Halloween Treats: Christine McConnell and her Curious Creations

Last Halloween, Netflix gifted the world with a short, six-episode series unlike any other, The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell. Part DIY baking show, part Muppet monster show, and 100% dark comedy, the show transfixed me immediately. This is just the right combination of freaky weird macabre stuff I live for every Halloween. And while I long ago stopped caring about food porn, there's no denying this show makes it fun again.

She holds that butcher knife like she knows how to use it, no?

In the world of the show, Christine lives in a big, spooky Gothic house, where she bakes extravagant horror-themed desserts, engages in witty and often innuendo-laden banter with her monster and ghost roommates, and generally tries to keep her ghoulish pals from killing the neighbors. The "beauty and the beasts" premise helps make everything feel like an old-school sitcom on acid. Beyond food porn level baking bliss, the show also offers advice for dealing with nasty neighbors, annoying relatives, and dating problems like what to wear on your first date with someone you just met while hanging at the cemetery. Christine will straighten your life right the hell out, trust me.

Spooky.

As appealing as the desserts look, it's the artist, baker, deadpan humorist, Instagram queen, and all around babe Christine who is the show's real treat. In her retro-styled and perfectly fitted Happy Homemaker wardrobe, Christine might've been concocted in some mad scientist's laboratory or created through some perfect coalescence of mystically charged Halloween energy.

She slays on Instagram.

It's a fun performance by McConnell, certainly, in which she plays the straight woman to her over the top creature friends. Watching her craft artistic edibles is as hypnotically calming as any ASMR YouTuber.

This speaks to me on a very 1985 Sears Catalog level.

The desserts Christine makes are so intricate and complicated that they're nearly impossible for home bakers to replicate, but that seems besides the point. It's about marveling at what this artist does with a piping bag and an icing spreader. Her creations are truly impressive. I can't imagine ever recreating them at home, but that seems besides the point. The real draw, the entertainment value, is in watching her build her macabre masterpieces with great care and precision—and, of course, laughing along to the spooky shenanigans she gets up to with her evil monster friends and guest stars.

Totally normal.

Sadly, Netflix declined to renew the series, meaning there will be no new episodes this Halloween season. I'm still in mourning. In a world gone mad, we desperately need more of Christine McConnell soothingly icing creepy cakes while monsters lounge around waiting to scarf down her delicious desserts, dammit! Alas, If we can't have more episodes, then at least we have these six. Watching them every October is going to be a new Halloween tradition, I'm sure of it.

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