AHS 1984 episode 1 review: "Welcome to Camp"

On September 18th FX aired the first episode of the ninth season of Ryan Murphy's annual horror anthology. Right off the jump I want to make a confession. Though I watched the first episode on the night it premiered, I hesitated on posting a review right after. My thought process being that I wanted to at least watch the second episode to make sure it was even worth reviewing the whole season. My experience with AHS in the past is that the seasons can range from must watch TV (season 1 murderhouse and season 3 covenant) to absolute garbage (season 6 Roanoke), with most season starting strong but quickly falling off the rails after a few episodes. Not wanting to get burned again, I watched the second episode the following week and well....it can still go either way but there is enough promise so far to keep me going.

The first episode starts with what might be the best intro scene in the whole series. Think original Friday the 13th meets modern day gore fests. Ryan Murphy has never held back in the past, but even still the level of brutality in this scene was next level. Right away the tone is set, and it definitely seems like there will be no shortage of classic slasher style kills that fans of the genre were hoping for. From there we flash forward 14 years to 1984. Through a cheesy 80s style work out video montage we are introduced to our main cast of character/victims. Longtime AHS cast member Emma Roberts plays the role of Brooke, who looks to be this slasher story's final girl, but with AHS twists and turns you can never really be sure how its going to end up. Billie Lourd, Gus Kenworthy, Angelica Ross, Leslie Grossman, Matthew Morrison, Cody Fern, Deron Horton, John Carroll Lynch and Zach Villa round out the main cast. It's established at this point that the aerobics class is happening in LA during the 1984 Olympics and the gang wants to get out of town for the summer to avoid the upcoming craziness. Brooke having just met these people decides she's going to pass on this trip. From here a surprise encounter that night with Brooke by an actual serial killer Richard Ramierez, The Night Stalker, inspires her to change her mind and join them after all.

Not getting too far into spoilers, but once at Camp Redwood the season finally gets going. Right before they get there however, the group accidentally runs into a hiker on the road. Initially contemplating leaving the injured man, they decide to rush him to the camp infirmary. We get introduced quickly to Nurse Rita as well as the new owner of the camp Margaret Booth. That night at the camp Rita tells the new counselors the tale of Ben Richter, aka Mr. Jingles and the 1970 massacre. This scene played like an homage to the camp fire scene in Friday the 13th part 2, and I definitely appreciated the nod. At this point it is revealed that Margaret was the lone survivor of the original massacre. Margaret's reasons for reopening the camp seem to be a form of therapy for her, believing that replacing traumatic memories of Camp Redwood with new positive memories will help her finally get closure in her life. The episode briefly moves away from the camp and takes a quick detour to an asylum in a scene reminiscent of Michael Myer's escape in the original Halloween. After a cool cameo by X-file alumni, Mitch Pileggi at the asylum, Dr. Karen Hopple, Head of the asylum leaves for the camp to warn them of the escaped Mr. Jingles. The episode ends with Brooke finding the hiker murdered by Mr. Jingles and after a brief chase and a missing body, the group becomes skeptical of her.

The first episode was jammed packed with story details and general information to process. Its a lot to take in, but does a solid job of setting up whats to come. On the positive side the characters seem interesting and the story so far is definitely enough to get you to tune in to episode 2. On the negative side, its still too early to pin down whether this season will be everything that its hyped up to be or another bust that falls of the tracks half way through. There really weren't any twists in the first episode, but there were a few hints that every thing might not be as it seems.

7.5/10