It’s Halloween night and you’re sitting with friends on the couch, waiting for the popcorn to finish popping. After pouring candy into a bowl, you suddenly realize you need something spooky to watch.
Created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, there are nine seasons of the hit TV show American Horror Story (AHS): Murder House, Asylum, Coven, Freak Show, Hotel, Roanoke, Cult, Apocalypse and 1984. The setting and story changes each season, with many of the same actors and actresses appearing in multiple seasons playing new characters, such as Sarah Paulson, Emma Roberts, Billie Lourd, Evan Peters and Leslie Grossman.
The show’s most recent season, 1984, is airing its seventh episode “The Lady in White” on Oct. 30, just in time for Halloween. Emma Roberts, Leslie Grossman, Billie Lourd, Cody Fern, DeRon Horton, Gus Kenworthy, Angelica Ross, Matthew Morrison and more star in the new season.
Taking place at fictional Camp Redwood in 1984, Margaret Booth (Leslie Grossman) reopens a summer camp that was initially closed down when a serial killer, Mr. Jingles (John Carroll Lynch), attacked campers years before. After escaping a mental hospital, Mr. Jingles comes back to Camp Redwood to terrorize the staff and campers once again.
The cast, costumes and effects team really make the show what it is. In American Horror Story: 1984, costume designer Paula Bradley created clothing styles like those seen on the popular TV shows Stranger Things and The Goldbergs, including big hair, sweaters and “jazzercise” outfits. Iconic makeup designs in previous seasons of AHS include the conjoined twins played by Sarah Paulson and clown Twisty played by John Caroll Lynch in Freak Show.
If you are not ready for extreme horror films like The Exorcist and The Shining, but want to move past Disney channel Halloween movies, American Horror Story is the perfect choice for you.
American Horror Story combines humor with horror, so it is not as frightening for viewers. Like the TV show Scream Queens, AHS is not as serious as other shows such as Criminal Minds. There is gore and violence, but AHS has more of a comical aspect than other horror films.
I have never been a person who loves movies and television shows involving horror, until I watched AHS. As an introduction to horror, I started watching thrillers like Get Out, A Quiet Place and Insidious. As I am slowly watching more scary TV shows to prepare for Halloween, American Horror Story is by far the best.
