Stars: 5/5
The long-awaited “American Horror Story: 1984” premiere’s success leads to high expectations for the series ninth season.
The ‘80s inspired storyline featured nods to iconic horror films like “Halloween” and “Friday the 13th.”
As a huge horror fan, I’m beyond excited to see the themes of some of my favorite movies on a show I’ve loved for years. I’ve seen the idea of a classic slasher season for the show requested for a long time, by myself included, so I was eagerly awaiting to see just how they would do it.
This killer season includes a cast mixed with AHS alum and some newcomers.
Scream Queen, Emma Roberts, returns to the show for her fifth season playing good girl Brooke Thompson. Her fellow Scream Queen, Billie Lourd, also returns to the show for her third season playing wild child Montana Duke.
After his extremely successful debut on the show last season as the antichrist, Cody Fern returns for his second season as Xavier Dolan. The up and coming actor also worked with creator Ryan Murphy on “The Assassination of Gianni Versace.”
Leslie Grossman returns playing camp owner Margaret Booth, and the iconic John Carrol Lynch who has played Twisty the Clown and John Wayne Gacy on the show returns to play one of this season’s killers, Mr. Jingles.
Olympic medalist Gus Kenworthy makes his big acting debut playing jock Chet Clancy. DeRon Horton of “Dear White People” also joins the series as Ray Powell. Angelica Ross from Murphy’s “Pose” joins the AHS family playing Rita. Matthew Morrison who worked with Murphy on Glee also joins the star-studded cast as Trevor.
Even though this cast is serving inclusivity and diversity, some fans are still missing the shows OG actors.
This will be the first season in AHS history that star Evan Peters will not be joining the cast. Sarah Paulson, who has also starred in every season, is rumored to only have a small role in “1984.” Paulson will be shooting another season of Murphy’s “American Crime Story,” which this time will focus on the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
Meanwhile, AHS legend Jessica Lange worked with Murphy on his Netflix show “The Politician” which will soon be released. Lady Gaga was rumored to have made an appearance in the “1984” premiere, but there was no sign of her. This leaves me questioning if the star of “Hotel” will pop up next week.
The episode opens showing a flashback of a mass murder at Camp Redwood by Mr. Jingles. We learn that his signature is to cut off his victims’ ears, which is equally disturbing and disgusting.
We then get to see what has to be my favorite opening credits the show has ever created. Murphy was so inspired by a fan edit on Twitter, that he got the fan who created it to help them make the final title sequence. It perfectly represents the ‘80s vibe and slasher theme the show embodies, and I love it.
Montana introduces newbie Brooke to the rest of the friend group, when Xavier warns them about the current killing spree going on in Los Angeles.
Xavier is already super suspicious to me, seeming eager to get out of town and inviting the others to join them to work at Camp Redwood. The camp is the place where we saw Mr. Jingles go on the murder spree at the beginning of the episode.
I find it odd that he wouldn’t do research on the camp he’s going to work for. I find it even more odd that Margaret, a survivor of Mr. Jingles Camp Redwood massacre, decided to buy the camp. She claims it’s to make better memories and the camp a happy place, but that’s just not cutting it for me.
Brooke only agrees to go with the group after she is attacked by The Nightstalker, none other than Richard Ramirez, played by Zach Villa.
After the attack, Ramirez vows to find Brooke and he ends up stalking her and the others at Camp Redwood.
Ramirez is a killer who actually did have a murder spree in LA in the ‘80s. He also appeared in the series fifth season, “AHS Hotel.” This season was also based in LA, leaving me to wonder if they’ll try to tie the two seasons together. “Murder House” and “Apocalypse” were also set in LA, so there’s the potential to do something with those seasons as well.
After finding out that Camp Redwood has reopened, Mr. Jingles escapes from a mental institution and lets out the rest of the patients. He goes back to Camp Redwood with a vengeance, and it seems like Brooke is first on his kill list.
Between the music and retro outfits, this season quite honestly already has the potential to be one of my favorite seasons yet. Even though Peters and Paulson really would have been a great addition to the main cast this season, I think the current cast works well despite my initial doubts and I’m excited to see how the rest of the season goes.
Murphy always does spooky season right, and this season has the humor and charm I’d expect from the series. Overall, I really enjoyed this premiere and how it laid down the groundwork and introduced interesting story arcs for the rest of the season.
This is going to be a season to die for, let’s just see how long it survives.