A Camp-y AMERICAN HORROR STORY

Article first published as TV Review: AMERICAN HORROR STORY 1984 on Seat42F.

Anew season of AMERICAN HORROR STORY has started! This one is subtitled 1984 and takes place at a lakeside camp near Los Angeles in the summer of that year. Orwell, it isn’t, with a creepy massacre back story and a violent criminal who is breaking into homes in the city. Which characters will make it out alive?

First it must be said, as we’ve come to expect from AHS, the visual look is amazing. From sets to costumes to hairstyles to props, each are meticulously detailed to be of the era. Actually, more importantly, it looks as if from a movie from that era. The highly stylized, a bit more heightened that reality, is a hallmark of every season of the series, and that continues through this one. Even the lighting and film end up looking like this was made a few decades ago, albeit with a sharp picture. This isn’t novel for AMERICAN HORROR STORY, but it’s important to keep up the quality nine seasons in.

The cast is a mix between familiar faces and new ones. Emma Roberts (AHS: Coven) returns as lead Brooke Thompson. A departure from Roberts’ normal bitchy role, Brooke is timid and agreeable. Attacked in her apartment, Brooke allows herself to be persuaded by new bud Montana Duke (Billie Lourd, AHS: Cult) to flee the area and become a camp counselor, despite being hesitant to miss college classes she’s signed up for. The girls are joined by athlete Chet (Gus Kenworthy, Sharknado 5), actor Xavier (Cody Fern, American Crime Story: Versace), and drug supplier Ray (DeRon Horton, Dear White People).

The four (sans Brooke) make up an established group of friends that welcome her in. One assumes that these will be the primary leads, those hunted by the killer or killers this season. Older staff members like camp owner Margaret Booth (Leslie Grossman, AHS: Cult), doctor Rita (Angelica Ross, Pose), and creep Trevor (Matthew Morrison, Glee) seem likely to stay on the fringes. This makes sense for the 80s genre, though other seasons of AMERICAN HORROR STORY have tended to split the age groups. For instance, Coven had a group of young witches, but also meaty material for the older characters. That’s part of what seems to set 1984 apart.

Setting itself apart is likely a good idea with franchise veterans Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters (mostly) sitting things out. Instead of wondering what part they should be playing and measuring any other performer against them, it’s easy to settle in with this new group. AMERICAN HORROR STORY: 1984 is a bit reminiscent of Scream Queens, another Ryan Murphy project starring Roberts. However, Scream Queens was campy and this is camp the noun, not the adjective. It’s a bit odd to see AHS in that light, but it works. As usual, there is plenty of blood and plenty of mystery.

One does wonder where 1984 will go besides slasher flick, as most seasons of the program have bent a couple large themes. Rumors have swirled that aliens might come into the mix. Ghosts also seem a reasonable guess. But I wonder at the specific year, which works because of the Olympics element of the story, but also calls to mind a famous dystopian novel. I’m hoping for a bit of Orwell slipped in here somewhere. If does not, I kind of think the title should have been something else.

The bottom line, though, is that AMERICAN HORROR STORY hasn’t missed a step with 1984, and we have a season of chills and thrills awaiting us. I am very much looking forward to it.

AMERICAN HORROR STORY: 1984 airs Wednesdays on FX.

You Scream, I Scream, We All Scream For SCREAM QUEENS

Article originally published as SCREAM QUEENS Review on Seat42F.

FOX’s SCREAM QUEENS is the comedy version of Ryan Murphy’s other, much darker show, American Horror Story. That is the best way to sum up the two hour pilot, which airs next week. It is ridiculous, but intentionally so, satirizing the modern horror film. It isn’t scary, but it isn’t supposed to be. I enjoyed it a great deal.

The most central figure in the first episode is Chanel Oberlin (Emma Roberts, American Horror Story, We’re the Millers), a rich, spoiled brat who is head of the Kappa sorority due to the untimely death of the previous president. Supported by her minions, Chanel #2 (singer Ariana Grande), Chanel #3 (Billie Lourd), and Chanel #5 (Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine, Zombieland), whose real names she refuses to learn, Chanel is determined to not only rule the school, but become a successful television journalist.

Of course, SCREAM QUEENS isn’t going to make it easy for her. First, Dean Munsch (Jamie Lee Curtis, Halloween, New Girl) decrees that the sorority must accept all pledges, no matter how pathetic (enter Glee’s Lea Michele, among others). Then, Chanel’s boyfriend, Chad Radwell (Glen Powell, The Dark Knight Rises), decides he can’t be with her if she’s no longer popular, due to the dean’s decision. Oh, and then of course there’s a serial killer starting to pick people off, mainly girls in and around the sorority. So there’s that, though that isn’t Chanel’s main concern.

Roberts is fantastic as Chanel, channeling her previous AHS Madison character, but without the depth. No matter what happens, nothing phases Chanel, nor makes her care about others. She is what she is. And what she is is a perfect match for Curtis, who is an equal in the amazing department. I could watch SCREAM QUEENS even if it were just the two of them going head to head. Every scene they are in is magic.

SCREAM QUEENS boasts a large cast (required to keep the body count going), and while Roberts and Curtis essentially own the spotlight, others manage to steal it for brief, wonderful moments, which come more and more frequently as the pilot goes on. Of particular note is Boone (singer Nick Jonas), who has an extremely memorable bedroom scene. But others, including national sorority president Gigi Caldwell (Nasim Pedrad, Saturday Night Live), security guard Denise Hemphill (Niecy Nash, Reno 911!), and “white mammy” Ms. Bean (Jan Hoag, Wild) also make good use of their chance to pop.

Honestly, where the plot drags is when the focus shifts to the ‘normal’ hero of the piece, Grace Gardner (Skyler Samuels, The Nine Lives of Chloe King), and her would-be boyfriend and wannabe journalist, Pete Martinez (Diego Boneta, Rock of Ages). I guess every horror movie has this type of character, and presumably they will be the ones to stop the killer. But I’m not sure they’re needed in a piece that subverts convention so much. If anything, they just drag the show down a bit. Hopefully, they, too, will be used in unexpected ways later in the season.

That being said, overall, I still think SCREAM QUEENS is great. If you don’t understand at first what the mission of the program is and instead take it seriously, you may be confused and disappointed. Once you embrace the utter lunacy and twist on archetype of many of the characters, though, it becomes very enjoyable. Ryan Murphy has taken his earnest cartoonishness of the best parts of Glee and mixed it with what he knows of horror from doing AHS to create something memorable and unique. In an age where horror is all over the television set, this is something original and different.

Plus, I just can’t wait to see who dies next and Chanel’s reaction to it!

SCREAM QUEENS premieres Tuesday, September 22^nd at 8 p.m. ET on FOX.