We’re 12 days away from the new season of American Horror Story and F/X dropped a new trailer this week with actual footage from the show, subtitled Cult. It’s a bit unique for this time during the unveiling process in that the story isn’t shrouded in secrecy and we can pretty much determine what it’s going to be about. Well, whether or not we really know much about the entire season, the trailer at least reveals a lot about what we can assume will be the set-up for the season.
There are two parallel tracks in the trailer. In one, Sarah Paulson reacts as I assume many of us did when we heard these horrifying words, “It’s now official; Donald Trump is the President of the United States.” After screaming as if she were on fire, she tells her psychologist, “Since election night it’s just all been getting so much worse.” He replies by asking, “The recurrence of the coulrophobia?” Coulrophobia is the fear of clowns, and in the rest of the trailer, she does seem to be terrorized by clowns.
In the other track, Evan Peters asks questions like “What’s the thing that scares you the most?”, “What fills your heart with dread?” and “What’s the most intense physical pain you’ve experienced?” Since he jumps with joy at the Trump announcement and practically humps the TV, I get the impression that he’s empowered by this development and orchestrates some type of evil… well, cult, perhaps comprised largely of clowns, as other pictures of the season might indicate.
This all looks and sounds about as straightforward as American Horror Story has ever been, sort of a return to the basics. I’m intrigued, but than again, I always am early in a season before it flies off the rails. The one thing that has me sold is someone giving a child a Twisty the Clown action figure and saying, “Don’t tell your moms.” Regardless of how the American Horror Story: Cult actually turns out, I know one thing. I sure as heck want one of those Twisty action figures!
