Gil Macias
Ten years ago — on Halloween night to be exact — a distinct brand of drag, filth, horror, and glamour slithered out of the Los Angeles queer club underground and onto television screens. As their legions of devoted LA-area “uglies” will surely remind you, before The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula transformed into a globe-trotting phenomenon, it began life as a monthly alternative dance party and horror-infused drag pageant that took place at the now-defunct Faultline leather bar in Silver Lake. Now, with six flagship seasons, two iterations of The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Titans, a slate of holiday specials under their belts, Dracmorda and Swanthula Boulet are standing at a major nexus point.
With the seventh deadly season of The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula, premiering on Tuesday, Oct. 27, exclusively via Shudder and AMC+, the two club promoters turned Emmy-nominated horror hosts are celebrating a full decade of tantalizingly twisted reality TV. While reflecting on the most surreal “pinch me” moments of the last 10 years, Dracmorda recalls an early pipe dream that became a reality: getting their oddball show to make the leap from YouTube to a global streaming giant. “When we first created the show, we designed it to be on Netflix,” Dracmorda shares. “That was the hope and the dream. And I remember three years exactly from the date of the premiere, the show did end up on Netflix and it was on there for a couple years, so I think that was a major milestone for us.”
Then came the steady stream of industry accolades — including three GLAAD Media Award nominations and two Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylists Guild Awards — that proved the mainstream entertainment world was finally taking notice of horror drag. Growing up as fanatics of horror culture, gracing the cover of an iconic horror magazine marked another deeply sentimental achievement. “Being on the cover of Fangoria was a big moment for us too,” Dracmorda explains. “And then when we started getting the Emmy nominations — that would be the third thing, because, again, not something that I had in my mind when we started, but it was really appreciated recognition, I’d say.”
The Boulet Brothers (Photo: Scotty Kirby @scottykirbyphoto)
Now, the diabolical duo are ready to unleash their most ambitious and delightfully unhinged season yet. But rather than retreading the past, the Boulet Brothers wiped the slate completely clean, nixing fan-favorite floor show themes from previous seasons. There’s going to be a heavy dose of grainy 1980s VHS nostalgia along with some grueling new exterminations.
“It’s all new challenges this time,” Dracmorda reveals. “We don’t revisit any iconic challenges. And the whole theme of the season is a raw VHS vibe. Not in terms of found footage, but more like when you think of ‘80s horror movies, which impacted so many of us. We just really wanted to color the whole season with that vibe, so there’s lots of VHS grain all over the cinematic portions and we redid some shot-for-shot famous death scenes from horror history for the death-scene portion of the show, so we’re really excited for people to see that.”
Swanthula jumps in to offer one minor — yet monstrous — asterisk to the “no repurposed challenges” rule. “I’m agreeing with Drac across the board with one exception: we did revisit the ‘Monsters of Rock,’ but we spun it on its head,” Swanthula adds. “It has another layer thematically and it’s super weird and it’s really fun. It’s one of my favorite episodes.”
Their decision to pay homage to the era of mom-and-pop video rental stores isn’t just an aesthetic choice, either — it’s a love letter to the way physical media shaped a generation of horror fanatics. However, there were some contestants who weren’t even alive when that analog home-video format existed, which provided a few chuckles on set. “There is a moment where there’s a VHS tape on the big coffin table in the work room, and someone points and they’re like, ‘What is that?’” Swanthula shares with a laugh. “That’s right, I forgot about that,” Dracmorda responds. “Oh my god, they didn’t even know what it was.”
The Boulet Brothers (Photo: Scotty Kirby @scottykirbyphoto)
Aside from the VHS homages, Season 7 also pays respect to the classic slasher tropes of the ‘80s era, such as summer camp slaughterfests and low-budget splatter flicks. “I would say Friday the 13th gets a good nod because we did a campground massacre theme, which could be like Sleepaway Camp, Friday the 13th,” Dracmorda notes. “There’s so many horror movies in those environments. So that’s one that we touched on. And also Troma films. We did a big Troma challenge and we had Lloyd Kaufman there to judge. So that was a lot of fun too.”
Season 7 also sees the return of two former drag monsters: Felony Dodger (from Season 1) and Satanna (from Season 5), who were resurrected for another shot at becoming the World’s Next Drag’s Supermonster. “I think we were casting Titans 2 and Season 7 at the same time,” Swanthula explains. “So all these different names were swirling around in our heads. Felony and Satanna kept coming to the list and they had just had such dramatic transformations since their seasons. They’re like completely different creatures, so we decided a reintroduction to the fan base might be more appropriate than putting them up against a Titans season. I think we made the right decision. It’s cool to see an artist maybe not hit a home run the first time at bat, but getting back around and getting their flowers too.”
The process of selecting a new motley crew of drag monsters has become a gargantuan task since the show’s humble beginnings. During the first season, the two hosts made it a point to personally review every audition tape. But today, the sheer volume of applicants makes that a thing of the past. “Definitely hundreds of applications come in,” Dracmorda says. “It might even be more than that. But we don’t see all of them. We used to be able to watch a majority of them back in the day, but now we get more of a select group that makes it through. But we watch as much of it as we can.” Swanthula adds, “It used to be fun, now it’s impossible. It would be like someone’s full-time job.”
A decade of judging floor shows has also given the Boulet Brothers a crystal-clear idea of what works, what fails, and what creatively bankrupt gimmicks royally tick them off the most. Just as RuPaul’s Drag Race mainstay Michelle Visage has made it known that she never wants to see a Marie Antoinette interpretation on their main stage ever again, the Boulet Brothers have their own list of floor show offenses. “Spitting blood or dribbling blood out of your mouth,” Swanthula states flatly. “Unless there’s a damn good reason, please don’t do that. It’s like the end-all be-all stunt, and you’re going to get a gasp from us because it’s going to fail.”
Dracmorda, too, has had enough of the eye-rolling blood shtick. Not just because it’s tired, but because it’s also a pain in the ass for the crew. “It’s a flop and this stage has to be clean before the next person can go, which takes like an extra 45 minutes and we hate that,” Dracmorda explains before sharing what boils his own blood the most. “My rules are not as much about the actual floor shows and presentations — it’s more about their attitude with the competition as a whole. Like, if someone is trying to self-produce or be careful about what they say and all that, it drives me up a wall. I can’t stand it. Do not even come here if you’re going to do that shit because it just ruins the show, everybody sees through it and it always ends up blowing up in their face.”
From its inception, the production of The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula has been genetically linked to Los Angeles. The show’s notorious extermination challenges have been shot all around greater LA and surrounding Southern California areas, taking contestants on frightful field trips from the terrifying heights of the Bridge to Nowhere to the dusty, apocalyptic expanse of Wasteland Weekend. Season 7 continues that rich tradition of turning the greater LA area into an interactive playground of terror. “For one of the exterminations, Angelenos might recognize a roller derby rink in the downtown area,” Swanthula reveals. “The Derby Dolls are featured in one of the challenges, which is kind of fun.”
“There’s an escape room here in LA that’s featured,” Dracmorda adds. “I’m pretty sure we probably go to 17th Door because we always do that.” But filming the main portions of Dragula isn’t just restricted to commercial studio spaces — it also extends straight into the Boulet Brothers’ personal living quarters. After moving into their LA-area Victorian-style home, the duo discovered that their new abode possessed a surprising horror-related history of its own. Newspaper clippings left in the garage revealed that the house was extensively featured in episodes of The Twilight Zone, making it a perfect set for wraparound segments.
“That has already occurred,” Dracmorda says regarding shooting at home. “You’ll see it in the Holiday of Horrors special we did last year.” Swanthula adds, “It was heavily featured in the holiday special inside and out. You can see a lot of the rooms and stuff. The house that Bonnie Aarons’ ghoulish creature was creeping around — that’s our house.”
The Boulet Brothers (Photo: Scotty Kirby @scottykirbyphoto)
Preserving and extending the house’s Hollywood connection is something both creators take immense pride in. “We love it,” Swanthula continues. “When we moved in, our friend recognized it. Then we saw newspaper clippings in the garage, like the Twilight Zone that was re-syndicated in the ’80s. And we’re like, ‘Oh, I want to figure out which episode it was.’ And I watched it. It is like a time capsule of the house. All of the rooms: the kitchen, the outside, the side yard — you can really just see it all. Any other ways that we can continue that tradition, we definitely will.”
“A lot of films and shows have been shot here,” Dracmorda notes. “The people who lived here before us kept a really good record of all the shows. I think it’s like 200 or 300 things have been shot here.”
As fanatics of all things horror — including movies, TV shows, and books — the Boulet Brothers also have a wish list of guest judges they hope will appear on their show. In fact, there was one attempt to nab an ‘80s horror icon for a challenge tailored around one of his most iconic movies, but things fell apart behind the scenes. “We were gonna build out a Nightmare on Elm Street challenge and have Robert Englund judge it, but his manager was a dick, so we’re not doing that [Laughs],” Dracmorda shares. “But I think we’d love to do a Stephen King challenge. If we could get Stephen King to judge an episode and have the challenge be for the cast to reinterpret characters in his books in a new and crazy way. An interpretation of Carrie that just has nothing to do with what we know would be really fun, I think.”
Another thing on their bucket list is a live residency at Southern California’s longest-running haunt event of all: Knott’s Scary Farm — a dream gig they have been circling for some time. The gig was supposed to finally take shape this year, but didn’t pan out due to scheduling and park logistics. As Dracmorda clarifies, the project is very much still alive. “That’s definitely still on the table,” Dracmorda reassures. “It was supposed to happen this year, but it’s a lot to get a show like that together and we’re super busy and we have to be able to have a couple of months to work on rehearsals and preparing it and everything, but I really believe it will happen next year so, let’s cross our fingers.”
For Swanthula, the highlight was getting the official stamp of approval from the Queen of Halloween herself: Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, who famously hosted her own show at the park for decades. “We had come across Cassandra Peterson, you know, Elvira, at different conventions, and we were [at Knott’s Scary Farm] on the 50th anniversary,” Swanthula shares. “She was there doing a signing … and it was all the big wigs at Six Flags and Knott’s at the time, and she basically, in so many words, passed the torch to us. She was like, ‘I hear you’re working on a show here,’ and we’re like, ‘Yeah, we are.’ My heart started racing a little bit. She’s like, ‘Good, I think you should,’ and she looked over her shoulder at all the guys like, ‘I think it’s a great idea,’ so for me, that was definitely a little bit of a notch on the belt.”
“Knott’s just feels correct to me,” Dracmorda adds. “When you look at the history of how our career shaped us, and us being so comfortable in front of live audiences and then our position as horror hosts, and so affiliated with Halloween, I’m like, ‘Duh, this needs to happen.’”
The Boulet Brothers (Photo: Scotty Kirby @scottykirbyphoto)
If and when the show finally comes to fruition, the Boulet Brothers are ready and willing to clear their typically hectic fall schedule. “I think we’re committed,” Dracmorda says. “If we can get this happening, we will commit every Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday through September and October. We want to go all in.”
“I want to,” Swanthula agrees. “You know why? Because it would be exciting and different. We’ve thrown the Los Angeles Halloween Ball for a million years and Dragula is always rolling out, not taking those things for granted, but being able to help curate a show and then just perfect it and perform it in a place that we absolutely love — I totally invite that. I want that.”
Speaking of their iconic Los Angeles Halloween Ball — the Boulet Brothers’ seemingly immortal event is celebrating its 26th installment this year (minus the year lost to the COVID-19 pandemic, of course). “We definitely did not think that would go on as long as it has,” Dracmorda says as he reflects on the grueling, do-it-yourself guerrilla production tactics the duo used to employ to transform local venues overnight. “I remember the Halloween Ball back in the day. I just loved it. We would literally go in there like crazy people. We’d be like, ‘You have to lock the doors of the club for at least a week, no other events.’ And we would go in there at night and work like from 8 o’clock at night until like 7 or 8 in the morning, just building weird animatronics out of fans and shit, and I would go to the Goodwill and buy a bunch of egg beaters and little mechanical things and then take them apart and we would build animatronics for the night with them.”
That scrappy, build-it-from-scratch work ethic continues to fuel their massive event planning today, even as they secure major musical headliners like genre-bending pop icon Poppy. “It usually takes a couple of months to figure out who’s available and then negotiate it and get it secure,” Dracmorda explains regarding booking headliners. “So I’d say a couple of months. We have a good relationship with [Poppy] because she was a guest judge on the show for season four. So she was really excited to do it. We’re excited to have her. I think it’s going to be killer.”
Music has always been the foundational heartbeat of the Boulet Brothers’ universe. Aside from their own recorded musical endeavors, their stage performances and club nights have historically showcased dark alternative, metal, and goth music. Those genres of music are finding their way straight into Dragula Season 7’s soundtrack.
“We both have a rich history of all that music,” Swanthula says. “120 Minutes and alternative, ‘80s — all that kind of stuff.” “In Season 7, we have a ton of cool goth throwback songs that we licensed for the floor shows,” Dracmorda reveals. “There’s a Sisters of Mercy song, there’s a Siouxsie and the Banshees song, Ministry — so we have a lot of fun music this season.”
When asked to name the ultimate Halloween party town in the world, Swanthula doesn’t hesitate to give Los Angeles its crown, despite its sunshine and palm trees. “Oh, fucking LA,” Swanthula declares. “I’ve always loved Halloween. When I moved here, I was so shocked because of the juxtaposition of the beach and the sun and the surf. I’m coming from New England — the quintessential Halloween vibe, but the way that you can celebrate Halloween in Southern California is like no other place in the country. Second, Boston is also really good. That does give you that dose of fall and the leaves change, and it’s cold, but they have a great alternative scene and Salem is just a quick little train ride. There’s a lot to do there. It’s a great city for Halloween.”
While the undying Halloween Ball lives on, back in the day, the Boulet Brothers brand was synonymous with a long list of gone-but-not-forgotten queer nightlife events such as Miss Kitty’s Parlour, One-Eyed Monster, and Queen Kong. Is there an itch to revisit their roots or perhaps bring some of those events back from the grave? For Dracmorda, those are best left in the past.
“To be honest, for me, I don’t look backwards at all,” Dracmorda reflects. “I think nightlife taught us a lesson about when you have something hot, you have to know when to stop. Parties can’t live forever. And you probably know some of the parties in LA do tend to live forever, and you’re like, ‘Why is this party still happening?’ You never want to be that person as a promoter. I feel like it’s the same thing with TV. We’ve learned don’t overstay your welcome. When something’s hot, don’t over-exploit it and let it ride out, but I don’t miss those days. I feel like I’m very happy working in TV, film, and horror.”
Swanthula holds a slightly more nostalgic affection for those foundational alt-drag parties of yesteryear, leaving the coffin slightly cracked open. “I think about them fondly though,” Swanthula says. “I love our roots. Would I ever want to do a throwback? Maybe. A Queen Kong one-off might be the one where I could say, ‘You know what? If there’s ever a time in the foreseeable future where we have a little, very sarcastically, ‘downtime,’ then maybe we can bring something like that into the world.’ I don’t know if that’ll happen any time soon, but it’s a maybe for me.”
“I did think about it for New Year once,” Dracmorda adds. “Last year we were considering, ‘Hmm, should we do a New Year’s Eve party?’ So you never know. It could happen.”
Season 7 of “The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula” premieres on Tuesday, Oct. 27, on Shudder and AMC+. Follow The Boulet Brothers on Instagram @bouletbrothers.
The Boulet Brothers on the October 23, 2026, cover of LA Weekly. (Photo: Scotty Kirby @scottykirbyphoto; cover design: Mark Stefanos)