Counsellors at a summer camp, feathered hairdos, an escaped mental patient named Mr. Jingles, incredibly large shoulder pads? It looks like American Horror Story: 1984, the ninth season of the long-running horror anthology knows its inspirations intimately. After a teaser trailer that recalled classic slasher movies, this new trailer goes full 1980s horror, teasing a plotline about an insane murderer stalking and violently butchering counsellors at an isolated summer camp.
Given that the Friday the 13th franchise remains trapped in legal limbo, I can’t wait to see the grisly fates of the cast of shallow teenagers that this promo showcases. However, I’m somehow doubting that American Horror Story: 1984 is going to play all the slasher movie tropes straight. Firstly, it seems a little insensitive in 2019 to have a villain who’s escaped from a mental hospital as the bad guy and the show is renowned for confounding expectations. My bet is that this killer won’t be quite what he seems, and nor will this group of eminently slashable teen actors.
The most prominent theory at this point is that each of the preceding series has revolved around one of Dante’s nine circles of hell, with gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, fraud, treachery and limbo featured in previous seasons. This means that season 9 could have lust as its theme, which would fit nicely with the slasher movie cliche of having sex leading to a quick and bloody demise.
In any case, we know that the new run will feature Emma Roberts, Gus Kenworthy, Billie Lourd, Leslie Grossman, Cody Fern, Matthew Morrison, Angelica Ross and John Carroll Lynch, among others. Series mainstay Evan Peters, meanwhile, has confirmed that he’s not appearing in the upcoming season, with regular Sarah Paulson explaining that she’s set to have a minor supporting role.
Right now, American Horror Story: 1984 looks incredibly cool and thankfully, we don’t have too much longer to wait until it premieres on September 18th at 10/9c on FX.