AHS 1984’s Love Letter To Horror: Did You Catch Them All?
AHS 1984 arrived last Wednesday with a bang, once again showcasing why they are the horror TV tradition each fall. With a brilliantly compiled homage to classic films of the genre, it was extra satisfying to spot them as each came up. While there are some elements, such as disappearing bodies, that are a general call back, there were many that remain specific to beloved favorites. Great or small, each call back to a classic only further elevated the episode.
Did you catch them all?
Warning: Spoilers ahead.
Friday the 13th
One of the very first of these beloved classics that comes to mind is Friday the 13th. If you didn’t already feel that coming into the season (those trailers!), there was no question about it when the episode started. Camp Redwood is an instant call back to Camp Crystal Lake, reopening for the first time since a group of teenagers were slain years earlier – teenagers who had been in the thralls of lust at the time. Everything from the cabins, to the lake, to the setting screams a warning that Jason (or his mother!) could be lurking around any corner. The hard stepping sounds of Mr. Jingles feet too give an eery call back to the heavy walking of Jason, the almost invincible and threatening nature ready to strike.
The feeling never truly leaves the episode either. It is the foundation that gives strength to other horror films that will be interlaced within to create the strongest homage to date.
Halloween
This would be one of the second most obvious references in the series. In the beginning of the episode, as Mr. Jingles is closing in on our promiscuous teens, you can hear heavy breathing pulling audiences away from the Friday the 13th callbacks, thrusting them instantly into the beginning scenes of Halloween with Michael Myers breathing heavily in his mask. Mr. Jingles’ soundtrack too was reminiscent of the horror classic – though if you listen closely, Saw seems to find a few notes of acknowledgement as well creating an effective and unique theme for our villain.
While these details may be small in comparison to the entire episode, Halloween found its strongest reference almost mid way through the episode. Following the camp fire, the episode cuts away from the woods and to the entrance of a near by insane asylum as a car (which looks very similar to the one driven by Halloween‘s Loomis) pulls up to an open gate, patients pouring out. The lawn is filled as the sirens of the facility blast the horrific truth that Mr. Jingles had managed to escape the asylum. The Boogeyman is loose!
It doesn’t take him long to find our campers – more specifically our final girl Brooke (Emma Roberts) – as he chases her through the woods and catches up to finish off the mysterious hiker – whose death (knifed to the back of the door) is very reminiscent of the young boyfriend who is knifed to the kitchen wall in Halloween. Oh and much like the boyfriend, the hikers body disappears too!
I Know What You Did Last Summer
When I had seen the trailer for the upcoming season of AHS 1984, I was pleasantly surprised to find the presumed killer sporting a rain coat very similar to that of the fisherman. While not entirely the same – and without a hook – there is an instant call back. You can not help but compare the two – the seemingly larger than life figure hiding behind the oversized coat. But this was not the only call back.
As the gang continues on their way to Camp Redwood after their stop at the gas station, a distracted Xavier (Cody Fern) hits a lone hiker in the road. In a beautifully choreographed moment, the crew pile out of the car and stand over the body on the side of the road, mirroring the same departure of our ill fated teens departing their car after hitting Old Ben. But it doesn’t stop there as the scene continues, the hiker grabbing Brooke very similarly to how Benjamin Willis did when the teens tried to dispose of him.
Beyond all the storyline call backs, there is also Cody Fern‘s Xavier, who is a dead ringer for Ryan Phillippe‘s Barry Cox. “We have to get our stories straight”, he demands of the group as they try and decide what to do with the hiker. It is a cover up that is sure to have undesired results.
Carrie
It was the details that truly made this homage to horror really stand out. They didn’t need to be gradioso or over the top, they just needed to be timely, properly utilized and effective. Enter Carrie. After Brooke flees Mr. Jingles in the woods, she arrives at the cabin covered in mud, freaking out from her experience – and rightly so. As the gang questions the validity of her story, there is a moment that the camera sets on Brooke just right, a moment that brings instant draw backs to Sissy Spacek‘s Carrie standing on the stage covered in blood. It is a quick moment, but one whose effect within a homage rings true.
A Nightmare eon Elm Street
A Nightmare on Elm Street was one of the more subtle references within the episode. Firstly, the AHS 1984 title card screams call backs to the title card for this horror classic, the red tones and the slicing nature to the lettering hard to ignore. Though this is not the only reference. Brooke Thompson shares a last name with Nancy Thompson. A quick and easily missed detail, it is one that is worthy and needs to be acknowledged.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Another small tribute, but still oh so satisfying. As the teens arrive at the gas station for a fill up before their final leg to Camp Redwood, they run into a moderately friendly gas station attendant. After revealing to him that they are on their way to help in reopening Camp Redwood, he strongly warns them to stay away – that if they go there, they “are all going to die”. While this gas station attendant does not have ties to the overarching killer, his warnings and presence bring references to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre into the fold.
Conclusion
With the eerie phone ringing in the middle of the woods at the end creates call backs to phones ringing in Scream, whose heavy breathing and keys jingling from Mr. Jingles has its own reference to “The call is coming from inside the house”, it is details such as these that made the episode as successful and entertaining as it was. In a lover letter to the horror genre, AHS 1984 packed a nostalgic punch – leaving the door wide open for more homage to come.
Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments below!
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