“American Horror Story” has made its name for taking tried and true horror conventions and turning them on their head throughout the series’ previous eight seasons. And now, with the upcoming “American Horror Story: 1984,” the Ryan Murphy anthology turns its sights on the classic slasher horror genre.
In the first full trailer for ‘1984,’ the series is clearly taking all the major slasher franchises and creating some sort of bloody, campy stew. The trailer alone shows homages to films like “Halloween” (escaped mental patient), “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (friends encounter strange person while driving in a van), and obviously “Friday the 13th” (the camp setting). And if that wasn’t enough, adding the ‘80s as a backdrop gives the cast and crew carte blanche to insert any number of nostalgic tropes, such as the bright clothes, the music, and the big hair, just to name a few.
And much like the previous “American Horror Story” seasons, there’s a healthy amount of camp that keeps the series feeling like a long, depressing, dour slog. Based solely on the trailer, you wouldn’t be wrong to think that maybe ‘1984’ is less a scary horror series and more “Stranger Things”-esque comedy-adventure.
The cast for ‘1984’ brings some of the ‘AHS’ alums back together, including Billie Lourd, John Carroll Lynch, Leslie Grossman, Cody Fern, Matthew Morrison, Angelica Ross, DeRon Horton, Zach Villa, and Emma Roberts. As mentioned, the series hails from creator Ryan Murphy, who is responsible for other series such as “Glee,” “American Crime Story,” “Feud,” and the upcoming “The Politician” on Netflix.
“American Horror Story: 1984” premieres on FX on September 18.