AHS 1984 :: Camp Redrum

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They are throwing all kinds of twists and turns at us this season on American Horror Story. And now they seem to be following the ‘Roanoke’ template with some major plot shifting this week.

I’ve been enjoying the playful and loving jabs the season so far has taken at the slasher films of the 1980s. When Halloween — which actually came out in 1978 — begat Friday the 13th in 1980, which is the movie that really kick-started the slasher genre, there was no template for how these stories would play out and how the characters would behave. But producers and studios quickly learned that they could make a ton of money with a cheaply shot slasher movie that followed a basic template: gather a group of people, put them in some sort of isolated location, start picking them off one-by-one, have them do stupid things that assured they would get killed (and that Geico commercial perfectly illustrates this in hilarious fashion — ‘Let’s hide behind the wall of chainsaws!’), one ‘final girl’ survives with the killer left for dead … and he never is because sequels are even cheaper to make. That was pretty much this week’s episode with a few dashes of the supernatural thrown in for good measure. I’ve seen my share of slasher movies, but I’m not sure many of them have gone into the supernatural realm aside from an unnaturally unstoppable killer (please feel free to chime in with some titles in the comments section below).

We did get some interesting backstory for Rita/Donna/Dee Dee that shows us where she got her interest from in helping ‘cure’ serial killers. Four years earlier, she followed her father thinking he was having an affair and walked in on a disemboweled young woman. Turns out her father was a serial killer, had been all his life, saying it was in his genes. Donna assured him that she could help him but he knew he was too far gone and stabbed himself in the neck. Now she’s faced with a newly resurrected Richard Ramirez who helpfully reminds her that everything that’s happened thus far at Camp Redwood is her fault. In effect, she is the killer. And when she comes upon Benjamin later, and he reveals how Margaret actually set him up and that he was never a killer until now, Donna asks him to kill her, to absolve her of her own sins. Benjamin tells her he has one more kill in him, Margaret. Donna doesn’t get off that easily.

Donna also reveals to Xavier, Brooke and Montana that she’s the one who set Mr. Jingles free and Xavier now has a target on who is responsible for him never getting on the cover of TV Guide after Jingles stuffed him in the oven. But they all have more to worry about with Montana beginning to lose her grip on reality. She is still convinced that Brooke is responsible for her brother’s death, and tries a couple of time to kill her while they are sheltering in place from Jingles. But Brooke says she sees Ray outside and goes to find him. Ray, of course, lost his head a couple of episodes back so knowing that the counselor from 1970 is a ghost who can’t leave, we are to assume this is also now the case with Ray. Brooke finds him but they have to go hide, and as they chat and open up to each other, one thing leads to another and Brooke loses her virginity to the ghost of Ray (which means she didn’t sleep with Montana’s brother and her groom-to-be was totally off base). Not knowing he’s a ghost, she goes to the fridge to get some water and … finds Ray’s head inside, like totally freaking her out.

Margaret has gone off in a rowboat with Chet, claiming to have seen a couple of the other side of the lake. Maybe they have a car. Chet did not want to go, and was even less thrilled when Margaret started talking to him about his soul and making things right with God before it was too late. Chet said he was good but wasn’t sure about this boat trip. Margaret finally admitted she just needed to be alone with each one of them so she could kill them, bashes Chet in the head with an oar, ties the anchor chain around his legs, tries to cut off his ear (he fights back as best as he can), and dumps him over the side, ripping his ear off before stomping on his fingers, the anchor pulling him down to the bottom of the lake. I’d say RIP Chet, but he’s not going to be resting much now or at peace.

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Back at camp, Margaret comes across Benjamin at the archery range and he nearly chokes her to death. She’s barely able to get the knife tucked into her belt but before she can, Benjamin is shot with an arrow, and then several more. Xavier played Robin Hood once so his archery training has come in handy. Jingles appears to be dead, and for his efforts, Margaret thanks Xavier by plunging her knife into his chest and slicing him open. Leaving the two behind, Jingles isn’t quite dead yet as Richard pops up and asks if he will accept Satan as his savior. Benjamin nods and he is resurrected like Richard.

Brooke makes her way back to Montana to tell her about Ray and Ray’s head and Montana has had enough and tries to kill Brooke again. But Brooke is scrappy and fights back. The two end up outside the cabin as dawn breaks, and just as a bus full of campers arrives, Brooke gets the upper hand, grabs the knife from Montana and stabs her several times … while the kids watch. And scream. A short time later the police are there and Brooke is in handcuffs being placed in the back of a car. Ray shows up and an EMT tries to take his blood pressure which registers a zero. They get him in the ambulance and he believes he’s getting out of the camp, but as the ambo drives through the archway, Ray suddenly sits up in the middle of the road. The 1970 counselor tells him they’ll never leave this place.

Margaret witnesses Brooke’s arrest and stabs herself in the leg, blaming it on Brooke. After most everyone has left, Montana confronts a lone police officer, tells him she’s dead and asks if she’d get the electric chair if she kiiled him. He says she definitely would, and she shoots him, saying ‘agree to disagree.’ When Ray and 1970 counselor call her out she replies, ‘There is no Montana, only Zuul.’ And tells them to lighten up because they’re not doing this whole purgatory thing right. No sign of Xavier or Chet yet, but Richard and Benjamin have stolen a police car and are on their way to wreak more havoc back in Los Angeles, just in time for next week’s 100th episode! So has the script flipped at the midway point like ‘Roanoke’ did, completely changing things up for the remainder of the season? We shall see.