The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Dracmorda and Swanthula on 10 Years of the Horror Drag Sensation, a “Gritty” Season 7, and Why Beetlejuice Would Make a Great Guest Judge
The hit drag series returns for Season 7 with a “back-to-basics” approach and guest judges like Rose McGowan, Doug Jones, David Dastmalchian, and Harvey Guillén
by Lana Thorn 23 October 2026
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After the grim glamour of their most recent all-star Titans season, The Boulet Brothers are back with a new season of Dragula that blends the gritty, raw energy of Seasons 1 and 2 with the high-production value of recent instalments.
As the horror drag competition celebrates its 10th anniversary, Dracmorda and Swanthula Boulet sat down with Phantasmag to reflect on what new guest judges like Doug Jones (Pan’s Labyrinth) bring to the show, tease the VHS aesthetics and outrageous challenges that define Season 7, and why the likes of Beetlejuice and The Blob would make excellent guest judges.
Phantasmag: With Season 7, you’re spotlighting hungry, unknown artists. What was it like returning to the original show after Season 2 of Titans?
Swanthula Boulet: The challenge for us was: What would the fans love to see after such a successful season as Titans 2? I thought Titans 2 was such a great display of not only the creativity that goes into the craft and the best of the best of what we had done up until this point, but of the drama and the interpersonal stuff that happens that’s genuine and really reflective of queer artists and just artists in general. So to follow up, we’re going back to the show's roots. Season 7 feels very much like Seasons 1 and 2 as far as the grittiness, the youth, and the vibrancy of the competitors, but with a Season 6 budget.
P: I also understand this new season is going to pay homage to the VHS horror of the 80s and 90s, and my ears really pricked up when I read that. What attracted you to leaning into these particular aesthetics?
Dracmorda Boulet: Classic horror films like Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween — a lot of stuff that came out in that pre- and post-80s period, those IPs were so influential on all of us who love horror. They're IPs that stand the test of time and continue to inspire. And for us, we love horror, and we were bringing in this new, raw group of artists, so we felt that looking through a VHS lens at the season matched the grittiness of the artists.
P: As for those foundational horror films from the 80s and 90s, I feel like everyone has their own unique relationship to them. For both of you, what are some of those horror movies or shows that mean a lot to you?
DB: Nightmare on Elm Street was terrifying. I saw that when it came out, and my mind was blown at the time. When I watch it now, I'm like, ‘Okay,’ but like at the time it was very scary [laughs]. Tales from the Crypt, Tales from the Dark Side, Creepshow — all those anthologies were really influential. Friday the 13th too, obviously, and my favourite of all, of course, is Halloween.
Season 7 will lean into VHS aesthetics. Courtesy of Shudder.
SB: For me, it’s a lot of the same influences. The Exorcist was probably the scariest movie I had seen for decades. It really just tore me up when I saw it really young, maybe too young. And A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: [Dream Warriors] is one of my all-time horror movies, if not my favourite. Just the Dream Warriors and the children’s mental hospital, I remember absolutely loving it.
DB: She's an 80s X-Men kinda gal [laughs].
P: Out of curiosity, since we’re talking VHS, is there a movie that, aesthetically, you think is best watched on VHS?
SB: Wouldn't the one that makes the most sense be The Blair Witch Project?
DB: I have to say yes.
SB: Because at the time, we hadn’t seen anything like that before. People were thinking, ‘Oh, my God, is this real?’ The actors didn’t show up and make pubic appearances because they were playing out the fantasy that it was real and it was just found footage that documents the last moments of their lives.
P: I wanted to ask about the kill scenes that pay tribute to the classic horror films. Why did you want to add that dimension to the show, and what can fans expect from these sequences?
DB: In the past, we’ve drawn inspiration from classic kill scenes in our death homages. But we didn’t have the budget in the past to pull it off quite the way we wanted. This year we did, so we really lean in and try to recreate these death scenes shot for shot. So when you see these death scenes, and you run them alongside the originals, they're pretty much the same thing, but with us and the characters in it.
SB: It's so fun. We knew this season had the thematics of VHS and television footage, so we put a lot into our scripted cinematic portions. The intros and the death scenes have higher production value, and people will recognise a ton of the IP. There might be a few in there that they’ll have to go research, and it’s cool that they can learn something. The world of horror is vast.
P: You’ve said that this season will have the craziest elimination challenges yet. I can’t even imagine what you’re going to do to these poor people. What can you tease about them, and how did you go about upping the ante year after year?
SB: Poor people? What do you mean? They're willing. You can't torture the willing.
DB: Right? [Laughs] They sign an agreement that says, ‘Yes, you can throw me off of a bridge.’ So one thing we can tease is we basically cover them in bees, and I don't mean there are like 20 bees on them. I mean thousands of bees. You can't even see their skin anymore. That's an intense one.
SB: It's diabolical because these keepers tie a queen bee around their neck, and then the drones all react to that and go right up to their face.
DB: You have to put cotton in their nose and ears because the bees will go in there if you don’t.
The cast of Season 7. Courtesy of Shudder.
P: Do you have a line that you wouldn’t cross? How do you know whether something is going too far with these challenges?
DB: Well, if someone dies, it's a problem. So we basically gotta avoid that [laughs]. And when you are a director of a horror movie, you make stuff scarier through your lens, and maybe it’s not as terrifying in real life, but it’s how you present it. A lot of it has to do with the edit, because you’re doing all of these crazy things, but there are safety people around. You put them through little tutorials before they do the stuff, and there's no scary music. It’s not as bad.
P: I'll trust you.
DB: [Laughs] I mean, it’s still scary. The fear is legitimate, but it’s not as dangerous as it seems.
P: I also wanted to highlight the incredible lineup of judges. You have Harvey Guillén, Doug Jones, Rose McGowan, and also David Dastmalchian, just to name a few. What was it like bringing in this particular lineup of horror legends, and what did they bring to the show?
SB: All of the judges bring their area of expertise. Drac and I have talked about this extensively because some judges will be like, ‘I don’t know anything about what a drag artist goes through to paint and create these looks.’ And I’ll say, ‘I know, but you’re an actress, and you do know about stage presence and presentation.’ So we just ask them to lean into their perspective as a professional. So with people like Doug Jones, I don't know that I've ever seen him in traditional drag, but he's absolutely in monster drag throughout his entire career. No one would know more about what it feels like to be one of us than a guest judge like him.
P: Do you have a dream guest judge?
DB: I think Siouxsie Sioux would be incredible, even though I don't think she would ever do it. Then John Waters and Jamie Lee Curtis.
P: I'm surprised you haven't gotten John Waters yet. I feel like he would love it.
SB: So am I.
DB: Me too. I don’t know what that’s about [laughs]. I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’
SB: We have to get on that.
P: This seventh season marks the 10-year anniversary of the show. For each of you, what does it feel like to reach that milestone?
DB: To me, it feels insane because it came way faster than I expected. In my brain, we're on maybe somewhere between year four and six, definitely not 10 yet. And when someone pointed it out earlier this year, I was like, ‘No, that's not true.’ It just feels crazy. The time went by really fast, and I just didn't think ahead, honestly.
SB: I think that's the answer. We don't stop very often and take stock of anything. We're just very busy and inspired for the next thing and the next evolution of the show we're creating. So when someone did point that out, it was a moment of, ‘Oh, shit’ [laughs]. It's cool to know that it's been around influencing people for a decade, but I think what's cooler is that we're still very inspired by the show. There are ideas that we haven't seen to fruition yet. There's stuff that we wanna do that we haven't been able to. So we're still inspired for 10 more.
DB: Part of why it goes by so fast is people think, ‘Oh, we see Dragula around Halloween, and then it goes away for a year.’ But for us, it doesn't stop. Season 7's about to come out, and I don't think I'm allowed to say yet, but we're basically about to open casting on two new seasons. We're constantly working in the background. We go from casting to pre-production to shooting and then right into post-production, and then the show's here. I think that's why the time goes by so quickly for us.
SB: And throw in touring and then the Halloween Ball, and the time just goes like a freight train.
P: Over these 10 years, what have been some of the greatest joys and challenges of making this show?
DB: My greatest challenge is the fan base. It takes time to get used to millions of people being able to criticise every aspect of your art all at once and to sort of hold you responsible for anything that happens on the show — or anything that happens with anybody on the show. Because the reality is you just don't have that much control. So that's frustrating.
SB: Like, who the hell would? Honestly, it was so crazy to realise that is the standard that people hold us to. Anything and everything that anyone has ever said on Dragula is my fault, period. That’s how they act. And I have to agree with Drac. She gave a very serious, very poignant answer. I was reaching for something a little sillier as for what is an important challenge. It is to continue to remain looking youthful and more beautiful than the season before.
DB: Ain’t that the truth. I feel like we need a new facelift after every season. It beats your ass. Between filming and tour, by the time you're done, you're like, ‘I need to laser my entire face off and let it heal back.’ But as far as the great part of it, I think just being recognised by the industry as — you know, they refer to us as horror icons and things like that. That makes me feel really good because the subject matter of the show is very subversive, but I think the production quality and the talent that we put into it blows away tons of big Hollywood shows.
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SB: That's well said. My answer to that would be the show provides a light for people that maybe live in isolation or don't see themselves in other media. And so many people that we've gotten the chance to meet through meet-and-greets and just appearances will tell us, ‘Hey, this show brought me through a dark period,’ or, ‘I couldn’t believe what I was seeing on TV. You really made me feel seen.’ We didn't go out with the intention of creating something like that, but Dragula absolutely is that for a lot of people, and I'm very proud of that.
P: Speaking of the recognition, do you both have an “I made it” moment? Where you felt like fangirling a little bit when maybe someone in particular commented on the show or recognised you?
SB: Oh, my God. This happened recently [laughs]. I don't know that horror fans are gonna give a shit about this, but we were in New York at the Upfronts for AMC, which is basically their PR, commercial fundraising kinda thing where they invite all the stars from their different IPs. So we're at the after-party, and out of a crowd of people, Brooke Shields comes up to us, and she's like, ‘Oh my God, I'm so sorry. Don’t mean to bother you. You're both so beautiful. I'm a huge fan of the show. Could I please take a picture?’ And I couldn't believe it. That comes closest to a fangirl moment.
DB: I have the stupidest fangirl moment. One of my favourite horror movies ever, maybe my favourite horror, is Halloween 4 [: The Return of Michael Myers]. And I was obsessed with the character Jamie, who's played by Danielle Harris. I was so into Halloween 4 and 5, not 6. We all hate that [laughs], you know why. But we had her on the show for a Halloween challenge as a guest judge, and I just didn't expect my reaction. I was so starstruck. And I mean, a lot of our friends are super famous actors and directors, and we really don't care, partially because I'm just not that familiar with people in that way. But meeting her and having her on set, I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I can't talk to this girl. What is wrong with me?’ That's my dumb fangirl moment.
SB: It doesn't help that she basically looks exactly the same. In Halloween 4 she was like 10, and now she's whatever, but you can still see the character, Jamie, in her face.
P: Looking at the show now as opposed to a decade ago, how has the Reality TV landscape changed, and how have you adapted Dragula to fit into it?
DB: When it was first coming out, it was trashy and then got trashier, right? [laughs] That was the trajectory. And then people hated it, and they’re like, ‘This is toxic — we don't like that!’ They tried to cancel it. But when shows started responding to that and taking the toxicity out, the fans were like, ‘Well, this is boring. We don't wanna watch it.’ I think we've come full circle to where people can appreciate reality TV for what it is and not try to destroy it and pick it apart.
SB: Agreed. We've also evolved because we had to live through that, and let me tell you, it was traumatic. That whole period when people were just so quick to cancel and cast someone out, where careers were getting lit up in flames within seconds. So we thought, We have this subversive subject matter. Let’s be careful with the way we handle it. Now I think the show has had such a big footprint and a place in people's lives that we don't give a shit anymore. We're gonna do what we want. We're gonna push the envelope. We're gonna push the boundaries. If it makes you uncomfortable, don't watch.
DB: Yeah, and it’s not about being disrespectful of social issues. That's obviously not something any of us want. But it's about that whole online trend for a minute where it was like a pack of wild dogs that went, ‘I suspect this person may have thought this thought one day — kill them!’ And there was a hypocrisy to it, right? Because you're thinking, Wait, you're saying to kill this person, and you're jamming out to Marilyn Manson? Make it make sense to me, you know?
P: Especially with this edition marking the 10-year anniversary, how did you go about casting the right contestants for Season 7?
DB: We just looked for the 12 ugliest people we could find, and then that was that.
SB: That's so funny, because when you were talking about the VHS, I was gonna make a joke because Drac was like, ‘The raw nature of the footage reflects the raw skill of the competitor base,’ and I'm like, ‘True, but also half of them are really ugly, and that VHS filter definitely doesn’t hurt.’
DB: They're ugly in the best way. We looked for people that were really raw. We wanted the type of people that we could have cast on Season 1 and 2. Because we had just come off the Titans season, which was so perfect and polished and overly aware. We thought, We can’t compete with that, so let's not even try. Let's not try to outdo ourselves. Let's go back to the origins of the show and what made people love the show. And these artists represent that.
P: Your show is one of the most popular celebrations of the intersection of queerness and horror. Why do you think those two elements go so well together?
DB: People who like horror are misfits, period. And there are more misfits in the world than people who belong, right? There's more of the haves than the have-nots -
SB: Other way around. More of the have-nots than haves.
DB: Well, there are more people who feel like they don't belong than belong.
SB: There you go.
DB: So to me [laughs], that's the message of the show, and that's why it resonates with horror audiences. Because you see a subversiveness in it, you see a rebellion in it, and you see a celebration of the ugly and the unnatural. It has a broad appeal in that sense.
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SB: There are a lot of horror tropes that misfits and outcasts can relate to and identify, like when the popular girls and the cheerleaders are getting slaughtered, you cheer a little bit on the inside, you know what I mean? And people who grow up queer often suffer in a lot of ways that maybe cis straight people don't necessarily understand. And horror movies almost feel like a safe space. It’s warm and fuzzy because that threat is kind of familiar.
DB: We all grew up on these movies. We're watching Norman Bates, who's in drag as his mom; Leatherface, who has a drag mask; and Freddy, who's basically a fucking drag queen. He's so campy and sassy.
SB: Buffalo Bill.
DB: Yeah. There’s a huge history of queerness in horror, and it blows my mind when people don’t get that, and they’re like, ‘Queer and horror have nothing to do with each other.’ And I’m like, ‘The queer people were the killers in 80% of the movies you love.’ Terror Train, Dressed to Kill, you know what I mean? They’re not paying attention. If you don’t point it out, they love it, but the minute you say it’s queer, they don’t take it.
P: This may be a hard question, but do you have a favourite season so far, or maybe a moment on the show?
SB: Oh, that’s not a hard question [laughs]. I have two favourite seasons, and I love them equally: Titans 2 and Season 4.
DB: Yeah, Titans 2 and Season 4 are the two. Although, honourable mention, Resurrection, which is the one-off we did during the pandemic, is still one of my favourite things we've ever produced.
P: As a bit of a fun twist on an earlier question, if you could have a fictional horror character, whether a friendly ghost or a slasher villain, as a guest judge, who would it be?
DB: There are so many. Vincent Price or Vampira would be top of my list.
SB: But those are real people.
DB: I guess — well, Vampira is fictional. Character-wise, I think the Blob would be good [laughs]. Chucky or Bride of Chucky — she has a mouth on her.
SB: Beetlejuice would be really fun. If we had a glamour challenge, maybe Mad and Helen from Death Becomes Her, with a twisted neck and a giant gaping hole in the chest to complete the look.
DB: And I wanna do a black-and-white horror challenge and have Dracula’s daughter be the judge.
The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula Season 7 premieres Tuesday, October 27th on Shudder.