Step right up, folks, and witness the most astonishing collection of humanity ever assembled in one series. “American Horror Story: Freak Show” is a perfect fit for those who love campy horror, gore, mythology and social commentary.
This horror series reinvents each season so while the actors largely remain the same; the grim settings and unnerving characters change.
The first season was set in a Los Angeles haunted house subtitled “Murder House.” It was succeeded by “Asylum,” which took place in a 1960s mental institution, and then “Coven,” which followed a coven of Salem descendants in a New Orleans boarding school.
The American Horror Story series blends the real world with the spiritual realm with a fair amount of gore and camp. In “Murder House,” this happens when Violet — the daughter in the family who moved into the haunted house — discovers her own dead body. After continually running out the front door only to find herself running into the house again, Violet is told that she didn’t survive her suicide attempt: she remembers only after seeing her fly-riddled corpse.
In “Asylum,” this moment happens when Lana discovers that Dr. Thredson is the infamous serial killer “Bloody Face.” After Dr. Thredson, the psychiatrist of the Briarcliff mental hospital, helps Lana escape, he lures her into his basement and reveals his identity by placing the atrocious and horrifying mask — made from the sewed-together skin of his victims — on his face.
The most chilling event in “Coven” is when Myrtle is burned alive at the stake after she is found guilty of blinding Cordelia with an acid attack.
The show’s twisted genius is in its ability to exploit humanity’s greatest fears: seeing one’s own dead body, being captured by a sadistic serial killer and burning alive, to name a few. The show also offers pointed social commentary. The first season focuses on the illusion of the American dream, and deals with infidelity and betrayal within families; the second takes on religious-based oppression, discrimination against homosexuality and the treatment of the mentally ill in America. The third season critiques women’s oppression in a patriarchal society, slavery and racial discrimination. The show’s social critiques allow the audience to be horrified and repulsed by the ills of the society they live in.
References to mythology and real life characters in American Horror Story allow the exploration of the deepest horrors of American society. In “Murder House,” the famous Black Dahlia murder is incorporated as well as the Columbine school shooting. In “Asylum,” a grown-up Anne Frank is imagined, and an ex-Nazi party member who performs sadistic medical experiments on human beings is showcased. “Coven” integrates the true story of the New Orleans serial killer known as “the Axeman.”
“American Horror Story: Freak Show “promises to be the show’s “scariest creation so far,” complete with conjoined twins, a bearded lady and a horrifying clown. “Freak Show” surrounds a 1950’s traveling sideshow – one of the last of its kind – that infests the town of Jupiter, Florida.
In an innovative choice unique to American Horror Story, as with previous seasons, the cast will consist of actors returning to play all new roles. Jessica Lange is back as Elsa Mars, the maestro overseeing this ensemble of anomalies. Kathy Bates returns as Ethel Darling, the bearded lady. Angela Bassett plays Desiree Dupree, the three-breasted woman. Sarah Paulson will portray — in perhaps her most fascinating role yet — conjoined twins Bette and Dot Tattler, the two-headed girl. Michael Chiklis is strongman Wendell “Dell” Toledo. John Carroll Lynch will play Twisty the Clown, a character who will undoubtedly awaken audiences’ most-paralyzing childhood fear. Evan Peters is Jimmy Darling, the man with the lobster-hands. Emma Roberts is con artist Maggie Esmerelda. Also in the mix is Guinness World Record holder Jyoti Amge, the world’s smallest woman at just slightly over two feet tall.
The Freak Show’s presence in Jupiter befalls the emergence of a brutal dark entity that endangers the lives of town residents and the carnies. If the previous three seasons are any indicator, “Freak Show” will not disappoint in the twisted and creepy departments. Eager viewers should prepare for a gruesome terror fest that, as Bates’ character says in a preview trailer, will “astound your senses”. Season 4 premieres Wednesday Oct. 8 on FX.
