In May 2023, the series was announced by John Carpenter.[2][3] The series was filmed in Prague, Czech Republic.[4] Carpenter revealed he directed an episode for the series via zoom calls from his home in Los Angeles.[4] The series is Carpenter's first project he directed since The Ward (2010).[5] Other episode directors include Michelle Latimer, Jan Pavlacky, and the series writer and showrunner Jordan Roberts.[5] Roberts also served as an executive producer, alongside Carpenter, Sandy King, Tony DiSanto, Patrick Smith, and Andy Portnoy.[5] Carpenter also served as the composer of the series' main theme.[5]
A stalker torments Beth via technology, ruining her relationships and psychological wellbeing.
Release
John Carpenter's Suburban Screams debuted on Peacock on October 13, 2023, with all six episodes released simultaneously.[5]
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 18% of 17 critics' reviews are positive, with a critics consensus of: "Even with the welcome return of the Master of Horror, Suburban Screams is muffled by rather pedestrian execution".[6]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 30 out of 100 based on 8 critics, indicating "Generally Unfavorable" reviews.[7]
Aramide Tinubu of Variety gave a negative review, concluding that "unfortunately, instead of the sinister narratives that fans have come to expect from Carpenter, this series is a cheap display of ghastly crimes."[8] Katie Rife of IGN also gave a negative review, summarzing that the series "is a typical true crime series in every way, except for the participation of John Carpenter and his family. Their contributions are minimal enough, and halfhearted enough, to not make much of a difference, however."[9] Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com simarily felt that the series "doesn't deserve [Carpenter]'s name".[10] Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter also commented on Carpenter's involvement with the series, elaborating that "without the attachment of Carpenter's name, Suburban Screams would just be negligible, but probably unreviewed. With his name, it's disappointingly negligible and here we are."[11]
Future
In October 2023, producer Sandy King expressed interest in making further seasons, saying "I think that it would be really fun to see how deep we can go and how many weird things really happen".[12]
