TV Review - American Horror Story: 1984

This is the ninth season of the hit FX series. Despite its title, the series ceased being scary after the second season. It's probably why the title of the series has been shortened to AHS: 1984 because the "horror" part isn't about invoking a sense of actual horror in the viewer. It's more an aesthetic or an excuse to splatter blood and gore, indulging in whatever twisted narrative turns that creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk can concoct. It's like when Kentucky Fried Chicken shortened its name to just "KFC." This series has become more horror-comedy, leaning more toward camp than anything else. I suppose it can seem like a fun romp for those who appreciate campy horror. This series though doesn't aspire for anything more than just being schlock for schlock's sake. It's a shame because it pulls a lot of material, ripping straight from the headlines like a college hazing incident that led to a murder. Murphy and Falchuck really could use this platform to delve into topics and issues, but yet they don't.

Murphy is a prolific producer. He also has his similarly titled American Crime Story. I suppose that American Crime Story is doing more of what I wish this series was doing. The last season of American Crime Story was about the serial killer who ended the life of famous fashion icon, Gianni Versace. That series was way more terrifying and in fact scarier than the last five seasons of this series combined. It was certainly scarier than the first, few episodes here, which take us back to the summer of 1984. The summer of 1984 is notable for two things, as singled out here. The first is the Los Angeles Olympics. The second is the wake of murders by the infamous serial killer, known as the Night Stalker.

It's not to say that I want a docudrama-like retelling of the Night Stalker's crime spree. What Murphy and Falchuk do is akin to what Quentin Tarantino just did in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. However, Tarantino took a specific crime that a serial killer committed and changed the outcome completely. Here, Murphy and Falchuk simply imagine what a serial killer might have done in the time period that he had no activity or little known activity. What fate befalls him is yet to be seen, but, unlike Tarantino, this series is not all that nostalgic for the time period or culture. Tarantino also practically ignored the serial killer all together, barely giving him a voice or screen time. Here, that isn't the case. Murphy and Falchuk revel in the serial killer and practically bathe in his essence.

Zach Villa plays Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker. The Night Stalker committed his first murders in 1984 just as the summer was starting in L.A. He committed two, one in April of that year and one in June. Strangely though, he didn't commit his next string of murders until the spring of 1985. It's nearly a year of inactivity, an entire summer and fall in fact. That time period, specifically that summer, is where this series is set. It imagines what the psychopath and Satanist might have done in those months of seeming inactivity.

Emma Roberts (Nerve and Scream 4) stars as Brooke Thompson, a young woman who survives an attack from the Night Stalker. She's a virginal, sweet girl who also survived a murder-suicide from her fiancé on her wedding day, while she was at the altar. She decides to go with her friends from an exercise class to a summer camp just outside of the city. She needs to go to get away from the mayhem that has been her life. She and her friends go to become camp counselors. Unfortunately, the Night Stalker follows her to the camp where his focus is to finish what he started. The first three episodes occur all on one night and is about her trying to escape the Night Stalker's repeated attacks, usually with a knife.

If one is familiar with the Night Stalker's crimes and his modus operandi, then one knows that the Night Stalker's preferred weapon or the one he used for a lot of his initial murders was a .22 caliber handgun. He shot a lot of his victims. This series though turns the Night Stalker more into Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th (1980). He would normally sneak into a person's house while they were asleep and shoot them in the head. Here, he merely slowly walks after the campers. Given all the recent mass shootings in the United States, having a killer committing mass shootings and trying to make pulpy fun out of it is probably a tone that would be impossible to reach or at least one that Murphy and Falchuk are too reluctant to try.

Leslie Grossman (Goliath and Popular) co-stars as Margaret Booth, the owner and manager of Camp Redwood, the summer camp where Brooke and her friends came and where the Night Stalker followed. Yet, she's not afraid of the Night Stalker. Like Brooke, she also survived a serial killer but a different one. 14 years ago, Margaret was a camp counselor at the very same Camp Redwood in 1970. That summer, a man named Mr. Jingles, a Vietnam veteran slaughtered all the campers there, including Margaret. Yet, Margaret survived her injuries. She was the only one and instead of making her more fearful, she found religion and developed a strong resolve to re-open the camp.

Unfortunately, Mr. Jingles who is patterned after Michael Myers from Halloween (1978) escapes from the mental hospital where he was being held. Mr. Jingles returns to the camp and targets Margaret and any one in his path. Now, the idea of having not one but two serial killers on the loose in this series could be a thrilling thing but Murphy and Falchuk can't help but be silly for most of it. Plus, having them on the loose together so soon makes it even more silly.

Angelica Ross (Pose) also co-stars as Donna Chambers aka Rita the Nurse. She pretends to be a nurse because she knows that Mr. Jingles is on the loose at the camp. She wants to study him and understand how serial killers operate. Her goal is to use her research to stop future serial killers. It's a ridiculous plot, although given Murphy and Falchuk, the end of this series might see her succeeding.

Really, this series feels more like Murphy and Falchuk's cancelled series Scream Queens (2015), which also featured Emma Roberts. This series isn't quite as dumb and sassy, but, like their 2015 program, this one will occasionally pause for the objectification of men. There's a definite gay gaze and queer tendencies sprinkled here and there.

Billie Lourd (Booksmart and Star Wars: The Last Jedi) plays Montana Duke, a girl who makes a move on Brooke but whether or not she's bisexual or sexually fluid remains to be seen. Cody Fern (House of Cards and American Crime Story) plays Xavier Plympton, a former drug addict who did gay-for-pay pornography. Gus Kenworthy plays Chet Clancy, an ex-Olympian who now works at an aerobics studio. Chet isn't gay, but Kenworthy is openly gay and it's just cool to see the skiing silver medalist light up the small screen.

Rated TV-MA-LV.
Running Time: 1 hr.
Wednesdays at 10PM on FX.