, writing for The Guardian, called it a "hugely fun drama" and praised the tone and originality of the series. The A.V. Club also gave a positive review, commenting: "The right combo of love, betrayal, murder, and cannibalism gets emulsified with commentary on mass incarceration, gentrification, and classism. It’s a chaotic task to juggle all of that over the course of eight under-30-minute episodes. Yet The Horror Of Dolores Roach pulls it off, presenting a darkly comedic and horrifying character study in the process." Angie Han of The Hollywood Reporter praised Machado and Hernandez' performance, but criticized what she perceived as the missed potential of the show. Cristina Escobar of rogerebert.com commented "A playful show about a serial killer, "The Horror of Dolores Roach" gets its frights by not taking itself too seriously." Entertainment Weekly gave the show a score of B+ on a scale from A to F.
Conversely, Jack Seale, also writing for The Guardian, gave a negative review, calling the series a "sloppy mess" while praising Machado's performance. Variety also gave a negative review, writing "Advertised as a horror comedy, “The Horror of Dolores Roach” effectively earns neither scares nor laughs." Brian Lowry, writing for CNN, gave a negative review, writing that the show had a "killer concept" but failed to live up to the concept.