TheAmerican Horror StorySeason 9 title has been revealed, and after a politically charged Season 8, it appears the anthology series is heading in a more traditionally “fun” direction. CreatorRyan Murphyreleased theAmerican Horror StorySeason 9 teaser trailer on his Instagram, which opens with footage of a masked killer chasing down a “Final Girl” wearingvery1980s clothes. Indeed, the throwback nature of the footage is intentional, as the title ofAHSSeason 9 isAmerican Horror Story: 1984.
That title and this teaser seem to suggest the new season ofAmerican Horror Storywill be taking on 1980s slashers likeFriday the 13th,A Nightmare on Elm Street, etc., which sounds like a fun idea! Obviously this is well worn territory, and recent films likeThe Cabin in the WoodsandThe Final Girlshave put new and meta-textual spins on the seminal decade of the horror genre, so I’m curious to see what Murphy and theAHSteam’s angle on this is. Will the season just be one long 1980s-style slasher movie? Will there be a present day frame story? Is this all actually just one big tie-in to the superhero sequelWonder Woman 1984? When it comes toAmerican Horror Story, all bets are off, so I wouldn’t necessarily rule anything out.
The show has been hit or miss for basically the entirety of its run, as Murphy and Co. reinvent the wheel so to speak with each season, introducing a new premise, setting, and characters while some cast crosses over. The show has tackled horror premises like haunted houses, carnivals, witches, vampires, and even found footage to mixed results, so again it’ll be interesting to see what the angle here is.
I will say, it’s refreshing to see the series heading into potentially more campy territory after the last two seasons were extremely politically charged.Apocalypsewas the long-awaited crossover betweenCovenandMurder House, but ultimately the season spent too much time on characters we didn’t really care about, and I felt it fell pretty flat in the finale.
But as is the nature ofAmerican Horror Story, each season is a clean slate, and I’ll probably be checkingAmerican Horror Story: 1984out. Take a look at the teaser trailer below. The series returns on FX this fall.
