American Horror Story: Freakshow
 

I KNOW there must be some fans of the show here, I thought Stevie's participation on last year's Coven installment would have affected a lot of FM fans, I want to know how many are on this forum.
I'm curious about what others think about Freakshow, was it better than Coven (YES), what do you like about this year, what could have been better after much anticipation, what are your hopes and desires for the show, what's your favourite season, etc.

I think that Freakshow is AMAZING and an improvement compared to Coven, because even if Coven had an awesome start and amazing ideas it has never been fully developed.
Also because of the last year delusion, I lived the waiting of Freakshow with much anticipation and it's living well to its expectation.
I really like the idea of the freakshow and the theme of the social definition of normal/abnormal.
As always, I LOVE Jessica Lange and I already miss her, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the character of Twisty.
The only thing that bugs me is that amazing actresses Frances Conroy, Angela Bassett and Kathy Bates with their respective roles haven't been commended like they should so far, but I think that they will be in the near future.
I can't wait for the entry of the character of Gabourey Sidibe along with the participation of Matt Boomer, Neil Patrick Harris and Lily Rabe.
I hope that Pepper's coming back and the explanation of her story will be well played, and I hope that we will know something more about Sister Mary Eunice as well in the episode in which Lily Rabe will come back; I also hope that we will know more about Dandy and the origins of his sociopathic behaviour.

My favourite seasons in order are:
1) Murder House
2) Freakshow (for now)
3) Asylum
4) Coven

and last:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B0BKBOiIcAA5qEg.jpg

I haven't had an opportunity to watch any of "Freakshow" just yet...but I am greatly looking forward to it! :)

"Murder House" is still the best. "Coven" is a close second for me. There was just too much going on with "Asylum" (aliens, possession, zombie mutants, etc) and it was a bit too overwhelmingly ridiculous, IMHO.

I think that "Murder House" is the best too, it's the only one that touched me and moved me, it talked about fears that everyone has felt at least once in his/her life; and the role of Tate was the best Evan Peters had in the series, I can't stand when he does those strange american-patriotic roles.
Asylum is generally considered the best among fans and critics but I agree with you, there were too much sub-plots and plot twist for my taste and I think that aliens deserve a season of their own. I really loved Bloodyface though, I think that it's been the scariest villain since Twisty the clown.
http://s3-ak.buzzfeed.com/static/201...2100653-27.gif

Coven had beautiful storylines but it bit off more than it could chew, and it left me a bit disappointed

I thoroughly enjoyed "Coven". I love anything involving the folklore of witchcraft. However there was that element of "cheesiness" involved. Ironically, I thought Stevie's "wandering through the house lip syncing Seven Wonders was utterly asinine! That was really the only "over the top" moment for me. It didn't belong. It was actually a tad embarrassing. I loved her first appearance, though.

And I must say that Lily Rabe is an EXCELLENT actress and I've enjoyed her in every season thus far. I hope her career takes her to great heights like her mom. The gal can do no wrong!:nod:

I love witchcraft too, that's why I was a bit disappointed. In all the 13 episodes we've never seen an actual lesson and they were supposed to be in a witch school.
Stevie lip-synching "Seven wonders" wasn't so good, I think it would have sound better if she'd have sung it casually to herself roaming through the house, but it was fun.
I love Lily Rabe too, I fell in love with the Character of Nora because of the way she can light up the screen even when supposed to be fickle. I hope she will be back for the fifth season.

Freakshow is so good. Truly a horror story!

I have a love-hate relationship with AHS. It pisses me off sooooo bad but I continue to watch :p Murder House was my favorite season. I hated Asylum. Coven had so much potential but it just fizzled out in the end. Freak Show is pretty good so far, although my favorite character is already gone :distress:

No, Twisty is dead but his character isn't gone yet: http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/10/31/ry...ory-connected/


Twisty’s death was a surprise. Was this always planned, to kill him so early?

Yes. But Twisty is not over, and neither is Edward Mordrake. They both make triumphant returns. I was shocked to read so many of these “RIP Twisty” websites and blogs have sprung up. People love Twisty. I think that’s due to the power of John as an actor. I think he’s just so mesmerizing and sympathetic. We talked a lot about that. He didn’t just want to be a killer clown. He wanted an ideology and a backstory, and I think that clown’s backstory is so fascinating and bizarre. We’re talking on Halloween day and I’ve already seen three Twistys, so he apparently hit a nerve. I love him. I loved his performance. He will return.

So love AHS its one of my most favorite shows these days. I am enjoying this season so far but I have to say Asylum was my favorite. I really liked how dark and gruesome it was and I think Jessica Lange, Lily Rabe & Sarah Paulson were at their best in it.
I would rate them as follows:
1. - Asylum
2 - Coven
3 - Murder House
4 - Freakshow - it could move up by the end of the season.

This pretty much sums up anything I could say. I haven't seen Freakshow yet because I don't have cable, but I am cautiously looking forward to it. I'm not excited about the premise this season- I think any time a show has to pull out the circus card they are showing their dearth of material- but I still have hopes I will enjoy this season regardless.

Murder House will probably always be my favorite. It unfolded beautifully, and kept you guessing until the end. Classic, classic horror.

I don't care what anyone thinks- I adored Coven, too. So what if it was a bit hokey? It combined several of my favorite things into one cinematically gorgeous package: witches, New Orleans, voodoo, Stevie Nicks, Kathy Bates, and Jessica Lange. And to be honest, I enjoyed the lighter mood compared to the endless drear of Asylum.

Speaking of Asylum, I thought it was unwatchable. I tried really hard, but could only force myself to get about halfway through the season. It was all shock & awe gore. Too many themes hyperactively bouncing off each other- Aliens! Zombies! Mass murderers! Nazis! Sexual sadists! Religion & healthcare gone bad! Possession! It was all just too much.

A freakshow isn't a circus, they often travel together but circus performers are usually normal people with special abilities like a strongman, a sword swallower, a fire-eater, a contorsionist etc. that use it to entertain people, while freaks are usually people with physical malformations or illnesses like dwarves, siamese twins, hermaphrodites, severely obese people etc. and their deformities is the main entertainment.

I know Ryan Murphy got inspiration from "Freaks" by Tod Browning: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freaks

I haven't tuned in since Stevie was on the show.I got to catch this season online.

I LOVE Twisty!!!!


I just saw this http://www.vanityfair.com/vf-hollywo...ty-will-return

Yes, If you want the link of the full original interview I've posted it. I'm very excited as well! VERY EXCITED...
https://33.media.tumblr.com/f5d9ed30...wb5do1_500.gif

Spoiler Alert!
 

Did anyone see the last episode? What did you think?

I'm very interested in the direction that the show has been put in this last episode, "Pink cupcakes"It wasn't an intense and beautiful episode like "Edward Mordrake part 2" but it developed a bit more the storylines of ALL the characters at once.

. We finally saw more of Desiree/Angela Bassett, and I liked it, especially the scene with Ethel/Cathy Bates; it seems like there is true girl-power alliance between them, but I wonder how much it will last until it sparks some rivalry. We also got to know more of Dell/Michael Chicklis, and I'm very interested to know this character that's much complex than he seems. Does he deceive people he get attached to or is he simply not capable of having genuine feelings and why?

I also find interesting Stanley/Denis o'Hare. I want to know more about his hidden homosexuality, I think he will prove to be a much more complicated man. Also he has a 13-inch penis so it will be funny.

I liked those first few seconds when is shown the character of Gabourey Sidibe, she seemed such a "normal" and level headed girl, much in contrast whit every other character in the show.

More stagnant was Maggie/Emma Roberts and the clashing between her increasingly affection for Jimmy/Evan Peters and her money-agreement made with fellow con-artist Stanley/Denis o'Hare, but it served well to the first scene in which I truly liked Jimmy. I found very incisive when he feels rejected from the girl he truly wants, the "Normal" Maggie and he throws himself to find consolation in Desiree/Angela Bassett, a beautiful but miserable monster like him.

I loved Jessica during the same rendition of "Life on mars" from the first episode, but this time without the glamour and the sparkling, just decadence and disillusion. Inevitable the rise of the rivalry with the twins, can't wait to see what happens with them and Finn Wittrock/Dandy Mott.

Speaking of which, I LOVED Finn Wittrock: “This body is America: strong, violent, and full of limitless potential.”
I truly think that the character of Dandy is inspired by Christian Bale in "American psycho"

Patrick Bateman:
http://media1.giphy.com/media/UfZG44LCMrBhC/giphy.gif

Dandy Mott:
http://38.media.tumblr.com/a1851aed1...ro5_r1_250.gif

Denis O'Hare: My Character's Penis Is No Joke
11.6.2014

BY STACY LAMBE

The actor says Stanley's huge member and sexuality on Freak Show isn't a punchline—it's a burden
Photography by Danielle Levitt for Out

It’s safe to say that Denis O’Hare made a distinct, um, impression as Stanley in his debut in the third episode of American Horror Story: Freak Show. After Maggie (Emma Roberts) relays that she's infiltrated Elsa’s (Jessica Lange) circus of carnies, Stanley is seen on the other end of the phone line while simultaneously enjoying the presence of a sexy gentleman caller. It's the guest, however, who is left breathless when he realizes what kind of freak Stanley is. “[He has] a 13-inch penis," creator Ryan Murphy revealed in a recent interview. "And that’s all I’m going to say about that.”

But O'Hare, who was last seen on TV in HBO's adaptation of The Normal Heart as well as playing a pivotal role opposite Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club, assures us what’s between his legs is no joke — even though talking about it leads to an unintentional pun-filled conversation.

“What I love about American Horror Story it’s never just a gag (pardon the pun), there’s more to it,” he tells Out in reference to his character’s member. “It’s actually a burden to Stanley. It isn’t an unalloyed benefit. It actually marked him as a freak.” O'Hare says he loves how Murphy can add layers to something that may seem funny on the surface but actually goes much deeper. “It marks Stanley as abnormal. Being a gay in the 1950s is abnormal. It’s an exploration of what is normal.”

Moving beyond his freakish trait, O’Hare reveals that Stanley is a master manipulator, but it’s only later in the series that fans will really appreciate what’s happening on screen. “He’s constantly weaving all these webs,” O’Hare explains. “I sometimes get lost in my own plans trying to figure out what’s happening. He’s part vaudevillian, part conman, part murderer.”

This particular combination is partly what draws the actor, who first appeared in season one’s Murder House, back to the creepy series. “I certainly have a reputation for playing complex villains,” O’Hare says, referring in part to his memorable role as the gay vampire king of Mississippi, Russell Edgington, on several seasons of True Blood.

For Freak Show, Murphy wrote a new character that plays into O’Hare’s song-and-dance strengths, while also pushing him to find something deeper. And that’s the real joy in being on the show, he says. “The writing is fresh, exciting, irreverent, and shocking. And what we’re asked to do is really a challenge.”

In Murder House, the requirement was acting through layers of prosthetics and makeup while maintaining a pronounced limp on screen. “There was a physically grueling aspect to that.” Later, in Coven, his character had no tongue and didn’t speak for the first half of the third season. “It was actually really, really fantastic,” he says. “I loved it.”

While it remains to be seen what will happen to Stanley this season, at least 13 inches of him will play into one particular moment. “There’s a funny element to it that pops up (again, pardon the pun) in episode 9,” O’Hare reveals.

So, all seriousness aside, it seems there might be a few below-the-belt jokes to look forward to this season.

American Horror Story: Freak Show airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on FX.

http://www.out.com/entertainment/tel...-penis-no-joke

Spoiler Alert!
 

'American Horror Story: Freak Show' Review: "Bullseye"
Britt Hayes | 5 hours ago

FX
We seem to have officially hit our lull in this season of 'American Horror Story' -- every year there comes a point when the melodrama takes over for an episode or two, when the horror takes a backseat to the scenery chewing. This week Jessica Lange goes full-on Joan Crawford in her role of Elsa Mars, and that's not really a bad thing (hello 'Mommie Dearest'!), but the familial dynamics overtake the macabre wackiness and the end result is a bit tedious.

"Bullseye" is, at times, a bit boring and on the nose, even for a Ryan Murphy affair. The 'Mommie Dearest' homage brings a little bit of that garish pizazz, what with all the feathers and Murphy's sideshow spin on 'Game of Thrones,' putting Elsa in her own throne of power, as her performers lay gifts at her feet, and she becomes something of a Joffrey. It's kind of a cute mash-up and gives Lange plenty to chew on as the performers are sad that the twins are gone and Jimmy begins to investigate their whereabouts. As previously noted, he's becoming the hero of the season.

But what makes the episode and the trajectory of the season so agitating is the way that Elsa has become this season's monster, especially now that Twisty has died, and with Dell and Desiree sitting this week out. We've seen Lange play the complex lead before. We've been asked to identify with this character and her machinations in every season since the beginning, so when she eventually puts Paul the Illustrated Seal in the spinning wheel to throw knives at him in order to prove his loyalty -- and she predictably misses with a too-obvious grin on her face -- it's just all so expected.

Lange is great, but what would make this season greater is focusing more on the evil Dandy, or the complexities of Dell, or Stanley, who is perpetually sidelined. The moment with Esmerelda this week, when she decides not to kill Ma Petite by drowning her in formaldehyde, is a great one, and sets up an interesting chain of events to come -- although I'm unsure about the love story between Esmerelda and Jimmy, as it feels a bit too contrived.

Fraser's performance as Paul is another thing that keeps the episode from floundering too much. His moments with Elsa and at the drug store punctuate the hour with much-needed humanity. So much of "Bullseye" is about manufacturing an ideal living situation or creating a false family: Elsa secretly brings Paul into her bed at night to tend to her sexual needs, though she would never make him her lover in any official capacity because of what he looks like. At night, she snuggles with Ma Petite for comfort, as if the little woman is the child she never had. She uses these people for comfort, and they allow it because they have nowhere else to go; perhaps having their own loneliness soothed by this opportunist is a small price to pay.

Similarly, Dandy is struggling to create his own ideal with the Tattler twins. Naive Bette is charmed by the false front he puts on to win them over, while the pessimistic Dot tolerates their captivity in the hopes that she can use his wealth to have Bette surgically removed. But that's not good enough for Dandy, who desires love from both of them -- real love, not the kind of love you purchase, and if Dot keeps shoving him away, it's only a matter of time before his murderous tendencies surface again.

I'm not sure that pairing Dot and Bette up with Dandy and Gloria Mott is a wise decision -- the dynamics aren't really clicking, and Dandy's petulance is beginning to wear thin. The Patrick Bateman side of Dandy from last week's episode was more delightful and entertaining. When he gives in to his sinister urges, he's more fun to watch. This lovelorn, spoiled Dandy is just kind of a drag.

We've reached the midpoint, and "Bullseye" represents that familiar lull in every season of 'American Horror Story,' where the drama gets a little too big and the horror dissipates. And while these episodes are often great for the actors, they have a tendency to be boring for us as viewers. Hopefully next week revives that wacky terror because 'AHS' is at its best when it's absolutely bonkers. Even when it's messy, it's a fun, weird, and scary mess, and that's what makes it worth watching.

Additional Thoughts:

So the nurse is back, and she's in love with Paul, and her dad is Lee Tergesen, aka Terry from 'Wayne's World.' I think if Paul just went up to him and said, "I love you, man," it would solve everything.
"Are you going to escort them to cotillion?" Frances Conroy's line delivery in every episode is superb.
I don't know why you would shop anywhere else when Woolworth's has ice cream.
So when does Gabourey Sidibe show up?
Hey guys, remember Twisty?


Read More: 'American Horror Story: Freak Show' Review: "Bullseye" | http://screencrush.com/american-horr...ckback=tsmclip

'American Horror Story: Freak Show' cast update, spoilers: Neil Patrick reportedly playing 'chameleon salesman'

Camille Banzon|Friday, November 14 2014

'How I Met Your Mother' actor Neil Patrick Harris has been finally confirmed to join the ongoing season 4 of 'American Horror Story,' entitled 'Freak Show,' after many speculations by fans and the media.
Harris has expressed his desire to be a part of the series after watching some of its previous seasons, and show creator, Ryan Murphy did not ignore the actor's request.
Harris was initially offered a role in the first season of American Horror Story (Murder House), but turned it down for some undisclosed reasons. After seeing the success of the show and growing fanbase support, the upcoming Academy Awards host is finally appearing in Freak Show, alongside his husband, David Burtka.
According to a report by TVLine, Harris will appear in episodes 11 and 12 as a "chameleon salesman," while Burtka's advent is set for the season finale (episode 13) as a character connected to Elsa Mars (Jessica Lange). It is quite surprising that the real life pair won't appear together with each other, but in the world of American Horror Story, anything is possible.
Murphy stated that instead of just accepting a role, Harris had an idea what he wanted to portray in the series. It will be no surprise if Harris' character turns out to be freakishly colorful and vividly wild.
"He had very specific ideas for what he wanted to do, and I had very specific ideas, so we're working on melding those," said Murphy of Harris, in a report by TVLine.


Read more: http://www.ecumenicalnews.com/articl...#ixzz3J3OKmEeo

Spoiler Alert!
 

Welcome to another episode of ‘Soap Opera: Freak Show,’ in which we’ve (hopefully) reached peak melodrama. Although Jessica Lange’s Elsa subdues herself somewhat in “Test of Strength,” allowing for more theatrical performances from the father/son bonding of Michael Chiklis’ Dell and Evan Peters’ Jimmy, there’s still way too much heightened drama and not enough of that horror that the show’s title promises. And where’s all the bonkers weirdness that we’ve come to love from Ryan Murphy and Co.? This season has worked itself into a woefully boring rut.

To say that this season of ‘American Horror Story’ is spiraling out of control would suggest that there’s an abundance of action or that Murphy has piled on too much of his wacky plotting—that’s simply not the case, particularly in the last two weeks, which have been increasingly melodramatic. ‘AHS’ has never been a subtle series, nor does it typically employ restraint in a manner that resembles anything rational or traditional. That’s part of the charm, for better (Chloe Sevigny all mutated and crawling across a playground) and occasionally for worse (aliens). I keep going back to ‘Asylum’ as a reference point because it’s the series at its best, thematically, narratively, visually, and yes, it even managed to occasionally find moments of subtlety—but it was the Ryan Murphy version of subtlety, and that was totally OK.

“Test of Strength” finds the series, for the second week in a row, restraining itself in a manner that is far too normal for what this series is and what we’ve come to expect—especially for a season that’s focusing on a freak show, and has characters like Dandy, a Bret Easton Ellis sociopathic prototype, or Denis O’Hare’s Stanley, who’s a totally delightful nutjob just waiting to happen (especially if his past characters on this series are any indication). Restraint—at least not in the way normal human beings know the word—is not in Ryan Murphy’s vocabulary, and yet here we are, watching a f—king soap opera.

There is, however, blossoming potential in the creeping, old Hollywood horror of Dot and Bette’s return from Dandy’s candy-coated manor to Elsa’s Cabinet of Curiosities, where Bette has become a fame-hungry egomaniac, convinced that she is the next Eve Arden. The twins make financial demands, and Bette dyes her hair blonde and acts like a diva, and the show begins to once again insinuate the sisterly terror. With Dot secreting notes to Elsa and making plans to meet with the surgeon in Chicago who separated the Brodie twins, we get the show’s first signs of artistic life since perhaps the ‘Edward Mordrake’ double feature, with a splitscreen correspondence that places either Dot or Elsa as romantic black and white floating heads—an homage to an era that gave birth to Lange, and a world in which Dot and Elsa will never thrive.

While Lange gives her jaw a rest and doesn’t chew on the scenery much this week (not that all that chewing is a bad thing), Dell and Jimmy pick up the slack when Jimmy promises to kick Dell out for attacking Amazon Eve. Of course Dell won’t admit that Stanley has a gun pointed at his balls, and instead gets his son wasted and finally admits that yes, he’s Jimmy’s father, just before he almost murders the kid. This is the part on the soap opera where the violins would crescendo, the cameras would cut back and forth to close-ups on their watery eyes, and we’d cut to commercial just as Dell admits his parentage. Instead, the two hug and stumble off drunkenly into the morning, and Dell murders Ma Petit.

Kathy Bates once again delivers one hell of a monologue this week through her beard slightly more tolerable accent (or am I just used to it now?), as she tells Jimmy that they can’t rely on the world or the police or anyone else to right the wrongs done by people like Dell, or to enact justice, especially when it comes to outsiders like them. It’s especially painful for Ethel after learning of her doctor’s suicide, and Bates delivers the monologue with such moving sincerity. She always manages to find the utmost, deepest humanity in these very particular characters and bizarre moments. You kind of just throw your hands up like, yeah, she did it again. She got me.

It takes most of the episode and sitting through a ridiculous amount of wheel-turning drama before “Test of Strength” builds momentum to anything resembling good: Dot and Bette’s conflict of interest and Sarah Paulson’s captivating performance as not one, but both women evolve is something special and unsettling, and I hope I’m not foolish to believe it’s building to something truly wicked. On the other hand, Dell’s murder of Ma Petit wasn’t the gasp-worthy moment that I think the show was aiming for, given that his introduction in the first episode was outright villainous and the backpedaling to try and give him depth ever since hasn’t entirely worked. But seeing a tiny, dead Ma Petit in a jar in a museum finally raises the stakes just enough to promise that maybe ‘Freak Show’ is finally ready to stop spinning its wheels and get back into gear.

Additional Thoughts:

This week, Jimmy sings Nirvana’s “Come As You Are,” and ‘Freak Show’ has officially gone too far with this music thing. I was on board with Jessica Lange singing David Bowie in 1952. I was even OK with Lana Del Rey and Fiona Apple. But angst-ridden Evan Peters abruptly singing Nirvana is just too much and too on the nose. We started the season with Mica Levi’s score from ‘Under the Skin,’ and we’ve now moved on to these obvious, jarring, pretty mainstream songs. Get it together, ‘AHS.’
Hey, remember when Gabourey Sidibe was on this show?
I kind of want Dell and Stanley to hook up, though.
Do we think Stanley and Dandy are going to team up to try and murder everyone? Probably.
Amazon Eve is a queen. Do not mess with Amazon Eve.
Oh, and I guess we should talk about Nurse Penny, whose dad had her face tattooed and her tongue forked so she could be a real freak. What a cool, thoughtful dad. That was as close as this episode got to be being bonkers. I guess.


Read More: American Horror Story: Freak Show Review: "Test of Strength" | http://screencrush.com/american-horr...ckback=tsmclip

‘American Horror Story: Freak Show’ Review: “Blood Bath”
Britt Hayes | a day ago

There is a figurative line, somewhere on television, between tedious melodrama and soap opera theatrics, and yet another line exists over which you can cross into the blissful, Lynchian territory of self-awareness and not-quite-rightness. In that surreal place, soapy theatrics and camp are embraced satirically and knowingly because this is a place that looks like somewhere you know but feels like an unsettling dream. I don’t think ‘American Horror Story’ is on the same level as David Lynch, but I’m starting to convince (delude) myself into thinking that maybe after tonight’s “Blood Bath,” it’s striving for the same tonal quality.

Or maybe I’m high. I don’t know. Sometimes after watching an episode of ‘Freak Show’ lately, I just want to fill in these reviews with: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Much of the first half of “Blood Bath” serves to remind us that things haven’t changed much since we took last week off for the holiday—this is a little disappointing in the sense that so much of these recent episodes have been nothing more than slow-moving drama, with Ryan Murphy and Co. abnormally restraining themselves. Or maybe we’ve just gotten so used to the much-ness of ‘American Horror Story’ that the antics of ‘Freak Show’ seem terribly basic. One of the things that the series hasn’t forgotten how to do well is give its leading women some fierce monologues and duets to sink their teeth into, and tonight sets the stage for one such scene between Jessica Lange’s Elsa and Kathy Bates’ Ethel.

With the latter accusing the former of killing Ma Petite and waving a gun around with every intent to off them both, we knew one of those women wasn’t walking out of the tent alive—and we knew Elsa (or better yet, Lange) wasn’t biting it so soon, especially not with that desperate hunger for fame yet to be sated. Again, what’s most irksome about this season is the repetitive nature: Lange is once again the fierce, complex matriarchal figure whose ethics are little more than posturing, and who will sacrifice others to save herself. We’ve seen her play this character in every version of this show, and whether she’s in a nun’s habit or wearing a little black dress (default setting), her type is the same. That’s not to say that Lange doesn’t play the hell out of that type and get us to somehow empathize with these deeply flawed characters, but it’s all become so expected.

Elsa and Ethel’s showdown breathes life into a limp first half hour, aided in part by Finn Wittrock’s continued Patrick Bateman-esque take on Dandy Mott. But even the stuff going on at the Mott Mansion reads more like shenanigans than actual horror, no matter how hard Dandy is trying to intimidate his mother into killing Regina before she can alert the cops to her mother’s disappearance.

There’s something about the tone later in the episode that approaches this genuine level of self-aware satire, where it knows it’s being melodramatic and soapy, but that maybe that’s kind of the point? Perhaps we’ve been approaching this season all wrong. Perhaps we’re watching it incorrectly, waiting for some over-the-top, absurd horror that will never come because that’s what this show has trained us to want, like the audience members who attend Elsa’s Cabinet of Curiosities, waiting for the Freak Show to begin. Maybe the horror is of a more human nature, and perhaps this soap opera version of the show is as it was meant to be—and it’s supposed to be amusing instead of serious. Maybe Ryan Murphy spent some time watching ‘Twin Peaks’ and the tone of this season is just another reference on the giant pile of references in the Big Ryan Murphy Bonkers Blender.

Or maybe I am really deluding myself. Maybe I am trying to make this season something better than it actually is or will ever be. What happens is that, later in the episode, the dialogue is so thick with that serious melodrama, while the scenes are so ridiculous: Penny and the ‘Freak Show’ ladies kidnap her father with the intent to tar and feather, mutilate, and murder him, but Penny lets him go after a big speech from Esmerelda—cut short by Desiree with our social commentary of the week, calling Esmerelda out on her white girl privilege. All of this while Lee Tergesen sits covered in fake tar and feathers. Then there’s Elsa’s newest recruit, Ima, a very large woman rescued from a weight loss institution. Elsa suggests that Ima is more than just a way to help save the show from the loss of two of its players, but that she had Jimmy’s needs in mind; he can snuggle up to Ima’s bosom and it’ll feel just like Ethel’s … and then he actually does it. And of course there’s Dandy and Gloria, two characters who could probably actually support my thesis/delusion about Ryan Murphy striving for some Lynchian tonal quality.

Dandy kills one of the best parts of this entire series far too early, and then proceeds to bathe in her blood like a gender-bent Elizabeth Bathory, which is probably a metaphor for something to do with how much I hate what just happened here.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Additional Thoughts:

Hey, Gabourey Sidibe is actually on this show after all.
‘AHS’ has this structural/narrative rule which insists that one or more main characters must sit a week out every few episodes. I wasn’t distracted by the absence of the Tattler twins, and only reminded myself that they were gone near the end of the episode, but I’m trying to recall if they employed this tactic in previous seasons. Is this perhaps Murphy and Co.’s way of trying to avoid their old habit of overstuffing each episode? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
RIP Gloria Mott. Frances Conroy, you are a treasure. I assume she’ll be back next season, which some fans have already speculated is about aliens/Tilda Swintons.
Finn Wittrock’s butt, ladies and gentlemen.
This may have been the episode that gave me Stockholm Syndrome. I don’t know. We’ll see next week.


Read More: 'American Horror Story: Freak Show' Review: "Blood Bath" | http://screencrush.com/american-horr...ckback=tsmclip

The 39 Most Disturbing Moments on American Horror Story
By Dan Reilly


From the first minutes of Murder House through the latest episode of Freak Show, American Horror Story is responsible for countless nightmares thanks to its weekly doses of disturbing moments. Co-creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk (and their writers) consistently outdo themselves when it comes to grisly killings, brutal sex scenes, and creepy characters, campily intermingling supernatural tropes with terrors that are grounded in reality. Here are AHS's craziest, most distressing scenes. (Spoilers follow, obviously.)

39. Lana Revisits Briarcliff (Asylum)
Lana's (Sarah Paulson) exposé on the her former home sees her go back to the horribly understaffed asylum with a camera crew. Their footage — lo-fi, grainy film stock — underscores the creepy, sad images of feces-covered inmates living in almost total darkness. The footage is a veritable remake of Geraldo Rivera's Peabody-winning report about a Staten Island hospital, Willowbrook: The Last Great Disgrace, which can be partially seen in the disturbing documentary Cropsey.

38. The Robot Spider (Asylum)
As if losing your wife to an alien abduction and then getting committed to an asylum for murders you didn't commit wasn't bad enough, Kit Walker (Evan Peters) is forced to undergo the experiments of Dr. Arthur Arden (James Cromwell), the Nazi who helps run Briarcliff Mental Institution. Poking around Kip's neck, the demented doc discovers a microchip that suddenly sprouts six legs and tries to scurry away. What's even creepier is that we never find out what this little E.T. robot is after.

37. A Smart Meal (Murder House)
Vivien Harmon (Connie Britton) is so concerned for her unborn child that she'll do anything to make sure it arrives healthy — including eat brains, as suggested by housekeeper Moira (Frances Conroy). Watching Vivien push through her plate of raw, bloody brain is one of series' more gag-worthy moments.

36. Sad Strokes (Murder House)
Early in the series pilot, recently unfaithful husband Ben Harmon (Dylan McDermott) decides to wax his carrot while looking out his bedroom window, only to break down in tears over his past dalliances. He then spots Larry (Denis O'Hare), a man with horrible burn scars, standing on his lawn and watching.

35. Delphine LaLaurie's Singing Head (Coven)
After getting decapitated, immortal slave-torturer Delphine LaLaurie (Kathy Bates) is forced by Queenie (Gabourey Sidibe) to watch Roots. With her head plopped atop a tray table, LaLaurie pleads, "Not that jungle music!" Then, resigned to her fate, starts singing the 19th-century southern anthem "Dixie" to drown out the TV. It'd be funnier if it weren't for the pieces of LaLaurie's roughly severed neck that move along to her wails.

34. Cordelia and the Shears (Coven)
First Cordelia Foxx (Sarah Paulson) gets blinded with acid, then gets new eyes thanks to the unwilling donations of two other witches. While blind, she develops a powerful ability to "see" the past, though the transplants somehow take it away. When a potion fails to bring back her second sight, she heads to the school shed and stabs her eyes out with garden shears. Simple and effective.

33. Jimmy Darling's Side Gig (Freak Show)
Born with the fused-digit condition known as syndactyly, Jimmy Darling (Peters) has hands that resemble long claws. When not at the circus, the "Lobster Boy" makes a few extra bucks working parties for unsatisfied housewives with his natural gift. Leaving little to the imagination, the showrunners decided to show Jimmy shoving his malformed hand up a customer's skirt, then smiling broadly as she cries out with pleasure.

32. Night Drive (Asylum)
Any fan of Lost knows that the appearance of William Mapother, the actor who played murderous Other Ethan Rom, is a bad omen. On AHS, Mapother played a motorist who rescues Lana, only to start ranting against his unfaithful wife and women in general. The relief of Lana's safety quickly gives way to fright and the driver shoots himself in the head, wrecking the car and landing Lana back in Briarcliff.

31. The Death of Marie Laveau (Coven)
The feud between Marie Laveau (Angela Bassett) and LaLaurie eventually ends with the voodoo priestess getting hacked up by the socialite and her still-alive head being buried apart from the rest of her body. She eventually dies, as she's unable to fulfill one of those standard "make a human sacrifice once a year in order to remain immortal" contracts with the devilish spirit Papa Legba (Lance Reddick).

30. Delphine's Skin-care Regimen (Coven)
Delphine tries to remain youthful-looking with a nightly makeup ritual of blood that includes, at one point, the blood of her husband's illegitimate son.

29. Luke's Mom (Coven)
The attractive, sweet neighbor-boy is made all the more endearing when he makes it obvious that he'd rather spend time with Nan (Jamie Brewer), the kind witch with Down syndrome, over actress Madison Montgomery (Emma Roberts). His devout Christian mom Joan (Patti LuPone), however, declares him sinful inside and out for associating with the coven, and tries to cleanse his soul with a bleach enema. After Luke is smothered by his dear mother, Nan gets the ultimate revenge, using mind control to force Joan to drink her own bleach and die.

28. Kyle's Mom's (Coven)
As if it's not screwed-up enough that frat bro Kyle (Peters) got torn apart in a bus crash, then brought back to life in piecemeal Frankenstein fashion, AHS had to make it even more revolting by revealing that Kyle's mom had been sexually abusing him. Then they turn the screw even farther by showing her doing it again with his undead body. It's almost a relief to have this story line end with Kyle bludgeoning her to death with a trophy.

27. The Raspers (Asylum)
Arden's woods-dwelling experiments gone wrong are first glimpsed feeding on human body parts, then they start coming out of their hiding spaces to show off their deformities and flesh-devouring skills.

26. A Particular Taste (Asylum)
Both Thredsons – father Oliver (Zachary Quinto) and son Johnny (McDermott) — commit some horrible acts throughout Asylum. Their share plenty of dysfunctions, so we'll say that their thirst for breast milk from, respectively, Lana and a prostitute, is the least freaky of the bunch. Honorable mention goes to the scene where the elder Thredson kisses a corpse that reminds him of his mother while he's a medical student.

25. Spalding's Tongue (Coven)
Loyal Robichaux School servant Spalding (O'Hare) is mute. In flashbacks, it's revealed that the longtime butler removed his tongue so he wouldn't be forced to the truth about a murder committed by his beloved, coven Supreme Fiona Goode (Jessica Lange). The sight of his bottom-to-top straight-razor slicing is thankfully brief.

24. The Undead Threesome (Coven)
In the AHS universe, even dead teens have hormones and questionable decision-making skills. Here, resurrected Madison and pieced-together Kyle have found a mutual attraction. Zoe, still reeling from the fact that she kills people by having sex with them, is shocked to interrupt her undead pals getting busy. But rather than run away, she readily joins in the fun when Madison points out that her killer lady-parts don't matter when her partners are already kaput.

23. The Deathly Blow Job (Murder House)
Undead maid Moira doesn't want the Harmons to sell their haunted house, so she seduces real-estate agent Joe Escandarian, bringing him down to the basement for a bit of naughty fun. But, of course, things take a turn for the worse when, while going down on him, Moira bites Joe's penis off, blood covering her chin as he realizes what happened to him. Then Larry and neighbor Constance (Lange) strangle him to death.

22. Killer Santa (Asylum)
In one night, Leigh Emerson (Ian McShane) kills 18 people while dressed as a psychotic St. Nick. Of course, he gets a chance to tack on a few more victims in Briarcliff, caning and attempting to rape Sister Jude (Lange), then crucifying the asylum's head priest, Monsignor Howard (Joseph Fiennes), before escaping and murdering seven nuns. Murphy and Falchuk love taking iconic images and messing with them.

21. Sexy Freaks (Freak Show)
While trying to save her dying freak circus, Elsa Mars (Lange) sneaks her way into a hospital to meet conjoined twins Bette and Dot Tattler (Paulson) by kidnapping a candy striper. When the young nurse sobers up, she confronts Elsa and threatens to blow the whistle on the plot, only to find out that it was all much more harrowing than she realized — in the form of a movie that depicts her taking place in a freak orgy. Even after you're used to the freaks' abnormalities, the drugged-out look on the nurse's face as the freaks wait their turn is one of the new season's most chilling moments.

20. Sex As Death (Coven)
If only Zoe (Taissa Farmiga) knew she was a witch with particular powers, she might not have killed boyfriend Charlie with her witch vagina. Seeing Charlie bleed all over the place inspired millions of people to think, Well, at least my first time wasn't that bad.

19. The Secret Son (Murder House)
Children's toys are always a guaranteed way to scare viewers, and AHS used that to full advantage with the unseen ghost's fondness for playing with a rubber ball in the darkest ares of the Harmon house. It's even more disturbing once you first get your glimpse of the tragically deformed spirit and learn he was Constance's son Beau, chained in the attic and smothered by Larry.

18. Lana's Therapy (Asylum)
The 1964 setting of Asylum adds in the element of homosexuality being a punishable crime. During her incarceration, Lana willingly undergoes aversion therapy to try to "cure" her lesbianism. The unflinching scene involves her vomiting while looking at a nude photo of her now-murdered ex-girlfriend and masturbating while touching a nude male inmate, only to throw up again.

17. The Ultrasound (Murder House)
Vivien gets a big warning sign after she realizes her baby is developing far too rapidly and a technician faints during the ultrasound. Later, the hysterical tech says she saw the antichrist in Vivien's womb. Like in Rosemary's Baby, the film it is referencing, the unborn devil's features are left up to the viewer's imagination.

16. Spalding's Dolls (Coven)
A tongueless old man having formal tea parties with dozens of dolls is one thing, but AHS ramped up the oddness when it showed Spalding adding the corpse of Madison to his collection. It only gets worse when we see him trying to remove her from a box, only to have her arm come loose from her rotten body.

15. The Massacre (Murder House)
From Columbine on, school shootings have been an all-too-regular American occurrence. Yet even given our familiarity with these tragedies (or perhaps because there have been so many), the rampage of Harmon neighbor Tate (Peters) is excruciating to watch. Tate dons skeleton makeup and kills 15 people, picking off his classmates before escaping to his home and getting killed by police.

14. The Frat House (Coven)
You don't show a frat party these days unless there's going to be some form of sexual violence. With those expectations in mind, the tension builds and builds as it becomes apparent that some of the bros are planning to take advantage of movie-star Madison. At every moment, viewers hope she'll be able to use her powers to figure out what they have in store or hold them off, or that Zoe will somehow come to the rescue, but the help arrives too late. Some frat brothers rape Madison while others look on and film it with their phones. For a show that can be full of supernatural nonsense, this most real and common nightmare is one of the most disturbing of all.

13. A Bloody Honeymoon (Asylum)
It's obvious something terrible is going to happen to Adam Levine and his new bride as they break into the supposedly haunted ruins of Briarcliff in the opening scenes of Asylum. And so it does — Levine's arm gets ripped off, and their honeymoon goes south. The greatest shock arrives at the first glimpse of serial killer Bloody Face — who is so named because he wears a mask made up of his victims' skin and teeth. Even Leatherface might get a little queasy at this knockoff.

12. The Minotaur Sex Scene (Coven)
Somehow, between his death in the 1800s and the present, Bastien goes from slave wearing a bull's head to an actual minotaur, kept alive by Marie. So when he comes to the Academy to murder Delphine, Queenie decides that the best solution to the problem is to seduce the beast. The flaw in the logic becomes apparent soon into their rough tryst when the minotaur somehow rips Queenie's stomach open, almost killing her.

11. Lana's Coat-Hanger Abortion (Asylum)
When you're pregnant with the baby of a serial-killer rapist and the only people you can turn to are unsympathetic nuns, you might take extreme measures. Lana attempts to terminate her pregnancy with a coat hanger, and blood pours out onto the floor in one of the starkest abortion scenes to ever appear on TV.

10. Violet Discovers the Truth (Murder House)
No matter how tired you are of Sixth Sense–style "they were dead the whole time!" plot twists, finding out that Violet had, in fact, killed herself was still a shocker in the first season. The reveal was even better — the audience and Violet get confirmation of her fate when she sees her own bug-ridden corpse hidden in the house's crawlspace.

9. Delphine's Attic of Horrors (Coven)
A bunch of legends surround the real-life Madame LaLaurie, but really, it was discovered that she had tortured her slaves, supposedly mutilating some of them in her attic. The fictional version features all sorts of torture cages and iron restraints, but the minotaur scene is probably the most wretched. After finding one of her daughters with the slave Bastien, LaLaurie beats him, chains him in the attic, and places a hollowed-out bull's head on top of his.

8. Elsa's Past (Freak Show)
Prior to the second part of Freak Show's Halloween episode, all we really knew about Elsa was that she is a German woman, missing the bottom halves of her legs, who desperately wants to be a star performer. But then we learned about how she originally got a taste of the spotlight — as the biggest attraction at an anything-goes sex club in 1932 Weimar. Rather than fornicate with her clients, she was actually a top-billed dominatrix whose methods of humiliation and torture included making a German soldier act like a schnauzer and, when he needed to use the bathroom, sit on a toilet with spikes in the seat. Her act became so popular that she attracted an audience to watch her inflict this suffering, and some of those fans gave her one ghastly star moment — as the focus of a snuff film, where she was drugged and had her legs cut off by a chainsaw.

7. Necrophile (Asylum)
At long last, Dr. Thredson's secrets are exposed, and he'll be going to jail or the electric chair, but he has one more sick surprise for Lana: the fate of her girlfriend Wendy's body. He reveals he burned it, but not before using it for some sexual practice. The writers could have left it there, but then they had to go and show Thredson trying to do the deed with the corpse, only succeeding after he turned her over to avoid seeing her lifeless face. It's a classic AHS move: start with a ****ed-up situation, and take at least two steps further.

6. The Poker (Murder House)
Donning the Rubber Man suit, Tate murders gay couple Chad and Patrick, drowning the former in an apple-bobbing bin and beating the latter to the brink of death before sodomizing him with a fireplace poker, hook and all. Out of all the unnecessary acts of violence on AHS, this one takes the cake.

5. Schoolyard Shocker (Asylum)
Nymphomaniac Shelley (Chloë Sevigny) becomes the most gruesome of Arden's test subjects after he attempts to rape her but can't due to his deformed penis. He amputates her legs and gives her injections that rapidly turn her into a Rasper, but it's how she's discovered that is truly twisted. Sister Mary dumps her in an elementary schoolyard, where a little girl finds her trying to crawl up some stairs.

4. The Infantata (Murder House)
The basement creature was scary enough before we knew what it was — a baby that was dismembered by an angry beau in retaliation for an abortion that his doctor father performed on a young woman. The doc goes crazy with guilt and tries to rebuild his son, Thaddeus, from all the parts, which were mailed back to their house in jars, and the heart of another fetus.

3. The Clown (Freak Show)
Twisty (John Carroll Lynch) is one of the most disturbing characters we've seen on AHS. There are a few seconds where you think that, just maybe, he won't hurt that couple in the first episode. Then he bashes them with his bowling pins and stabs the boyfriend on their picnic blanket, a scene reminiscent of the unflinching lakeside murder in Zodiac. (Which also starred Lynch.) If Twisty's backstory didn't invoke some sympathy and have a sort-of happy ending, the scene where he talks to Edward Mordrake (Wes Bentley) through the remnants of the mouth he destroyed with a self-inflicted shotgun blast would be even more nightmarish.

2. The Rubber Man and Vivien (Murder House)
The original promos for American Horror Story made the Rubber Man look like some sort of insect ghost who just happened wear a latex BDSM outfit. It didn't quite pan out that way, and the scene where the Rubber Man comes into Vivien's room pretending to be Ben, and rapes her is the series' first "Whoa, they are really going there, aren't they?" moment. At that point, you have no idea if he's a ghost or just a perv living in the attic, but you know for sure that AHS is going to take you on one ****ed-up ride.

1. Thresdon's Horror Home (Asylum)
Throughout Asylum, there was always a sense that something had to be wrong with Dr. Thredson. It all becomes clear when he helps Lana escape from Briarcliff and brings her back to his home. As Lana notices a lampshade made out of what appears to be human skin and a candy bowl that resembles a piece of skull, it slowly dawns on her and the audience that Thredson is none other than Bloodyface. She discovers his "hobby" room and falls through a trapdoor into his basement, where the dead body of her girlfriend Wendy is laying on the floor. Of all the moments in three-plus seasons on AHS, every one in that basement — the rape, the breastfeeding, the skins — you want to block out of your memory.

http://www.vulture.com/2014/11/ameri...py-scenes.html



The discovery of Violet's body should have been higher, for the rest I can agree.

Spoiler Alert!
 

‘American Horror Story: Freak Show’ Review: “Tupperware Party Massacre”
Britt Hayes | a day ago

FX
Great news, everyone: The horror and darkness have creeped back into ‘American Horror Story’ at last. And while the continuing narrative of Jimmy the Hero vs. Dandy the Villain doesn’t quite manage to be something greater than the sum of its parts, the ‘Freak Show’ delivers the first solid episode in weeks. The ghosts of the past invade the present with a surreal quality that echoes the way Jimmy’s brain is clouded by alcohol, or the way Dell—through misery and frustrating uncertainty—writes and rewrites his intended suicide letter. But it’s Dandy and Stanley who bring the real discomfort and unease to “Tupperware Party Massacre.”

Perhaps it’s no coincidence that the week that ‘American Horror Story’ delivers the first unsettling and decent episode in weeks is the same week in which Jessica Lange takes her turn sitting out for most of the runtime. Lange’s presence still hangs around the periphery of every scene, even in her absence; she is the overbearing adopted mother of this show, after all. But no matter how much Elsa views herself as the maternal figure at the head of this makeshift family unit, she cannot replace Ethel for Jimmy, or Ma Petite for the whole camp.

The first few minutes of “Tupperware Party Massacre” evoke a very particular sort of reaction: that mixture of nervousness and discomfort that lends itself to baffled and uneasy laughter. I am speaking, of course, of Jimmy’s relationship with Ima, the show’s newest attraction. Jimmy makes Freud’s case in a matter of seconds, lustily feeding his new maternal figure and, lost in his boozy downward spiral of resentment and grief, having sex with her in a shed. If this show is building a narrative of hero vs. villain, this is the arc in which our hero resigns himself to misery after the loss of a loved one, punishing himself for that which is and was beyond his control.

The ghost of Kathy Bates’ Ethel appears to both Jimmy and Dell—for the former, she’s the voice of his own disappointment, the voice of reason he stifles with the bottle; for the latter, she’s the voice of condemnation and self-hatred, the voice Dell hears in his head which pushes him over the edge into a suicide attempt. And the truth is, when you have Kathy Bates, you don’t toss her away so easily. But the way Ethel is incorporated into the episode is both haunting and insightful: to a son, the voice of a beloved parent will forever be their internal voice of disappointment, and to a former husband, the voice of his ex-wife will always be the one that nags inside his head.

The pacing and plotting of tonight’s episode are more in line with the ‘American Horror Story’ we know and love: so many plot developments, so many unsettling moments, and so many totally bonkers developments. But perhaps the most poignant development of all is Bette and Dot’s decision to abstain from the surgery that would separate them, a decision that was Dot’s and Dot’s alone. The twins have a nice intimate moment with each other, and we see the strings of co-dependency that tie them together more tightly than any physical connection ever could. And although she’s rebuffed by Jimmy, I think Dot’s going to be OK, having finally realized that removing Bette would split her in two both literally and figuratively.

Perhaps the only misstep of the evening had to do with Gabourey Sidibe’s Regina, who slips in and out of the picture to interact with Dandy when it’s convenient. Where does Regina go while Dandy is out murdering people? Is she just sitting in one of the Mott mansion’s many rooms, clutching her purse nervously until she hears Dandy doing something strange? They didn’t have the Internet or cell phones back then, so maybe she was biding her time with a jigsaw puzzle. Who knows. What’s frustrating is how casually the show dispenses with Regina. It’s a missed opportunity to create some conflict to hinder Dandy. And here I thought Regina would be a stronger, no-nonsense character like her mother—she certainly was the first couple of times she appeared, but where did that version of Regina go? She was likely frightened off by the overbearing music during her confrontation with Dandy.

Regina issues aside, both Dandy and Stanley give tonight’s episode the horrific boost it needs. From Dandy’s titular “Tupperware Party Massacre” in which he creates a giant blood bath in a suburban pool, to Stanley’s general unpleasantness, this episode had plenty of cringe-worthy moments. Finn Wittrock is more imposing and unsettling when he turns on his confidence and charm; he is the insidious tendencies of white male privilege personified. And the scene between Stanley and Dell probably gave us the most terrifying moment of the episode, with Stanley using his unnaturally large penis to intimidate and mock Dell. Those slapping sounds were more upsetting than any amount of bloodshed.

And while tonight provided more disquieting and cringe-inducing moments than the last few weeks have offered, there was still plenty of melodrama, particularly from Jimmy’s drunken corner. But “Tupperware Party Massacre” managed to solidly blend together the drama with the horror, wisely allowing Sarah Paulson and Kathy Bates do most of the dramatic heavy-lifting, which in turn gave us moments that were intimate and meaningful—a nice contrast to Jessica Lange’s scenery-chewing (which is still always fantastic, by the way).

Additional Thoughts:

“You’re nothing. You could be a pillow, a donut, a sock.”—Esmerelda delivers the best diss of the week.
“I AM THE LAW!” Finn Wittrock just quoted ‘Judge Dredd’ while standing naked in front of a bathtub full of blood. Did this show just peak?
I love how baffled ghost Ethel is by the notion of Tupperware, like anyone would want to keep uneaten food.
As much as this episode prospered without Lange, I’ll be happy to have her back (presumably) in the next episode.
Stanley is so weird and creepy and hilarious. Please let Denis O’Hare do more things.


Read More: ‘American Horror Story’ Review: “Tupperware Party Massacre” | http://screencrush.com/american-horr...ckback=tsmclip

7 Times ‘American Horror Story’ Had The Best Butts On Television
Warning: Butts ahead.
by kat rosenfield 17 hours ago

Of all the freaky goodness to grace this season of “American Horror Story,” there’s one bit of freakiness that stands out more prominently than most. You might even say it (ahem) really sets the curve when it comes to what makes the show extra special.

We are, of course, talking about Dandy Mott’s butt.

In a banner year for appreciation of a nicely-rounded pair of buttocks, the petulant villain of “American Horror Story: Freak Show” is the latest character to show off a derriere extraordinaire. But this isn’t the first time our favorite horror show gave its audience an excellent rear view. Below, we round up all the best butts ever to feature in the series.

The Viking butt
Before Dandy Mott ever dropped his drawers, we were treated to this appetizer butt belonging to the nameless boy toy who shared a hotel room with Stanley.

The asylum butt
There was a full moon rising on the Season 2 premiere of “American Horror Story,” as Evan Peters’ butt made the first of many, many appearances.

The maid’s butt
You’ve gotta hand it to AHS for skewing objectification in a decidedly non-conventional direction. Consider: In a roundup of the best butts on the show, only one lady makes the list. And while her butt is definitely fabulous, she’s the least naked of all the entries.

Frankenbutt
Evan Peters is back, and buttier than ever, as a naked reanimated corpse having a tantrum in a trailer.

Bloody Face Butt
The way the light embraced the curves of Zachary Quinto’s butt was quite literally the only watchable thing about this scene.

A fine and Dandy butt
We’ve already mentioned the golden globes of Dandy Mott, but it wouldn’t be fair to talk about them without including some photographic evidence to support the conversation.

Dylan McDerm-butt
And finally, this is one time when “American Horror Story” most definitely didn’t save the best for last. In its very first season, viewers were treated to multiple full rear shots of Dylan McDermott… although we could have done without the one where he was naked, crying, and masturbating onto a baby changing table.

http://www.mtv.com/news/2023608/amer...r-story-butts/

'AHS: Freak Show's' Sarah Paulson on Changes for Bette and Dot, Odds of Surviving

The only member of the returning cast to survive all seasons of the FX anthology horror drama (at least so far) discusses the new challenges of, and what's to come on, Freak Show and beyond

[Editor's note: This interview was conducted before Paulson was cast in Murphy's American Crime Story.]

On FX's American Horror Story, no one is safe — no one, it seems, but Sarah Paulson, who thus far has somehow managed to come out of the first three seasons (and at least half of its fourth) alive if not unscathed.
It's no small feat, and it hasn't gone unnoticed by Paulson, who told The Hollywood Reporter that she feels "very lucky" to have been allowed to take on such challenging and often polar opposite roles season after season. An actor who always tries "to find where the gravity lives, more than where the fun lives," Paulson has played a psychic, an unjustly institutionalized reporter, a witch and now conjoined twins on the anthology from Glee's Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk.
"That's the place I feel the most alive as an actor: When I'm having to push myself to go toward something that isn't comfortable for me or something that I don't have a tremendous amount of experience [with]. It's an opportunity to do better work," Paulson said.
THR caught up with Paulson to preview what's ahead for her characters, their odds of survival and more.

You've developed such an important relationship with Murphy over the years. Have you begun asking him to write in specific story or character challenges for you to tackle?
In the beginning I was just so glad to be there and so grateful for the opportunity. In the beginning [in Murder House], I had a part that was sort of ancillary to the story in Billie Dean Howard, and I liked playing her, but it wasn't a central figure to the show. So, by the time I came in as a regular in season two, I immediately came out of the gate with the greatest part I ever had in my life. So, there was not much for me to ask for or hope for or wish for; I felt like every time I got a script I just went, 'I cannot believe I get to do this!' That character was really the greatest gift that Ryan has ever given me, and he's given me a lot of gifts.
When season three came around, it didn't occur to me to say anything that I was hoping or wanting because I had had season two, and I thought, 'Well, there's no way I'm not going to have good stuff in season three!' I think I felt a part of the show in a real way, and I was sure he was going to throw something to me that was going to be challenging and exciting. Then when it came to Freak Show, Ryan had talked to me in the middle to end of season three and said, 'I want you to play conjoined twins next year, and I don't know how we're going to do it, but it's what you're going to do!' [He] wanted me to start reading about it and start thinking about it, and at first I thought I [wasn't] going to invest my time thinking about playing conjoined twins because I know what happens in that writers' room, and Ryan gets bursts of ideas, and they all come up with things, and stories sometimes take sharp left turns. And so, I thought, 'Until I know they're in the room writing, and [FX topper] John Landgraf knows what the season is, and everyone's been told what it is, and this is really happening, I'm not going to start working on it.' Because I didn't want to be disappointed, and I didn't want to have gotten really deep into some research only to find out that now I'm playing Twisty the Clown!
When I really knew it was happening for sure, the only thing that I requested from Ryan was that I wanted them to be from the South. That was the first and only time I've ever said to him, 'Can it be this?' And he said, 'Yeah, I love that; that's great.'

Why was that specific trait so important to you?
I liked the idea of them living in a place that was quite rural and away from a bustling town or a place they could be hidden. And of course there are small towns all over the country that are not in the south, but that is where my people are from: my grandmother's from Alabama, and my father's from the south, and I was born in Tampa, Fla. I felt [like] if I was going to play something so far from myself in terms of playing a person who had another head with two distinct personalities, I wanted something that was going to ground me and make me feel immediately connected to it, and I think the only thing I could come up with was a voice that I thought would be recognizable to me.

Playing two distinct personalities who are conjoined can limit some of the physicality they can express. How did you adjust to that extra challenge with the roles of Bette and Dot on Freak Show?
It's a real credit to Ryan and the writers on our show that the girls are really clearly marked on the page. I could really tell who they were in that first episode very clearly. I remembered thinking that I wanted Bette to have still have a sense of innocence and a sense of wonderment, and I wanted Dot to be much more cynical and have her way of dealing with the circumstances to kind of shut down [while] Bette was still a person who had hope and dreams and could live in her fantasy life. Within that process, Bette just kind of had a more open face, and Dot had more of a scowl, drawn-in, pulled face. Energetically there's something different coming out of both of them.
The physical world of everything is the girls wear different headbands; I wear a wedge that goes under my arm depending whomever I'm playing. It's to remind me that there's somebody else there because very early on when we were starting, and we were doing all of these fittings and trying to figure out how we were going to do all this, I said, 'What I'm afraid of is that when I'm not wearing the animatronic that's used for high and wide shots, I'm not going to feel the weight of having something attached to me.' And so I came up with this idea to have something that goes under my armpit that gives me a sense of width and spatially I can remember that there is another person there.

Your characters on the previous two seasons (Lana on Asylum and Cordelia on Coven) were really the heroines of the shows. How do you feel Bette and Dot fit into such a role?
I do think they are the heart of the show in the sense that from the very beginning [of Freak Show, the story] was through their eyes in learning about Elsa's [Jessica Lange] Cabinet of Curiosities. It is through them that we entered the world, and so I think it is through them that the audience can hold some of the story. I almost imagine them as one heroine as opposed to just one of them having a distinct title that way. Something happens in [the Dec. 10 episode, "Tupperware Party Massacre"] that changes the course for them in terms of them maybe having a little bit more of a sense of togetherness. I know that sounds funny considering they're very much physically together all of the time, but they've been very much at odds. And something happens that I think draws them to more of a common purpose.

What kind of changes do the events of "Tupperware Party Massacre" cause in Bette and Dot?
I'm used to having them be at such odds with one another and wanting such incredibly different things and seeing the world differently. Let's just put it this way: they start to see the world in a similar way. And that was a new thing. Dot's voice changes. My way into Dot really involved a darkness and almost a forehead that was just tight, and some of that has changed. Bette's voice is much higher and so open and sweet; to me, that isn't a problem [now] because Bette doesn't have to change. It's Dot who goes through something — who has something happen internally for her. And that was a very strange phenomenon that happened with me where I thought, 'I do not know how to do this anymore.' And it took me a minute, and I kept asking for more takes because I was finding my voice. And then I thought, 'Maybe that's OK because when a person changes — when a person has some kind of internal shift and maybe some part of the way they moved through the world was a self-protective way, and that starts to crack a little bit, and they start to come into their own in a different way, maybe all of that tightness in her voice did relax a little bit.' Something about her sound could be different. I think from a performance level and a psychological level, it's sort of a profound way of thinking about it.

The story has diverged from Bette and Dot as performers in Elsa's show. Does that mean you won't have any more musical numbers this season?
I am not doing any more musical numbers this season. Of all of the things I've done on American Horror Story, that might be one of the most horrifying for me personally. I'm not a singer. I've been told by many members of my family for many years that I'm not. So, when Ryan said I was going to do this, I was so petrified. And the good news is that Jessica has an excellent vocal teacher. She can put out an album at this point with all the songs that she's done, not just on American Horror Story, but in movies, too. This guy named Bob Garrett who's incredible music teacher, he really specializes in helping actors who don't sing, sing. He came to New Orleans and was working with Jessica and was working with me every day. He charted — he literally was writing things down with little bubbles or dots ascending or descending depending on where the notes were supposed to go. He stood with me in the recording booth. I worked my ass off. It was the scariest thing, and I've done a lot of **** on this show! It's very vulnerable to sing — especially if you've been told you can't do it! The last thing you want is to do it on national television, let alone have it released on iTunes. The thought of it kept me up at night!

You also have a distinct honor on American Horror Story as the sole survivor of each season. Can the streak continue?
I have hope that they will survive the season only because I love them so much, and the idea of having to film something like that is quite terrifying to me, actually. Call it method, call it what you want, but there's no way when I'm doing these things to not imagine that they're real and true. Otherwise I don't know how to do it; I don't know how to play it unless I really put myself into that reality. So the idea that I would have to do that, it's hard for me to even talk about; it makes my throat close up; it makes me upset! But this is American Horror Story, and people have to die. It's not a world in which anyone is ever safe. Do I like that so far I'm the only actor in the history of American Horror Story to survive every season? Yes, I do. Is that going to last? I really don't know. I like the title, though — believe me!

Have you begun thinking about what's next for you after Freak Show? Would you be up for season five of American Horror Story or perhaps Murphy's other upcoming FX anthology American Crime Story?
My focus will always be on American Horror Story for as long as he'll have me. I have never felt so completely seen by another director or producer or person before in terms of his willingness time and time again to give me something to do that I didn't even think I was capable of doing. I don't know why in the world I'd want to go elsewhere when I'm getting the best deal in town. I absolutely want to do season five; I hope he asks me to do it, but I haven't had those conversations yet. [But] I would also love to work with Ryan in a world that didn't involve me having two heads or gouged out eyes [Coven] or breastfeeding my 35-year-old son [Asylum]. This world is surreal, and we absolutely go places you could never go on other shows. I love that world, and I love playing that world because anything goes. We go pretty far and wide with things, and the show can support it [but] I would also love to work with him in a world where there [are] more boundaries. It would be very interesting to see what could happen there. I've been spoiled, to be quite frank. He's been very, very good to me, and I've been doing this long enough to know how rare it is to have someone look at you and go, 'I want you to do this, and I know you can.' Long ago, when he said, 'two heads,' I thought, 'Yeah, that's never going to happen,' but then I got that first episode, and I couldn't believe what I got to do with these two girls. It makes me quite emotional because I know how hard it is to find, and I've been very lucky.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/liv...paulson-754755

I'll wait this with utmost anticipation
 

‘Scream Queens’ will be ‘American Horror Story’ as a Comedy
Jacqueline Sahagian
December 09, 2014

The creator behind FX’s popular horror anthology series American Horror Story and Fox’s comedy musical Glee is making a new horror anthology for Fox — this one a comedy called Scream Queens. Ryan Murphy has been such a successful showrunner for the network that Fox ordered Scream Queens straight-to-series without even knowing who the series’ stars were going to be back in October, but now we know which actresses landed the coveted female leads.What do you think?

Emma Roberts, who has been a part of American Horror Story‘s ensemble cast in its third and fourth seasons, will star alongside one of the most iconic scream queens of all time, Halloween‘s Jamie Lee Curtis, Deadline reports. As far as horror films go, Curtis has also been in Halloween II, Prom Night, The Fog, and Terror Train. Aside from the third and fourth seasons of American Horror Story, Roberts was also in Scream 4.What do you think?

At first it sounds like this will just be a repeat of American Horror Story, but instead of being a dark, twisted drama, Murphy has said he wants Scream Queens to be both true horror and comedy. In an anthology format like American Horror Story, each season of the show will have a different storyline and characters. “We hope to create a whole new genre – comedy-horror – and the idea is for every season to revolve around two female leads,” Murphy told Deadline when the show was picked up by Fox. The first season is set to take place at a college campus that is experiencing a rash of murders.What do you think?

Murphy got the full season order for the new show because he’s one of Fox’s most successful and trusted television creators. Glee and American Horror Story have been two of Fox’s most successful programs. Fox TV Group Chairmen Dana Walden and Gary Newman said when they gave the 15-episode order that, “We loved every element of the pitch for this show — the genre-bending concept, which blends true horror with big comedic moments; the diverse and unforgettable characters and reuniting the phenomenal creative team that delivered Glee,” per Deadline.



Read more: http://wallstcheatsheet.com/entertai...#ixzz3Lsr46khl

‘American Crime Story’ Will Live Up to High Expectations
Jacqueline Sahagian
December 12, 2014

There’s been lots of big casting news from the world of Fox creative brainchild Ryan Murphy this week. After it was announced that Jamie Lee Curtis and Emma Roberts would star on the first season of Murphy’s new Fox horror-comedy hybrid, Scream Queens, news has now come out that Cuba Gooding Jr. has been tapped to star as O.J. Simpson on the first season of American Horror Story spinoff American Crime Story. He will appear on the show alongside AHS alum Sarah Paulson as the Simpson trial’s prosecutor, Marcia Clark, Deadline reports.

Like the highly successful American Horror Story, American Crime Story will have an anthology format. Crime Story will tell the story of a different true American crime each season, starting with the O.J. Simpson trial. The story will be based on the book The Run of His Life: The People vs. O.J. Simpson and will look at the case from the perspective of the lawyers working behind the scenes of the media and public eyes.

Paulson has been a fixture on American Horror Story from the beginning and has been nominated for Emmys for her work on the Asylum and Coven seasons. She’s currently playing a two-headed woman on the fourth season, Freak Show.

Gooding Jr. can currently be seen in Selma, the film about Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights marches in Selma, Alabama. After winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Jerry Maguire in 1996, the actor never again reached the same critical success. Murphy has helped revive the careers of actresses Jessica Lange and Kathy Bates in a unique way with American Horror Story, and Gooding Jr. may be hoping for some similar TV magic.

Other crime anthology series, like True Detective and Fargo, have also been very successful recently, and added some career-making work to the résumés of movie stars like Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, and Billy Bob Thornton. Murphy has already shown that he knows how to work the anthology format over the course of multiple seasons, as well as coax award-winning performances from his actors.

The Simpson trial is a good place for American Crime Story to start. Given the attention the case received when under trial back in 1995, 20 years later is a good time to bring about a fresh perspective to the case. And given the racial undertones involved in the case, including the LAPD’s history with the African-American community, as well as the racial divide between how Americans interpreted the results of the case, going back to explore the O.J. Simpson trial is a timely subject given the recent issues surrounding Ferguson and police brutality.

“The O.J. case was as tragic as it was fascinating — it seemed like everyone had a stake in the outcome. It was really the beginning of the modern tabloid age,” Murphy said when the subject matter of the show’s first season was announced, per Deadline. Now that Murphy’s found his O.J., American Crime Story is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated shows of the coming year.


Read more: http://wallstcheatsheet.com/entertai...#ixzz3LyYyBP81

‘American Horror Story: Freak Show’ Review: “Orphans”
Britt Hayes

For the second week in a row, ‘American Horror Story’ has delivered a pretty solid episode—it could be due in part to the increasingly smaller number of carnival performers combined with the show’s rotating system, which makes at least one cast member (or attraction, in the parlance of a sideshow) sit out each week in order to focus its narrative efforts elsewhere. And maybe “Orphans” works because it tells a story that’s genuinely sad, which accentuates the horror of the hour. And maybe I also think this episode is great because Lily Rabe reprises her role as Sister Mary Eunice, and she is a total queen.

Don’t get me wrong, there are things in this week’s ‘Freak Show’ that are a little sloppy, but overall “Orphans” is probably as close to riveting as this show can get without entirely pushing you to the edge of your seat. Jessica Lange’s opening soliloquy is beautifully restrained and thoughtful, as death and tragedy continue to be frequent visitors at Fraulein Elsa’s Cabinet of Curiosities. This week brings the death of Pepper’s mate, Salty, whose death occurs off-screen, leaving us to ponder if it was truly a natural death or if the insidious and greedy Stanley was the culprit.

Following the departure of Salty, we learn of Pepper’s history through second-hand stories and flashbacks as Elsa tells of how she came to adopt Pepper as her first performer, adding Ma Petite soon after to start their curious, makeshift family unit under the tent. Pepper’s mind may not be fully-developed, but she doesn’t lack maternal instincts or the desire for special companionship, so Elsa finds and adopts Salty, and it’s not long before Elsa is officiating an adorable wedding. This past Elsa is still an opportunist, but she’s much more kinder and loving and protective than the current Elsa, who has become quite the jaded narcissist.

This week mostly belongs to Pepper’s sad story, which is sidetracked occasionally by Desiree and Esmerelda, as the latter allows her emotions to get the best of her, botching a fake fortune-telling for Desiree and her new boyfriend. Ultimately, Esmerelda, caving under the weight of her guilt, comes clean and takes Desiree to the museum, where she can see why “Richard,” aka Stanley, has been hanging around. With only a few episodes left, we needed Esmerelda to break and tell someone what’s been going on—the carnival folk wouldn’t have figured it out on their own, and Elsa is so blinded by Richard’s false promises of fame that she’s willfully ignoring her responsibilities as a maternal figure.

Stanley pays Jimmy a visit with the promise of a star lawyer, but Jimmy doesn’t get much to do this week aside from some brooding and frustrated theatrics. Same for the Tattler twins, whose only appearance this week involves trying to hand Esmerelda their savings to get Jimmy out on bail.

“Orphans” proves that what this show needs isn’t restraint in the narrative sense, but restraint in the number of players. Too often this season it’s felt as though someone is spinning plates at the circus, with every plate representing a different narrative thread. At the same time, the tone has been largely soapy and melodramatic, which would be fine if there was some genuine horror in ‘American Horror Story’ this year. But since Edward Mordrake came and went and we lost Twisty the terrifying clown, the horror has been mostly explored via human nature and greed—not exactly the scary stuff you have in mind when watching this series.

Pepper’s story continues as Elsa drops her off with her estranged alcoholic sister, Alicia, and her husband. The time jumps ahead 10 years, to Alicia dropping Pepper off at the Briarcliff asylum from season 2. Alicia recounts the story of how Pepper came to live with her and how Pepper soon became a handful to our old friend, Sister Mary Eunice. Through flashbacks (in a flash-forward, no less), we watch what truly happened, contradicting Alicia’s voiceover. At the age of 50, Alicia finally had the baby with her husband that she always wanted. In her version, Pepper’s maternal instincts gave way to killer instincts, and she chopped off the baby’s ears and drowned him during a bath.

The truth is far more horrific: Alicia left Pepper to care for the baby while she stayed in bed, getting drunk day in and day out. She never formed a bond with her own child, and as she and her husband felt increasingly reckless and saddled with responsibilities they didn’t want, they plotted to kill the baby and blame it on Pepper—ridding themselves of two problems with one hideous motion.

Pepper’s story is genuinely heartbreaking, which is what makes it all the more tragic and horrific to watch. There’s real intensity and anxiety swirling around her scenes with the baby—all we knew from season 2 was that Pepper killed her sister’s child, but seeing the actual circumstances surrounding that death play out not only makes season 4 Pepper that much more empathetic, but it retroactively adds depth to the Pepper from season 2.

In her final moment at Briarcliff, Sister Mary Eunice (can I get an amen for Lily Rabe here) believes Pepper can be redeemed, and sets her to work in the library, sorting magazines and books. It’s there that Pepper glimpses Elsa’s face on the cover of TIME, heralding Elsa for her television program. But in the world of ‘American Horror Story,’ happy endings are frequently nothing more than comforting delusions.

Additional thoughts:

It was fantastic to see Lily Rabe appear in this episode, however brief, and it just reminds me once again that ‘Asylum’ is still the best season of the series. I will forever measure other seasons against it.
More guest stars this week: Malcolm Jamal Warner is back as Angus, Desiree’s boyfriend. Mare Friggin’ Winningham and Matthew Glave (you probably remember him best as Glenn Guglia in ‘The Wedding Singer’) show up as Pepper’s sister and her husband.
Speaking of guest stars, I would like to see more of Celia Weston. Can we get her into season 5 as a regular? Maybe she can hang out with Frances Conroy and they can say quirky things while looking very fashionable.
That was a nice moment between Dell and Desiree, but it feels like this show is consistently trying to paint him as more complex and pitiful than he actually is.
Also sitting this week out: Dandy. Last week he quoted ‘Judge Dredd’ while standing naked next to a bathtub full of blood, and where do you really go from there?
It’s probably safe to assume that Jimmy still has his hands and Stanley didn’t actually chop them off.


Read More: 'American Horror Story: Freak Show' Review: "Orphans" | http://screencrush.com/american-horr...ckback=tsmclip

About American Horror Story's Devastating and Shocking Pepper Episode...

Michele K. Short/FX
When you're done crying thanks to Naomi Grossman's wonderful—albeit heartbreaking—performance as Pepper on tonight's American Horror Story: Freak Show, we'll be here to help you say goodbye. And to cry with you.
Yes, Pepper has left the Freak Show. In tonight's episode, Pepper lost her husband. Before that, her surrogate baby, Ma Petite (Jyoti Amge), was killed. Things weren't going her way. Over the course of this episode, we learned how Elsa Mars (Jessica Lange) found Pepper and really took care of her all these years by bringing Ma Petite in, finding Pepper a husband in Salty (Christopher Neiman) and helping care for her broken heart when everything fell apart.
With Hollywood calling (or so she thought), Elsa decided the best thing would be to reunite Pepper with her sister (Mare Winningham). If you've seen American Horror Story: Asylum, you know that doesn't work out well. But it's even worse than we imagined as Pepper was framed for the mutilation and murder of her nephew and sent to Briarcliff. It's there she met Sister Mary Eunice (Lily Rabe) and will live out her final days. It was the end of the road for Pepper.

"This particular episode took me by such surprise. Because up until now it's been the ‘quick shot to Pepper making the idiotic face,'" Grossman tells E! News. "It's not just a quick shot, it's a long, extended close-up upon long, extended close-up of a single tear falling down Pepper's face, it's something I had never done before, honestly. I had done it on stage…I knew I could do this, I've done it, but not for a while. I've been stacking chairs and painting nails for about five months now and so to all of a sudden be endowed with this awesome opportunity was a lot. And like I said, coming from my own background of sketch comedy, the Groundlings, shows on stage, I'm prepared, but I'm not like Jessica in that I don't get to fall to my knees in a crying fit day after day after day. This is my first time."

Do you have a specific favorite part about Pepper?
I love that she's been given such a full life. The fact that I've gotten to sing, dance, dress down Dr. Arden and now I get to cry on cue—that's pretty major, especially for a little pinhead, who for all I knew was some glorified extra role when I first went out for it. I love the creativity that she's inspired. I'm looking at this wall I have in my place—I practically need to move because I need more wall space. I've got paintings and ceramics, Pepper shakers and Pepper cookies, Pepper magnets, and Pepper magnets. You name it! I've got a Pepper pumpkin. That's really something. These Horror fans are in a league onto themselves.

What will you miss most about Pepper?
Oh my gosh…She was so much fun to play. Like I said, just the range, being able to go from having a temper tantrum with Angela Bassett—throwing things at Angela Bassett, that was really gratifying—to tearing up and saying goodbye to Elsa. I mean, just the dramatic, emotional latitude I was given was awesome. Yeah, I'm really spoiled after that. I love being big characters like this, being able to totally transform myself and not just with the makeup, but physically being able to take on a whole new posture and take on a whole new face. I really look up to actors who totally transform themselves, like the Lon Chaneys of the world...I'm not interested in being one of those actors who—like, so many actors, they're just always themselves. It's so and so being just the same over and over. That doesn't interest me. Obviously, Pepper is unique. I'm not going to play Pepper again unless lightning strikes a third time. I'm going to miss the little girl.

You mentioned the scene with Angela Bassett. You also had some big moments with Jessica Lange and you held your own. What was that like?
I would say, especially with Jessica, when she says like ‘We've been together a long time,' it's true. I've been with her now two years longer than I thought I was going to be. This character has been my life for a little while here. Saying goodbye to Elsa was also saying goodbye to [Jessica] and saying goodbye to Pepper and saying goodbye to, well, hopefully not American Horror Story, but potentially, and saying goodbye to New Orleans, which is a new love of my life. So that was a really poignant time for me. I remember reading the episode for the first time and being so jumbled up in so many ways, saying ‘Oh my god. This is it!' I was so sad for Pepper, but I was also so sad for me! What does this mean? It means I'm going home is what it means, or at least to Briarcliff and that's good. All this time I thought that being alive was my job security, but little did I know that this was going to be the end, short on some flashback or something like that, which you never really know with American Horror Story. We do know that they didn't have Skype back in the 60s so I can't beam in from Briarcliff.

What do you think about all the shows being connected? Do you have your own theories?
Not at all. I have no idea. I almost wonder if the creators have any idea either. On one level I feel like [Ryan Murphy's] figured out the world. He knows everything, like Santa Claus, he knows when you're sleeping, he knows when you're a wake, but at the same time, the fandom is so engaged to the point where I feel like if I were him, I'd be Googling the show, I'd be reading the message boards, I'd be reading the Facebook posts and picking the theories I liked because the fans are writing it for him. Whether or not he's using it or not, but man they're creative and they're good…

Will you be back next season?
I don't know. I'd like to. You've seen the episode, I haven't. I like to think that maybe this secured my place in the AHS club there, but I have gotten no word….

http://it.eonline.com/news/607022/ab...pepper-episode

I LOVE this woman
 

Lily Rabe talks her return to 'American Horror Story' -- exclusive
By Tim Stack on Dec 18, 2014

[SPOILER ALERT IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE LATEST INSTALLMENT OF AMERICAN HORROR STORY: FREAK SHOW.]

The most recent episode of FX’s American Horror Story: Freak Show marked a homecoming of sorts for Lily Rabe. The actress, who appeared on all three previous installments of AHS but is now shooting her ABC thriller The Whispers, returned to play her Asylum character, Sister Mary Eunice. The kind nun was seen dealing with Pepper (Naomi Grossman), after she was sent to Briarcliff by her malicious sister (Mare Winningham). Though it was a brief appearance, it was also a marked difference from the demon-possessed woman last seen in Asylum.
EW talked exclusively to Rabe about returning to AHS and fan theories about further connections.

EW: How did this all come about?
LILY RABE: Basically I got a message that they had written Mary Eunice back into this season and we were gonna do everything to work it out, and they did. We were able to shoot on a Saturday. It’s such an incredible thing. I’ve had that experience time and time again with Ryan [Murphy] and with the show, where with most things it would be impossible to work something out, and they find a way. He really moves mountains.

Are you still shooting The Whispers now?
I am. I’m almost done, though. I’m sort of imminently done. We’re shooting our last episode. I wrap on Friday.

That show is filming in Vancouver. Was that the biggest obstacle in getting this done?
Yeah, just juggling the schedules and the location. There’s no direct flight. But it all worked out. It was that wonderful feeling of “oh, I’m home!” It felt like it hadn’t been very long. So much of the crew, I’ve worked with them for the last 3 years. It was a great day. And working with Mare was amazing. I’ve known Mare or she’s known me since I could barely walk. We go way, way, way back. We were both kind of emotional actually, playing that scene opposite each other because we just have this wonderful long history—but we had never acted together. We just knew each other personally. It was so wonderful because I respect her so much as an actress, and I love her so much as a human. So leave it to American Hororr Story to make that little dream come true.

How was it getting back in the habit? Did Sister Mary come back immediately?
I have to say it was really amazing putting that habit back on. [Laughs] Paulson texted me and said, “Text me the second that’s on!” [Laughs] All three of the women I’ve been lucky to play on that show, they don’t go far. They are wild and specific creations born out of Ryan’s brain. But they’re all still right near by, and I still do think about them all the time. So no, she didn’t feel far away at all. That habit was the same one. Lou, the costume designer, was like, “It’s the one! The one you wore all the time!” So that was pretty great.

I found it nice, too, to see Mary in a great place after Asylum ended so darkly for her.
Yes! It was sooo nice. We were talking about this on the day. It was on the third episode that she was possessed. It happened really fast. But she has that wonderful daffiness that I loved getting to play. I loved that it was the pre-possession, that original Mary Eunice. Pre-Jude, even. She doesn’t even know Jude yet. That whole relationship, of course, is probably the most formative relationship of her life, and that hasn’t even happened. So she’s this clean slate. Because Jude isn’t there yet. She’s trying her hand at trying to have a little bit of authority, and she’s not the best at it. But she’s trying and I respect her for that. [Laughs]

This is the first time the show has ever tied seasons together. Did it feel special shooting it?
Yes, it really did. It was kind of amazing because I got to see the Freak Show set on the set that I had been on for Coven, and see where my shack had been turned into Jessica’s incredible tent. Then they built a little bit of Briarcliff. It was so great to have it there. It felt very magical. But I didn’t see this coming, and it was so clever. To have this be the way that it all started to tie together, it’s so great.

There’s been all these theories about how the seasons are now connected. Your character in season one, Nora, shares the same last name, Montgomery, as Emma Roberts’ Madison in Coven. Were you aware of that?
I remember having that conversation when we were shooting Coven and saying, “Oh, it’s the same last name.” I didn’t have a theory or anything but I do remember noticing. Who knows? It’s amazing if they continue to be interwoven.

Your scenes are only with Mare and Naomi, but could you see anyone else?
I got to see Paulson. Like the minute I got to my hotel, she came over. But we weren’t on set together. I flew in the night before, and then we shot ’til like 4. Then I went straight to the airport. But I got to see a lot of the crew, which is so wonderful! That was pretty great.

Have you kept up with Freak Show this season?
I’m a couple episodes behind, but it’s incredible.

Do you have a favorite freak?
I love Evan so much this season. He’s such an incredible actor, and this character, I’m really obsessed with his performance. And Jessica is just off the charts. And Paulson is so amazing. Everyone is incredible, and it’s so beautiful. It’s so much fun to look at.

Would you come back and appear in season five of AHS?
As I’ve always said, being a part of American Horror Story and working for Ryan is something I hope to be lucky enough to continue for the rest of my life. It’s one of the great, great joys that I have. So absolutely, I hope for all those things to be possible.

http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/12/18/li...ry-freak-show/

'American Horror Story's' Angela Bassett: Desiree Is Fighting for the Disenfranchised
by Danielle Turchiano

The 'Freak Show' star talks with THR about what to expect when the FX anthology returns for its final few episodes in 2015

[Warning: This story contains spoilers from the "Orphans" episode of American Horror Story: Freak Show.]

'American Horror Story' Books Neil Patrick Harris, David Burtka; Lily Rabe Sets Return
After Angela Bassett battled literal and figurative demons as Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau during American Horror Story: Coven, the actress has spent the better part of Freak Show taking on a more physical and sexual role as Desiree Dupree. Bassett's three-breasted woman rolled into Jupiter, Fla., on the arm of the strongman Dell (Michael Chiklis), and while Desiree is just as strong a woman as Marie, she has a very different approach to doing things to match her different outlook on life, love and the cast of characters that surround her.
During Wednesday's midseason finale, "Orphans," Emma Roberts' Maggie called Desiree the "toughest woman [she] knows." But though Desiree "knows bull****" when she hears it and isn't afraid to call it out, she is not without her more sensitive side, too. Recently having learned she is a hermaphrodite and can actually have surgery to "correct" the things about her body that made her fit in with the freak show crowd, Desiree has been on a tear for a relationship and more traditional 1950s definition of womanhood. Will her quest be derailed by what she has learned about some of her fellow freaks?
The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Bassett to discuss what's ahead for her character in the final few episodes of the season now that some of the freak show's biggest secrets have been revealed.

The audience, and Desiree, learned more about the truth behind what makes her the three-breasted woman a few episodes back. Were those details part of the character pitch at the start of the season, or did you also learn about them later?
I didn't know about the twist at all until I got the script for the week. All [showrunner] Ryan [Murphy] told me was that he had something great planned for me … and that was enough for me because the writers are magnificent and the things they give us to do are always exciting. Without a doubt at some point, when I read their scripts, I'm going to [scream] or laugh or clutch the pearls or something!

When such a truth is revealed about a character, does that change your approach to portrayal?
I wouldn't say it changed a great deal. Desiree is that woman who wanted a normal life … like everyone else does, really. And she imagined those things for herself [either way].

Her chances of that happy homemaker life are much greater with Angus (Malcolm Jamal Warner) than Dell (Michael Chiklis), though.
[Dell and Desiree have] been together for years, and she hoped to the very end that they'd be able to have a real family. [But then] she found out what his truth is. But I think there's a part in Desiree that's a childlike hope that hasn't died off in her. At the beginning of any love affair, I think you hope for the best and you imagine the best, and you leave that door open. So it's a door that's open, but we'll have to see if they walk through it.

Earlier in the season you mentioned Desiree was driven by a "deep sense of shame." What is driving her now, especially after all she has learned about Stanley (Denis O'Hare) and Maggie?
She's found people who care for her, who have accepted her, who see her for who she is and don't put anything else on it. We all are special, all are different, all are unique and that's where she's found herself. And when she finds that person who fights for her and fights for the underdog, I think she's found that side of herself [too]. She stands up to Dell when it goes a bit too far and when her back's up against the wall. That's what's happening, in terms of life-and-death issues and life and death realities. Her back is against the wall, and she's coming out fighting for those who have loved her and fought for her and protected her. She's fighting for the weakest of the disenfranchised.

Maggie called Desiree "the toughest woman" she knows and later teamed with her in a way to show her the truth about what Stanley is doing. Where does Desiree — and that relationship — go from here?
I think someone in Desiree's situation —someone who is on the outside looking in — is always very aware of the situation. Everyone bears watching. You want to be accepting of everyone's good nature, but because she's lived on the opposite side of the tracks, or the outside, you really are aware and you watch and you take note of folks' ill natures. Maggie seems perfect, so I think she bears watching. All she has are her words, and she can make her mouth say anything. You still have to watch and see, and I think that's the standing she has with her.

Desiree also got to exhibit her maternal side when it came to Pepper (Naomi Grossman). Will that instinct play out with other characters?
That maternal desire has always been a part of her and been very real for Desiree, and it's the hope that burns in her, so I think there's always an opportunity to express that. And I think she's hoping that it will manifest itself in some real, lasting way.

Where have you felt the strongest personal connection to Desiree?
These individuals come from various backgrounds and places and origins and are so different from one another and yet so the same in that they want to love, and they want to take care of each other, and they want to be validated, and they just want to be seen — they just want the opportunity to be seen. So I think I felt the strongest about that in what will be the last episode — the final episode.

Now that she knows so many secrets, can Desiree possibly survive the season?
Well, you never know where the greatest harm is, do you? You never know! The darkness of a man's heart — you never know what's lurking around the corner or who's the darkest, really. But I think she has a great chance at survival. She's been at it a long time — well, they all have; they've all had to fight their entire lives, but I think she has a good chance, good instincts. I hope she will! They killed me last season, and I'd like a little bit of love this season!

American Horror Story: Freak Show returns to FX in January.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/liv...bassett-758701

45 ‘American Horror Story’ Characters Ranked In Order Of Absolute Evilness
Did we miss anyone?
by kat rosenfield 12/24/2014

After putting together the list below, one thing became abundantly clear: “American Horror Story” is quite possibly the most evil show on television. Ever since the inaugural “American Horror Story: Murder House,” the show has been a repository for the deranged, depraved, and morally derelict, with almost nobody in its cast who could be described as a straight-up good person.

But what happens when you try to objectively rank every single major AHS character on an all-time Megalist of Evil, starting with the purest and most innocent, and ending with the baddest baddie of all? Can it even be done?! Well, we tried. And we’re kicking it off with…

Pepper
Pure, buck-toothed, unibrowed innocence: Pepper is our number one “American Horror Story” good guy.

Adelaide “Addie” Langdon
Poor Addie wasn’t evil in the least; she just wanted to be a pretty girl.

Misty Day
A Stevie Nicks-loving hippie witch who used her gifts to resurrect fuzzy-wuzzy little animals, Misty Day had a heart so pure, she wasn’t just good, but too good for this world.

Vivien Harmon
Not evil, just naive — for thinking that her chump of a husband was ever going to stop being a chump. Poor Viv.

Shachath
Most of the residents of “Asylum” are no angels, but this one is! Literally! Although she racks up quite the body count as she kisses/kills her way through the season, she also exists outside the concept of karma as we know it, so we’re sticking her close to the bottom.

Queenie
Not only did Queen come through for her sister-witches in a major way, taking a bullet to defeat their bounty hunter, but she forced Delphine LaLaurie’s disembodied head to watch a civil rights documentary in the hopes of making her less racist… which makes her one of the good guys, if a bit overly hopeful.

Kit Walker
Of all Evan Peters’ roles on AHS, poor Kit was the only one we can reasonably put in the pure, innocent victim category.

Violet Harmon
Sweet Violet might have fallen in love with a murderer, but she wouldn’t hurt a fly. (Instead, she ended up getting consumed by them.)

Ethel Darling
Ethel might not have been the greatest mom, or the most sober one, but she had a big heart… and a beautiful beard.

Bette and Dot Tattler
One is a schemer; the other, a dreamer. But despite having at least one murder under their mutual belt — and despite Dot’s not-so-secret desire to be liberated from her other half, no matter the consequences to Bette — the twins have lately shown that they’re pretty decent girls.

Desiree Dupree
She’s not evil, but she’s also not afraid to take the balls of anyone who hurts her freak family.

Myrtle Snow
The fabulous Myrtle does indulge in a little eyeball-scooping vengeance toward the end of “Coven,” but considering that it’s in retaliation for being burned at the stake, it’s hard to see her bad acts as anything but righteous justice.

Cordelia Foxx
She’s more than just good; she’s goddamn Supreme. Plus, she put out her own eyes for the good of the coven, so an extra ten points for martyrdom.

Zoe Benson
On the one hand, Zoe is guilty of using her killer vagina to murder a guy in a hospital. On the other hand, he did kind of have it coming.

Jimmy Darling
Good at heart, but man, is Jimmy full of resentment. Plus, he’s a total jerk when he’s drunk.

Nan
We’re not sure where to put Nan. On one hand, she was never as conniving as some of the other witches in the coven; on the other, after taking a dark turn and committing a horrific (if well-deserved) murder, Nan was ultimately killed as a sacrifice and left arm-in-arm with Papa Legba, which means she’s basically a devil’s minion now.

Kyle Spencer
Kyle had the decency to be horrified at his frat brothers gang-raping Madison Montgomery. But then again, this couldn’t have been his first inkling that they were not exactly awesome dudes, and yet he was spending time with them anyway — which makes Kyle a good guy, yes, but perhaps not the best guy.

Moira O’Hara
She’s one of the more sympathetic ghosts haunting the Murder House… but she was also a shameless homewrecker (not to mention a sh–ty maid!)

Lana Winters
The ambitious Lana is one of those marvelously morally ambiguous characters in which AHS seems to specialize; she’s not a bad person, exactly, but she’s too opportunistic and grasping to be among the innocents.

Spalding
The silent servant of “Coven” was primarily into chinoiserie and dolls, but his secondary penchant for playing with dead bodies puts him over the line into Naughtyland.

Sister Jude
The least evil of Jessica Lange’s characters, the pompous and strident Jude at least had a conscience — and a late-in-life redemption as a surrogate grandma to Kit’s kids.

Chad Warwick
Although he’s responsible for his own fair share of mercilessly tormenting the Harmons, Chad’s motivations are human enough that we can also feel kind of sorry for him.

Sister Mary Eunice McKee
This poor nun was really and truly just trying to do good works in a bad, bad world… until halfway through Season 2 when she was literally possessed by the devil. So, we’ll split the difference and put her right in the middle of the list.

Maggie Esmerelda
The bad: She’s a shameless scam artist who agreed to help Stanley in his mission to kill basically the entire cast of “Freak Show.” The better: In recent episodes, she seems to be wavering in the direction of remorse and redemption.

Monsignor Timothy Howard
The Monsignor was unsympathetic, power-hungry, and corrupt — which are bad things for anyone to be, but in a priest, they’re especially noxious.

The Axeman
We would have counted the serial killing Axeman among “Coven”‘s hell-bound bad guys, but since he ends up in his own personal heaven with Fiona at the end of the season, perhaps AHS knows something about the quality of his character that we don’t.

Larry Harvey
Everything he did, he did for love… but man, he did some really bad stuff.

Papa Legba
As an evil spirit, enabling bad deeds is part of his job description. So, evil! But also profoundly less evil than the characters who are evil by choice.

Elsa Mars
She’s a grasping, jealous has-been who’s done craven things in the name of fame — but her affection for her peculiar “children” and her great Bowie covers save her from being higher up on this list.

Dell Toledo
Dell might have a complicated, closeted backstory to contend with, but he’s also the monster who smothered Ma Petite to death, and for that, he cannot be forgiven.

Dr. Ben Harmon
Murderer, schmuck, and crying masturbator! Ben Harmon would top our list of evil “American Horror Story” characters, if he weren’t also so completely pathetic.

Twisty the Clown
Edward Mordrake said it best: “I have met many a craven killer, many a sniveling coward in my time, but every one of them could admit the blackness in their own hearts when the hour came. You have caused the demon to weep.”

Gloria Mott
In addition to having given birth to the spoiled rotten villain of “Freak Show,” Gloria’s insistence that her son was just a misunderstood sweetie totally crossed the line between obtuse and evil.

Madison Montgomery
Spoiled, mean, remorseless, and miserable despite having so many privileges: Madison Montgomery is the same evil breed as Dandy Mott, only less delusionally deranged.

Billie Dean Howard
We didn’t see much of Billie in “Murder House,” but as a friend of Constance Langdon, she’s evil by association.

Johnny Morgan
It’s not Johnny’s fault that he’s the son of a psychotic serial killer, but it is his fault that he didn’t find a healthier way to cope than hunting down and trying to kill his own mother.

Tate Langdon
Despite the big, sweaty crush we had (and continue to have) on Tate, it cannot be denied that he was a pretty bad guy, really.

Constance Langdon
The only thing good about this scheming, sniping murderess and manipulator was her capacity for amazing zingers.

Stanley
The avaricious Stanley’s entire plot arc has centered on trying to murder the freaks of “Freakshow” so that he can display their bodies for personal gain, which makes him pretty damn evil.

Dandy Mott
A portrait of whiteboy entitlement taken to its most extreme logical conclusion, Dandy’s corruption is all the more offensive for being completely freaking unnecessary. He could have had a very nice life without killing anyone, but noooooo.

Dr. Oliver “Bloody Face” Thredson
Not just evil through and through, but also responsible for one of the few “American Horror Story” scenes that was so gross as to be unwatchable.

Marie Laveau
What is Marie Laveau doing so high up on this list? Consider: Every year, by agreement, she has to offer a human baby as a sacrifice to Papa Legba. Marie Laveau is over 300 years old. Do the math. That’s a lot of dead babies.

Dr. Arthur Arden
This man was a Nazi. A NAZI. That is all.

Fiona Goode
Fiona was so bad that when she tried to make a business deal with the voodoo devil, it turned out she didn’t even have a soul to sell.

Delphine LaLaurie
This unapologetic serial murderess and virulent racist not only tormented and tortured her slaves, but she’s one of the few “American Horror Story” characters who’s based on a real person. Congratulations, Delphine: On a list of dozens morally corrupt jerks, you are our number one gal.


http://www.mtv.com/news/2007463/amer...y-evil-ranked/


P.S.: Wait a minute, where are Charles and Nora Montgomery?

Stevie Knicks?

Denis O'Hare's character plays a dangerous game in 'American Horror Story: Freak Show'
BY BILL HARRIS

Denis O'Hare came up with a perfect way to describe his character in American Horror Story: Freak Show.

“(Stanley) is the billiard ball that scatters the other balls,” O'Hare said.

Those balls would be wise to roll as far away as possible.

American Horror Show: Freak Show has been airing Wednesday nights on FX Canada and FX in the U.S. The season will pick up post-holiday on Jan. 7, with a total of three episodes remaining.

This is the fourth season of American Horror Story, with each season telling a different tale, in a different time and place. But creator Ryan Murphy was quoted recently saying that all the seasons are connected in some way.

Coincidentally, about a month before Murphy's comments, I wrote these words in early October: “I've always had a dream about American Horror Story, that somehow, however long this series runs, all the stories will link together at the end, even in a really vague or loose or existential way.” Well, I got my wish.

“It didn't surprise me, because (Murphy) is an awfully clever guy,” O'Hare said. “I know they put a lot of thinking into the resonances. The biggest, obvious resonance this year was Pepper (played by Naomi Grossman) being in both Asylum (the second season) and in our (current) season. But there are actually two other ones coming up that are very, very strong resonances which are fascinating.

“The biggest challenge, of course, is the setting. If you set it too far in the past you make it difficult to make connections. With Asylum (the second season, set in the early 1960s) and Freak Show (set in the early 1950s) being only 10 years (apart), it made that a lot easier. But I’m just as excited as you are to see what (Murphy) will do.”

O'Hare has had roles in three of the four seasons of American Horror Story thus far. He was the burn-damaged Larry in season one. He was creepy butler Spalding in season three. And now he's playing Stanley, the cold businessman and wannabe social climber who is preying on the vulnerable performers at a “freak show” near Jupiter, Fla., in 1952.

“All three of those characters are yearning for some way of transcending their life,” O'Hare said. “It was most obvious in the case of Larry, who was wanting to escape the hell that he was bound in by his actions and by the consequences of his actions, his wife and kids being burned up in a fire. What Larry wanted was release.

“I loved Spalding. He was such an unusual character and a great technical challenge. Spalding was actually not that sweet. I joked with (Murphy), I said, 'I think Spalding’s ultimate dream is to become a doll.' I thought, wouldn’t it be cool if at the end we saw Spalding on the shelves and he finally had achieved his dream.

“For Stanley, oddly enough, we have those glimpses of him at the morbidity museum while they’re doing a toast, and he’s sort of assuming he’s going to be feted, he’s going to be the one who is called out for recognition. He wants to be accepted into larger culture. What Stanley wants is to be respected.”

Of course, the path to “respect” that Stanley has chosen is a gruesomely murderous one. Initially Maggie, played by Emma Roberts, was Stanley's partner in crime, but even she has experienced a crisis of conscience.

“(Stanley) really is the instigator,” O'Hare said. “He’s the engine of the season, because what he’s doing is setting everything into motion, with his attempts to co-opt, murder, corral and change, weaving this spell around different people.”

As Denis O'Hare accurately put it, Stanley is the billiard ball that scatters the other balls. It brings new meaning to the billiard term, “Break.”


http://www.torontosun.com/2014/12/23...ory-freak-show

'American Horror Story' season 4 episode 11 returns Jan. 7: Neil Patrick Harris to frighten fans with spooky magic
Shiena Bernardino 22 December 2014


FX
Screengrabbed from the AHS: Freakshow trailer
The freaks might be in hiatus from giving "American Horror Story: Freak Show" fans more nightmares during the coming holidays, but it does not mean that they are not preparing something big once the season returns next year.

The official synopsis for the midseason opener of "AHS: Freak Show" reads:

"Elsa prepares for her move to Hollywood. The Twins grow enamored with a traveling salesman. Dell plots Jimmy's escape from police custody."

In episode 11, a beloved actor will join the cast for added frightening scenes in the series as the traveling salesman/creepy magician.

The world first knew him as the teenage doctor in "Doogie Howser, M.D." and loved him for portraying the awesome role of Barney Stinson in the TV comedy "How I Met Your Mother." But this time, Neil Patrick Harris will terrify fans as a spooky magician in FX's horror anthology series.

The Tony Award-winning actor, who is also a self-confessed fan of the horror series, will finally get what he wished for by landing a role in "AHS." He will portray the role of Chester, Elsa Mars' (Jessica Lange) successor in managing the Jupiter, Florida carnival, and the newest apple of the eye of the Tattler twins Bette and Dot (Sarah Paulson). He will be introduced in the midseason premier episode titled "Magical Thinking," and his character will last until episode 12.

Chester's involvement in the lives of the Tattler twins may not be good news, since he claims that his extra spooky ventriloquist dummy is the one that "relaxes him." Incidentally, that dummy looks very much like the returning "AHS" star Jamie Brewer, who will also return to the show on the same episode.

This is not the first time that Harris will work with "AHS" series creators Brad Falchuk and Ryan Murphy. The 41-year-old actor also appeared in a "Glee" episode, which is also created by the duo.

"American Horror Story: Freak Show" will return on Jan. 7.



Read more: http://www.christiantoday.com/articl...#ixzz3NNjKarVj

‘American Horror Story: Freak Show’ spoilers: First details on ‘Show Stoppers’

Freak Show -Want to see how “American Horror Story: Freak Show” is going to be closing things off early next year? While we cannot tell you just yet anything about the big series finale, there is something else right now we can share: Some of the first hints on “Show Stoppers,” the penultimate episode of the series that is coming on the air Wednesday, January 14.

We wouldn’t say that there are any major spoilers in the synopsis below, at least other than that some of the following characters make it to at least this episode alive:

“Dandy gives the Twins troubling information about Chester. Maggie vows to prove her loyalty to Jimmy. The Freaks enforce their harsh code of justice.”

Chester may be the character played on the show by Neil Patrick Harris; we know that he is appearing near the end of the episode, and will be a traveling salesman who may not be everything that he is cracked up to be.

As for the rest, it’s mostly nice to see that Dandy is making it at least this far in the season, given that we prefer to have one fairly-consistent Big Bad character throughout, and not just someone who pops up for a while, only to go away like Twisty the Clown did. We are still feeling a little bit of the burn that comes from that one.

As for how this entire “Horror Story” finishes up, who knows what Ryan Murphy and company have in store? We do expect a few deaths, but hopefully at least some of these characters can figure out a way to be happy moving forward.

Want to know some further news right now related to “American Horror Story”? Then be sure to visit the link here right now! Also, you can sign up to grab some additional TV scoop on everything we cover courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: FX.)


http://cartermatt.com/144422/america...show-stoppers/

Finn Wittrock on Playing Dandy in American Horror Story and Getting Rail-Thin for Unbroken
By E. Alex Jung

Finn Wittrock is having a good fall. After stepping into Ryan Murphy’s orbit in a devastating death scene as Albert, Bruce Niles's (Taylor Kitsch's) boyfriend on The Normal Heart, he’s in two high-profile roles: first as the sociopathic brat Dandy in American Horror Story, and then as U.S. soldier Francis “Mac” McNamara in Angelina Jolie’s World War II epic Unbroken. Wittrock, looking ruddy and freshly shaven, sat down with Vulture for an interview in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel during Unbroken’s press junket. We talked about working with Jolie, comparing rib bones with Matt Bomer, and where Dandy stacks up in the American Horror Story universe.

Unbroken is the story of Louis Zamperini, a World War II veteran who, among other things, survived 47 days at sea and torture in a Japanese POW camp. He died earlier this year at the age of 97. Did you get to meet him?
I did get to meet him. It was amazing. [Angelina Jolie] got to show him a cut of it in the hospital, I believe, on her laptop a few days before [he died]. But in typical Louis fashion, they gave him one week to live and he lived eight more. How is that possible? I got to meet him, and we talked about Mac, and it becomes a whole new world of real when you're not just playing someone that a writer made up off the top of their heads. When someone tells you, "This guy died in front of me, I saw him starve to death," it becomes a whole new level of responsibility for you to pull off.

What did Louis tell you about Mac?
He told me that he was always after stimulus. He was always eating desserts, always off drinking and smoking and chasing women. He was eternally a child. Louis had to be paternal towards him. If he would criticize him at all, Mac would crumble. So he had to take care of him.

How do you see your character Mac fitting into that story?
I've been thinking about how Louis has a continual inner resilience in him, that he's somehow able to keep standing up every time he gets knocked down, again, again, and again. He somehow finds this mental persistence and tenacity. You need Mac in the story to contrast that, to show that once your mind goes to despair and you're convinced you're going to die, your body follows. It really is mind over matter. He and Louis and Phil all had the same lack of food and the same amount of exposure to the elements and everything else, and one guy's body just couldn't make it because his mind unraveled.

Were the conditions difficult for you?
We were mostly on water, so that was difficult. We were so thin, our body fat was very low, so I'd get cold very quickly. The storm scene, they were just throwing water on us, and I was literally shivering. I have to say the crew did a really good job of taking care of us. We all knew we were going to some dark places, and I didn't have to touch the prison camp, thank God. I got to stay on the raft.

How much weight did you have to lose?
I secretly felt like Mac had to be the worst off, so I pushed myself. I think I lost like over 35 [pounds].

Do you literally just have to starve yourself to look like you're starving?
Before the nutritionist came on, before I met him, I was basically just starving myself. I was just pushing through: a lot of black coffee. I'd eat something but would keep the calories really, really low every day. And then when he came on, he gave us a much more healthy, conscientious regimen, which basically is just protein and vegetables.
Because we did the second half of the raft first, we did [the part from] day 18 emaciation first. I got to go away right before the holidays and eat myself silly and, you know, come back to the beginning. When your job is to gain weight, it's a lot more fun.

I bet the holidays were awesome.
Yeah, last year's Christmas was probably the best Christmas since I was 5, I would say.

You’ve had some brutal death scenes in your career already.
Yeah, what is that? What is that about? Why do they all want to torture and kill me so badly?

Any tips on how to die well?
That's one thing: I die well. It's like anything. It's scary, you know, to actually think of that, that thing that's gonna happen to all of us. You just try to put yourself there. Anyone can relate to it. It's universal. It's going to happen to all of us. But as soon as you do, it's not hard to imagine what it's going to be like.

Your death scene in The Normal Heart was just brutal.
I don’t know if you can tell in that that I'm skinner, but I did the airplane scene right after I finished the raft scenes in New York.

Oh, so you didn't have to go gain and lose weight again.
No, amazingly, the timing worked out so I was already thin. I just stayed thin a little longer than I wanted to.

I know that Matt Bomer also had to lose a ton of weight. Did you compare notes?
Well, I saw him when we were both low. He was lower at that point. By the time I had gotten there, I gained a little bit. He was at his lowest. We compared ribs.

Like how many you could visibly see?
Yeah, and we compared what we were doing. We were doing different things. He was on a broth diet. I was just like, I'm not doing that. I need some fish, at least.

Angelina was on The Daily Show recently, and she said that she was really unsure of herself. Did it seem like that?
I didn't see an inch of that. She always has such grace in everything that she does. I knew that it was a big undertaking for her. I knew that there was pressure on her from the studio but also from herself. Because as sprawling and huge as this story is, it's a personal film for her because her relationship with Louis was really sincere and it was a real friendship. There was a lot riding on it, for sure. She was our fearless leader.

It looked like you all were really chowing down on some of that fish. How did it taste?
It tasted like fish. [Laughs.] Everyone's like, It's like sushi! And it's like, No. Sushi has a lot more done to it after the fish is dead. There are scales and bones. And at that point in shooting, we had to replicate our facial hair, so we had fake facial hair, so we were passing [the fish] to each other and seeing this little artificial — that's actually yak hair — on top of it and it's like, Oh, it's my close-up, I can't back out now. I gotta dig in!
I think the shark liver was a piece of prosciutto, which was good. And that was when we were hungry, so we were really happy that day. The things you take for granted.

Mac seemed especially into eating.
He has a childish impulse which makes him eat the chocolate out of a sort of panic. And that sort of seals their doom in a way. And that guilt unravels him. Lack of faith. I say more lack of hope. Some of us just aren't built with that inner resistance, that inner fight. We all want to think we'd be Louis in that situation. I think Mac is actually maybe a little more common.

I'm pretty sure I'd be Mac.
That chocolate is mine!

Speaking of people who are eternally children ...
There is that connection. Good segue!

Thank you!
Dandy.

You're looking quite dandy.
This is a very dandy suit. He would have a vest, though, and a bow tie, probably.

Or an ascot.
Definitely an ascot.

It's funny because Twisty was sort of a red herring in American Horror Story: Freak Show. I assume when you first got the script ...
Yeah, I didn't know.

That Dandy would evolve to become the real villain.
Yeah, I think you're diverted by the clown. And John Carroll Lynch was so good in it, and the design of the clown was so scary and terrifying. I think that they wisely realized that it's better to keep it short and have the clown be the scariest clown you've ever seen and then move on, you know? And, yes, Dandy revered the clown, he puts him on a pedestal, he wants to be him, and then he basically becomes him. I mean, he becomes his own version of him. He's still Dandy. I think he inhabits the clown's spirit and that liberates him to do all the nefarious things that he does.

In the last scene where you're bathing in your mom’s [Frances Conroy’s] blood.
Yes. Yes? Like you do.

I was really sad that she died.
Dandy was, too. I think he just knew she had to go. One of them had to go.

How do you think Dandy stacks up in the American Horror Story universe?
He's definitely in the top three, right? But I can never think of him as a villain. I can never think of him as evil. I just have to keep getting under his skin. But he realizes that his purpose in life is to kill. It doesn't get more dangerous than that. Because I actually found that the killing is not out of hatred. He kind of likes the people that he kills. He wanted to be a performer, and somehow that's transformed into murder, so he thinks of it as a performance, like he's fulfilling his destiny.

That's a good way to think about it. Were any of the murders hard to shoot?
Well, it was hard to be covered in blood in my underwear. Because it was very sticky. But at least I got to cut off Matt Bomer's arm. It was sad to see Patti go. I will say that.
She's pretty awesome.

There are some who think of Dandy as a repressed gay man. What’s your take?
No, no, definitely not. He just likes girls with two heads, you know? One head's never enough.


http://www.vulture.com/2014/12/finn-...interview.html

American Horror Story Freakshow: Neil Patrick Harris Impresses Critics As He Plays New Circus Owner; Will Lea Michele Make A Suprise Appearance On The Finale?

American Horror Story: Freakshow is nearing its final episode, and fans cannot get more excited and sad at the same time.

Recently, Neil Patrick Harris made his appearance on the hit TV show, and his portrayal of Chester had critics impressed. Chester is the new owner of the circus who happens to be a magician himself. He seems to have a thing for both Bette and Dot as he is seen kissing one of them and telling the other she is beautiful.

As previously reported, Patrick Harris is confirmed to guest on the show, along with his husband David Burtka during the final two episodes.

According to IGN: "Harris will appear in the final two episodes of the season as a 'chameleon salesman', according to TVLine. Burtka (who had a recurring role on HIMYM as the Lily-obsessed Scooter) is set to join Harris in the season finale and will have a 'sexy storyline' with Elsa Mars (played by Jessica Lange)."

As previously reported under American Horror Story Freakshow Latest News, Lea Michele is rumored to be included in the cast.

The broadway singer's interest in joining the cast for the Horror TV series has definitely been made clear by herself, stating in an interview with Ellen Degeneres, that she would love to keep working with Ryan Murphy, creator of the AHS series and executive producer of "Glee", in which Lea stars in.

"[I would star in a 'Glee' spinoff], unless he wants to put me in 'American Horror Story," Lea told Ellen. "I know what the theme is for next year, and I'm in. So, if he'll have me ... at least, maybe for one episode. Let's start that campaign."

Fans remain hopeful that the rumors of Michele getting casted for the fourth season of the horror series will indeed come true, as it is not unusual for the creator, Ryan Murphy to cast actors and actresses whom he has worked with in the past.

Check back for more American Horror Story Freakshow Latest News.

http://www.youthhealthmag.com/articl...-freakshow.htm

‘American Horror Story’ Season 4 Spoilers: Neil Patrick Harris Teases Gory Ending For ‘Freak Show’ Character On Twitter
By Megan Schaefer

Neil Patrick Harris (pictured with his husband David Burtka, right) teased on Twitter his thoughts on his Season 4 "American Horror Story" appearance. Reuters
“American Horror Story” is about to become legen -- wait for it -- dary! According to reports, “How I Met Your Mother” star Neil Patrick Harris has officially finished filming his final Season 4 scene for “Freak Show.” And it looks like Harris’ last appearance on the gruesome FX series has left him feeling a little, well, grossed out.

“Just filming my last scene for ‘American Horror Story,’” the 41-year-old actor recently tweeted to his 12 million followers. “I need to take a shower. Wash off all this horror.”


Does that mean fans of the terrifying miniseries should anticipate Harris to meet a dreadful – and dare we say messy – demise? Considering the fact that the bloody death of Matt Bomer’s character Andy is still sending chills up our spines, we can only imagine what gory ending Ryan Murphy, co-creator of “AHS,” has in store for Harris.

In October, it was revealed that Harris, 41, would be appearing in two episodes of the show’s fourth season. The Wrap elaborated, explaining that viewers should anticipate Harris to make his “AHS” debut in episode 11, “Magical Thinking,” and return in episode 12, “Show Stoppers,” as a chameleon salesman.

“He had very specific ideas for what he wanted to do, and I had very specific ideas, so we’re working on melding those,” Murphy told TVLine of Harris' role. “He’s awesome. He’s obviously one of our great entertainers, and I’d love to see him and Jessica Lange [Elsa Mars] go at it in a really cool, fun way. Neil seems to be intrigued by that notion.”

But it looks like someone else will be snagging screen time with Lange in a “sexy storyline” TVLine teased. According to their report, Harris’ husband, David Burtka, 39, will also be making a guest appearance on “Freak Show,” acting alongside Lange’s character in the season finale of the show’s fourth installment.

Catch Harris' debut role in "American Horror Story: Freak Show," Wednesday, Jan. 7, at 10 p.m. EST on FX.


http://www.ibtimes.com/american-horr...-freak-1759923

American Horror Story: Freak Show Pics: Neil Patrick Harris Has Magic Touch
By Michael Ausiello / January 2 2015

Neil Patrick Harris is set to work his magic on American Horror Story: Freak Show on Wednesday (10/9c, FX), and we have an exclusive first look at his master illusionist Chester at work.

The following pics appear innocent enough: The dapper Chester, AKA the new owner of Elsa’s Freak Show, is on stage preparing to execute one of his signature tricks. However, as eerily foreshadowed in the episode’s trailer, Chester’s performances tend to build toward a bloody climax.
Check out the images below, and then hit the comments with your thoughts/predictions on NPH’s Freaky, two-episode stint.
First Look: Neil Patrick Harris Gets FREAKy

http://36.media.tumblr.com/d8a7bdf46...xkqzo3_500.jpg https://41.media.tumblr.com/5573cdfb...bk34o1_500.png

http://www.tribumagazine.net/images/...12414_0500.jpg