Scare Up Some Laughs This Halloween With 'Scare Tactics' on USA

Horror-comedy auteur Jordan Peele is behind the reboot of 'Scare Tactics' on USA. Here's a preview, plus how to watch with Sling.

In its original run from 2003-2013, Scare Tactics Frankensteined together a hidden-camera prank show with moments of genuine terror (you can catch select episodes of the original on Sling with MTV2 on-demand). In 2024, when you think of horror-comedy hybrids, the first person who likely comes to mind is Jordan Peele, the writer-director behind Get Out, Us, and Nope. Now, Peele’s Monkey Paw Productions has taken the reins on a Scare Tactics reboot, which premieres at 10pm ET on Friday, Oct. 4 on USA Network.

It’s drop-dead funny.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/JpJTbEZXcQY?si=ZO7YNQWdpDi5Q2CG

The premiere episode features two pranks. The first finds a pair of friends serving as witnesses for a hastily-arranged wedding between a groom and his very pregnant wife. It doesn’t take a great deal of imagination to picture where this prank is heading, but the show’s format has always kept the audience one step ahead of its participants. You can see what's coming from a mile away and still find yourself LOLing at the reaction of the “target.”

The second prank has more of a “will they/ won’t they” set up, as a couple of friends dine on, let’s say, exotic cuisine at a fancy restaurant. Again, it’s not the journey but the destination we’re waiting for and the payoff is delicious.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DA_dsWYvxpQ

Peele himself does not appear on the show (bizarrely, the “host” is an anthropomorphic TV set named Flip who looks like a member of the Robot Kingdom from the Saga comics), but the show has his fingerprints all over it. Like the original, the pranks are shot and edited like a horror movie, and the laughs hit hard. The cast is also great; the woman who plays the pregnant bride in the first segment returns as a rude dinner guest in the second.

At the end of the day, Scare Tactics isn’t the type of show that needs a hard sell. If you’re into hidden-camera comedy, horror, and/ or prank shows, Scare Tactics is a lot of fun. Scary good, you might even say.

To watch the premiere of Scare Tactics on Friday, Oct. 4 at 10:00pm ET on USA Network, SYFY, or Bravo, use the link below to subscribe to Sling Blue!

https://main--sling--aemsites.aem.page/aemedge/fragments/try-sling-blue