Horror stories are nothing without their human element. It’s harder to be moved by the things that go bump in the night without an everyman, scream queen, or final girl to connect with. But sometimes — as is the case with Peacock’s latest offering, the oddly-named Teacup — thrills and chills take a backseat to pedestrian woes. That’s not bad when it’s balanced well, but this eight-part slow burn often struggles to get its balance right.
Produced by James Wan and developed by Yellowstone writer Ian McCulloch, Teacup is surprisingly subdued for a horror-thriller. In some ways, that’s a boon. The series gives us time to get to know its protagonists, a disparate group of neighbors living off the land in rural Georgia. Long before Teacup begins to unspool its quasi-supernatural mystery, we’re meant to understand who our heroes are, from the intricacies of their inner lives to the drama that threatens to undo them. That helps viewers stay invested, given that this mystery box is in no rush to give up its secrets, but interpersonal melodrama takes an overwhelming priority over eerie scares and genre worldbuilding. The result is a series that’s more in love with the minutiae than its big ideas.
