Parents' Guide to John Carpenter's Suburban Screams

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Poster image for the true crime docuseries JOHN CARPENTER'S SUBURBAN SCREAMS. An overhead shot of a suburban cul-de-sac surrounded by green lawns and connected via driveways, which are all streaming with blood.

Common Sense Media Review

Jenny Nixon By Jenny Nixon , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 17+

Monotonous true-crime docuseries amps up the blood and guts.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 17+?

Any Positive Content?

  • John Carpenter's Suburban Screams Trailer
  • A group of four friends sit around a coffee table strewn with beer cans and ashtrays. Their hands rest atop a Ouija board.
  • A little boy in a striped hoodie, seen from behind as he stands looking up at a flight of grey concrete stairs outside a house.
  • A figure wearing a bunny hood and holding an axe is one hand is pictured from behind, as they walk out of a dark tunnel towards a wooded area in daylight.
  • An older woman with grey hair stands at the top of a stairwell. She wears a velour bathrobe and has a concerned look on her face.

Parent and Kid Reviews

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What's the Story?

JOHN CARPENTER'S SUBURBAN SCREAMS is a true crime docuseries centered on terrifying events happening in seemingly normal towns. It uses the ubiquitous re-enactment format typical of the genre, with the blood and gore elements bumped up a notch. Each episode is narrated by someone connected to the real-life incident while actors play out the story onscreen. These recollections sometimes involve fully-verifiable crime stories while others concern regional urban legends. Both types include some creative license taken by the show creators.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say : Not yet rated
Kids say : Not yet rated

Unfortunately, the involvement of horror legend John Carpenter (They Live, The Thing) isn't enough to elevate this series to anything above "mediocre." The true crime re-enactments seen in John Carpenter's Suburban Screams are bottom-rung level in terms of acting talent, and the addition of harsher-than-usual onscreen violence adds nothing but a sheen of trashy exploitation to the entire production. Horror buffs will be bummed to discover that despite his involvement in the synth-heavy theme music (one of the few bright spots here) and his production company's stamp on the series, Carpenter himself only directs one episode -- and did so via Zoom, beaming in to command an on-location crew. Whether it's straight-up horror or reality-inspired true crime stories you're looking for, there are far worthier options.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the true crime genre as a whole. Why are audiences drawn to seeing such unsavory events re-enacted by actors? How is your enjoyment of these depictions affected by knowing that real people were involved in these stories?

  • In your opinion, do shows like this glamorize the perpetrators of the crimes depicted in any way? What kind of impact could that have?

TV Details

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Poster image for the true crime docuseries JOHN CARPENTER'S SUBURBAN SCREAMS. An overhead shot of a suburban cul-de-sac surrounded by green lawns and connected via driveways, which are all streaming with blood.

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