A neon-soaked serial killer fantasy that knows its audience
The Shards is a streaming serial killer drama set in 1980s Los Angeles, following privileged high school seniors whose hedonistic lives collide with a ritualistic murderer and a hypnotic new student, blending glossy style with tense psychological suspense.
This is not polite background TV; The Shards wants to grip you by the collar. Ryan Murphy’s new thriller, based on Bret Easton Ellis’s novel, follows a fictionalised Bret (Igby Rigney) through his final year at the elite Buckley prep school as his carefully controlled life begins to fray. The arrival of enigmatic transfer student Robert Mallory (Homer Gere) cracks open the group’s fragile loyalties just as a ritualistic killer known as The Trawler closes in on them. If you miss bold, adult-oriented drama that luxuriates in excess as much as tension, this series plants its flag from the first scene.
Why critics are split: sleek excess vs "insufferable monstrosity"
The strongest argument for watching The Shards is also the reason many critics recoil: it is unapologetically too much. The Rotten Tomatoes score sits at 52%, officially “rotten”, and you rarely see a split this sharp. One review dismissed it as an “insufferable monstrosity” and a “beautiful, mediocre mess” weighed down by an avalanche of “Disney dollars”. That camp sees the show’s glossy surfaces and self-conscious narration as indulgent rather than incisive.
On the other side, some critics call it “hazy, horrifying, and hypnotic”, praising how it captures Ellis’s detached, blank style while embracing Murphy’s taste for visual excess. Another outlet even argues that Ellis and Murphy have crafted “one of the best adaptations of the year” that will “entrap viewers within its grasp”. The divide is clear: if you crave lean realism, you may bristle; if you enjoy heightened, operatic thrillers, this is catnip.
Glossy production, psychological edges and the pull of The Trawler
What keeps The Shards from being just another serial killer drama is how much pleasure it takes in its own surfaces. The series bathes 1980s LA in a vivid, almost hallucinatory glow as it follows privileged high school seniors through identity crises, jealousy, obsession and the “dangers lurking beneath the surface of American adolescence”. The cocaine, sex, and sports cars are not subtle, but they are deliberate: the show wants you to feel complicit in this world’s glamour even as the ritualistic killings close in.
Bret’s perspective anchors the psychological tension. As his reality unravels, the line between his budding writer’s imagination and the very real terror of The Trawler—a serial killer targeting teenagers across the city—grows increasingly unstable. Some reviewers argue that the adaptation fails to capture the “feeling” of Ellis’s novel, while others insist the mood, style, music and tempo of “these wild times” land with both “style and substance”. Whether you find it hypnotic or hollow will depend on how much you value atmosphere over subtlety.
The Shards streaming on Disney+: an adult drama in a crowded catalog
In a catalog often dominated by family fare, The Shards stands out as a pointed offering for adult audiences. Ryan Murphy’s new serial killer thriller has arrived as one of the more provocative Disney+ new releases, with the first two episodes available now and new chapters rolling out on 12, 19 and 26 August, before the finale lands on 2 September. The show positions itself not as comfort viewing, but as a glossy, uneasy binge for fans of adult drama and psychological suspense.
If you’re tired of safe, algorithm-friendly content, The Shards streaming on Disney+ is a welcome disruption. It’s messy, ambitious, sometimes absurd, often melodramatic—and that is the point. This is the kind of erotic-tinged thriller series that invites debate in a way many streamers now avoid. You may hate it. You may be obsessed with it. But if you care about bold serial killer drama made for grown-ups, it deserves at least a trial run.
Verdict: a must-try for fans of daring, adult thrillers
The Shards is not here to convert skeptics of Ryan Murphy or Bret Easton Ellis; it is here to reward viewers who miss dangerous-feeling television. With its split critical reception, 52% Rotten Tomatoes score, and genre-bending mix of glossy teen excess and ritual murder, this is a love-it-or-loathe-it proposition. But that divisiveness is a feature, not a bug.
If your idea of a good night’s streaming involves cocaine-sniffing teens, New Wave soundtracks and a killer stalking the margins of privilege, The Shards is a standout among current Disney+ new releases. If you prefer understated crime dramas, you may find it overcooked. Either way, this serial killer drama earns a spot on your watchlist by daring to be excessive, seductive and impossible to ignore.
