TV Review: American Horror Story: Freak Show (Season 4, Episode 1)

Last Updated on July 22, 2021

EPISODE: “MONSTERS AMONG US”

THE SCOOP: Welcome to Jupiter, Florida – September 1952…as we’re taken in by the demented delights of Elsa’s Cabinet of Curiosities. In order to turn business around, the self-aggrandized German ex-patriot Elsa Mars, (the inimitable Jessica Lange), recruits a host of bizarre new talent for her fledgling freakshow!

The Following May Contain Minor-To-Major Spoilers. If You’ve Not Seen This Episode, It Might be Wisest To Stop Reading Here!

THE SKINNY: At long last friends, American Horror Story’s 4th season of anthological dread is here to kick off the Halloween season. And you know what? In a single premiere stint, I already like this season WAY more than the last year’s corny coven of voodoo riddled bitch-witches! I love almost everything better…the look, the feel…the unapologetically seedy tone and perverted mood, and of course, the uncanny epochal atmosphere of a 1950s freakshow. What a decision! As the episode kicks off, we meet Elsa Mars (Lange), a German ex-pat now running a roadside carnival affectionately dubbed Elsa’s Cabinet of Curiosities. Times are tough, business is slow, and if she doesn’t come up with some quick cash soon, the lot of land her carnival resides on will be leased away to a tent revival. So what does Elsa do? She hits the bricks looking for new talent!

Among the new sideshow recruits at Elsa disposal? Peep this sordid band of undesirables: An ill-tempered bearded lady (Kathy Bates), a flipper-fisted greaser (Evan Peters), a chicken-head-chomping little boy, a sleight tattooed little man with webbed-hands, the world’s smallest woman (really!), a real-life sword-swallower, with others and many more to come. But Elsa’s most prized find of human oddities at this time is a two-headed woman (Sarah Paulson), more like conjoined Siamese Twins named Bette and Dot who’re wracked with split personalities, that she finds while candy-striping at the local hospital. As we know, Paulson is one of the better actors on the show, and she certainly has a meaty dual-role to sink her teeth into here. On one shoulder rests the head of Bette, a scrupulous uptight nag. On the other is Dot, a free-spirit with an open-mind. This obvious conflict is a breeding ground for incessant strife and struggle, sure to be exploited by Elsa as the season progresses. Should be fun!

But what about the horror, you ask? Well, the grisly bouts of butchery this episode come mostly via a strangely filthy, maniacally grinning clown-man who utters not a word, bludgeons and slaughters people and keeps young hostages caged up in his deserted ramshackle school-bus. Dude looks a bit like the sick inbred nephew of Sid Haig from DEVIL’S REJECTS, and frankly, his scenes felt like it belongs to that kind of picture. But I didn’t mind, as I know a nasty showdown between this sick f*ck and the Cabinet of Curiosities awaits. I mean, who is this killer-clown? From where did he sprout? Is he out to whack ever mofo in sight? WTF? Other than that, most of the carnage comes in the form of the Siamese Sinster’s twisted flashbacks. See, the reason the two of them ended up in the hospital and ultimately in the Freakshow is because they fled a murder scene. We get some nasty knife-work to sate the bloodlust, although, much like one of my favorite horror movies THE FUNHOUSE, I’m hoping most of the thrills and chills derive organically from the real-life carnie-curios and overly-odd milieu. And from the looks of some of the casting, they’re doing it right!

It’s no secret, real life human oddities have been cast in the show – the world’s smallest woman for example, or the web-handed dude – which instantly lends a credibility to the overall product. How far the exploitation will go remains to be seen, but like the show has done before with out-of-the-box casting, it looks like material is being handled in a respectful way. As for the show’s familiar faces, I love how Lange is playing it as a cross between Isla She Wolf of the SS and Gloria Swanson from SUNSET BLVD. Or maybe some Marlene Dietrich. Shite’s heat! We also meet Jimmy Darling (Peters), a 50s greaser type with a flipper-hands who wants to stages a “freak” mutiny after feeling dissed by “normal” people. Kathy Bates is back as a sagacious Bearded Lady who helps run the Freakshow. I already mentioned Paulson, though I failed to address the CG of the two-headedness. Not bad. Not great. But I’m in. As long as Paulson commits and sells it hard, I’ll buy it. She’s that good!

So yeah, solid introduction to a freaky new season of American Horror Story. I’m definitely digging it, are you?

KILL OF THE WEEK: Because so much of the idyllic, almost nostalgic cinematography (the colors, stillness) reminded me of brutal bluff-top murder Fincher’s ZODIAC, I’d have to say when that killer-clown goes ballistic with the blade and stabs that random picnicker multiple times in the gut. Yeah, gnarly!

BLOOD & GORE:

• A violent stomach stabbing with antique pair of shears…repeatedly.
• A couple of juggling pins upside the dome…bloodied forehead.
• A butcher-knife lancing to the lower neck.
• Another scissors stab.
• A swift throat slashing.
• A post-mortem group butchering of a single body.

WTF CHARACTER MOMENT: I’d have to say Elsa’s wacky, Kabuki-karaoke rendition of Bowie’s Life on Mars was quite the head-scratcher. Fine enough on its own I guess, but when you’re blue eye-shadowed is smeared on in a way that makes you look like f*cking Faye Dunaway in MOMMIE DEAREST…well…good holy hell! Only in the final shot of the episode does such an otherwise out of place showstopper make sense. And not to spoil much more beyond that, but double WTF!!!

MOST BIZARRE SCENE: Got a couple here. When 50s greaser boy Jimmy Darling fingers his girlfriend with a hideously deformed flipper-claw…much to her ecstasy filled elation. Whoa, sir! Also, there’s a lurid opium induced freakshow orgy or gang-rape…hard to tell on the grainy 8mm projected film. Quite strange!