A Review of American Horror Story: 1984

A closer look at the first episode of the new season of American Horror Story

What awaits the viewer in the latest American Horror Story is nothing short of thrilling.

courtesy of FX

What awaits the viewer in the latest American Horror Story is nothing short of thrilling.

Maria Cima, Director of Podcasts

*DISCLAIMER* American Horror Story is rated TV-MA for Language, Sexual Situations, and Violence.

 

Every fall, horror fanatics wait impatiently for the new season of American Horror Story on FX, a groundbreaking show that first aired in 2011. The show was immediately loved by fans, earning a total of 17 Emmy nominations by the end of the first season. Each season, the show has been a hit and is admired for its unique design of changing characters and plot lines. 

Fans were shocked when they found out that favorite actors from past seasons would not be returning to the screen, such as Sarah Paulson, who played a total of 9 characters, and Evan Peters, a heartthrob who has played eight roles in the past.

The show has tackled a multitude of sub-genres of horror: haunted houses, insane asylums, circuses, witches, serial killers, ghosts, cults, and the apocalypse. The show’s creator, Ryan Murphy, is now eager to enter the slasher sub-genre.

This season follows a group of young friends who set out for a summer camp called Camp Redwood to work as counselors, but little do they know that a deadly threat awaits.

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*WARNING* Spoilers ahead for the first episode of AHS 1984

Starting off the season strong, within the first four minutes of the show there is already a mass murder — setting the mood for a spine-tingling season.

Emma Roberts stars as 80’s girl Brooke, who recently moved to LA to be a veterinary assistant. After taking an aerobics class, she meets four new people (Billie Lourd as Montana Duke, Cody Fern as Xavier Plympton, Gus Kenworthy as Chet Clancy, and DeRon Horton as Ray Powell) who are going to a camp to be counselors and invite her along. She politely refuses but gets robbed and threatened by a man who calls himself the “night stalker” and decides it’s time to ditch town with her new friends.

Emma Roberts stars as Brooke Thompson in American Horror Story 1984.

Along the way, when they stop and pump gas, Xavier goes to a payphone to listen to his phone messages and hears a particularly disturbing one that basically says you can run but you can’t hide … I will find you. When the gas station worker hears where they are going, he tells them to turn around now.

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And that’s only a third of the way into the first episode of the new season. What awaits the viewer is nothing short of thrilling.

The episode also sets up the new season very well with love interests, three-dimensional characters, and multiple killers. All in all a great start to the new season!