American Horror Story (TV Series) Monsters Among Us (2014) User Reviews

promising start to a disappointing season

[jackDee-56565 · 8/10 · 19 January 2021]

Freakshow started off pretty good with twisty, the circus folk started off interesting and okay enough, sadly after the first five episodes its just annoying but I relly liked this episode it was a good concept even thought they took it from Avery old film and the payoff was not worth it but it had one of the strongest starts

Tattler Twins

[ZegMaarJus · 9/10 · 1 July 2021]

This episode begins in 1952 with Bill Palmer, he is looking for Mrs. Tattler. Bill found Tattler in a pool of blood, dead. Elsa vistis Bette Tattler, she is connected with a siamese twin. Bonnie gets flowers from Twisty. Twisty killed troy with scissors. The Tattler sisters tell to Elsa what happened with their mother. Bonnie has been ubducted by Twisty. Jimmy meets the Tattler Twins. Jimmy cuts trough Detective Bunch his troath with a knife, he died instantly. The freaks are performing a show. Amazing episode of American Horror Story Season 4, really nice action episode with a lot of blood.

S4.E1 - Absolutely Fantastic [9/10]

[panagiotis1993 · 9/10 · 27 December 2023]

(S4. E1) My Live Reaction / Review for American Horror Story Season 4 Episode 1 ''Monsters Among Us''. That's one creepy looking clown. A killer clown? I like it. Ma Petite is so cute. What's up with this clown? He is absolutely nuts. Is he part of Elsa's show or is he alone? The special effects for the conjoined sisters are pretty good, very realistic. I kinda feel bad for the conjoined twins, having a life that they have to hide who they are. I love how the conjoined sisters have different personalities. Wow, they killed the police officer? I didn't see that coming. I really enjoy Elsa's singing. These people want to buy the sisters? What do they mean? Buying a human being? What a fantastic start for this season! Overall this episode was good, my rating is 9/10.

"American Horror Story: Freak Show" Review – Season Four, Episode One "Monsters Among Us"

[jwoods1997 · 10/10 · 8 November 2014]

The premiere episode of FX's anthologized drama American Horror Story: Freak Show proved itself to be a terrifying tour de force worthy of all the praise it has thus far received.

The hour-long spectacle introduces us into the world of a menagerie of freak show performers settling down in the "sleepy" town of Jupiter, Florida in 1952. Elsa Mars, the eccentric ringleader of the show, works to obtain custody of Siamese twins Bette and Dot Tattler after their recent hospitalization and involvement in a crime, as tiny interval's reveal the everyday lives of the performers. Meanwhile, a demented clown makes his rounds around town, terrorizing and brutally murdering the townsfolk of the hamlet.

Captivating its audience with an engaging plot full of intrigue, complex characters, and haunting cinematography, "Monsters Among Us" aptly makes good use of it's title by revealing the sordid affairs of the freaks and "regular" people alike against an unsuspecting 1950's backdrop. The plot flows swimmingly, keeping a not-too-slow and not-too-fast pace which establishes the characters while keeping its freakish feel throughout; this sense of unease permeates throughout Freak Show's premiere, which guarantees fans a dark tone for the upcoming season.

The aforementioned Mars, a yearning but past her prime superstar wannabee, is dominated by the spectacular Jessica Lange, who brings the character's kooky and cunning, yet totally human, nature to life. Evan Peters is charming as "Lobster Boy" Jimmy Darling, a James Dean-esque bad boy with a heart of gold who oozes confidence and sex appeal. Yet Sarah Paulson's portrayal of the Tattler twins is truly an amazing feat for the actress, who brilliantly deciphers the characters of disquiet Dot and bubbly Bette, turning both into unique characters. Other main players who don't have much screen time in this episode, including bearded lady Ethel Darling (Kathy Bates), dutiful mother Gloria Mott (Frances Conroy) and her man-child son Dandy Mott (Finn Wittrock) show to be interesting and well-acted in their own right. Even bit players, such as the milkman (Wilson Bradford) and Penny the Candy Striper (Grace Gummer), play their roles to perfection. Of course, no review would be complete without mentioning John Caroll Lynch's terrifying portrayal of clown killer Twisty, a gargantuan monstrosity whose method of stalking victims is as scary as the face he dons.

From a purely stylistic standpoint, "Monsters" is a true beauty. Vivid scenery and rich colors invade each happening on screen, captured by a wide-angled lens which works to align the characters sense of suspense with that of the viewers. A perplexing theremin-sounding track plays throughout the episodes more serious scenes, adding a retro sci-fi feeling to the show, while typical golden oldies play throughout the episodes more relaxed parts. The mixing of the visual and auditory aspects works to present the audience with a truly authentic 50's period piece.

Overall, "Monsters Among Us" is a true delight that serves as an excellent introduction into the newest world of the AHS universe. Steady pacing, cut-throat characterization, and pristine cinematography all work together to make this an exceptionally well-crafted episode. Ideas regarding abnormality are present throughout, begging the audience to ponder what makes one "normal" versus what makes one a "freak". This, along with several other important themes, sets American Horror Story: Freak Show apart from many works in the horror genre – it has a heart, regardless of how soul-shattering said heart might be.

Disturbing sexual encounters, killer clown, psychotic sexy man, lots and lots of sex

[kcangel · 10/10 · 29 May 2017]

Where do I start with freak show. Oh yeah I wrote my English paper on this show because of how much I love it! I feel it is one of the saddest seasons of American horror story history and Murder house was pretty depressing too. I feel American horror story had sad stories, but this one always makes me cry. This season makes me wanna cry how the freaks are treated and spoiler alert when meep died was the saddest death of them all!

I'm letting you know there will be spoilers. Let me start off with saying the setting is in Jupiter, Florida and it centers a bunch of freaks with shocking and traumatizing back stories. Like wow Ryan Murphy you made a series that absolutely makes me wanna vomit, but still look at the screen. Since I re watches it for my paper it wasn't so bad, but I did realize this season is messed up! I'm not kidding it seriously is. You got Dotte and Bette, coin joined twins, who have different personality traits. One is more innocent and the other is more cynical and harsh. Jimmy darling, the talk of the town who really just looks good and sleeps with many different girls because that's all he is ever seen, a object. Poor jimmy just wants to be accepted by his lover Esmeralda (his girlfriend in real life) which I feel makes their relationship more passionate and also shows their connection with one another. And the poor freaks are being terrorized. The clown we thought was just vicious never really wanted to hurt anyone and didn't understand what he was doing was wrong. He just wanted to make children laugh and that elicit emotion for the audience because he had such a short time and they killed him off just when I'm beginning to like him. The story was really well developed and showed the true message; acceptance. How we shouldn't judge people who are different then us and it just shows how the media represents freaks in general. This season was just so sad, yet awfully disturbing it was almost bittersweet. Not even dandy knew he had a problem and didn't know what his purpose was in life. People are so triggered how it's gross. It's American horror story, Ryan Murphy isn't going to show fake blood and guts no he wants to show real terror of what these freak performers went through and the exploitation. It has a great message with a well developed story line and characters 10/10.

Soooo Good

[Jude7714 · 10/10 · 12 October 2014]

This might be the best AHS season so far! Twisty the clown and Lange's rendition of "Life on Mars" are reason enough for me to keep watching. I think it shows plenty of promise for good scares and entertainment - like any horror story should.

For those who venture to call the show "vile", I urge you to consider The Exorcist, It, The Walking Dead, and Sons of Anarchy just for starters. AHS is no more disturbing than any of those shows/movies.

What they are doing here is not new or shocking . . . it's just interesting. And I'm glad the FX Network agrees with me, not you, so I can continue to enjoy it!

Amogus

[seanisdonnelly · 10/10 · 29 June 2021]

Sus 😳😳😳😳😳 When the television show ( american horror story) is SUS 😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳

Intriguing setting & killer but excessive characters - still has promise

[ArchonCinemaReviews · 6/10 · 8 October 2014]

The FX Network brings viewers a fourth American Horror Story season, this time called Freak Show.

Speculation regarding this season of American Horror Story has been rampantly strong for months. Teaser trailers were released to satiate the voracious appetite about Freak Show, the fourth season's subtitle of the AHS television series.

Going into the first episode, Monsters Among Us, information regarding details of new characters were also released. American Horror Story series originals Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, and Evan Peters are back as members of a traveling circus oddities show. Frances Conroy and Denis O'Hare, also from Murder House, return for the fourth season. Series regulars from season three Coven, but relatively new stars to the FX series, Emma Roberts, Kathy Bates, and Angela Bassett also join as "freaks" in the circus in Freak Show. They even let anxious viewers know who the masked murderous figure would be in the season. And just when we thought we got all the breadcrumbs we could handle, the main title sequence, which is known to include hints to the plot of the season, was released.

American Horror Story creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk first episode of Freak Show is a monster and stretches 90 minutes with commercials. All first episodes of American Horror Story must be viewed and reviewed as if they were a pilot as each season is vastly different from the rest. As a pilot, Monsters Among Us lacks the knowing and foreshadowing presence that Murder House's pilot episode contained. Perhaps this sentiment would not be so strong if information about characters were not divulged prior to the season premiere.

Setting season four in the carnival atmosphere of Elsa's Cabinet of Curiosities in the 1950's was a masterful choice. Typically individuals marketed as 'side show freaks' came from dark pasts and lived a hostile existence typical of the American Horror Story motif. Further the time period is different enough to captivate and transport in the way AHS fans are accustomed.Though unclear at the present time, I do hope they allow art to imitate life and use real life human marvels's story lines from the Golden Age to be inspiration and let modern performers be highlighted.

Then, just to ensure Freak Show's success, a violent and hideous being murderously lurks in the background capitalizing on one of people's most common fears. Creators Murphy and Falchuk once again enlist a masked figure, this time a serial killer known as Twisty the Clown.

The production, set and costume designers capitalize on this captivating and nostalgic time with magnificent and enchanting locations. Then there is the amazing make up and effects department conceptualizing a truly horrifying killer clown. The face of Twisty is enough to hook me in for the rest of the season.

The serial killer aspect of Freak Show and highlighted in Monsters Among Us is the most compelling feature of the episode by the halfway point and grounds the episode. Pilot episodes always suffer slightly as they scramble to introduce any and all important characters, and Freak Show has an excessive amount. Though all actors involved are exceedingly superior in their craft some veterans stumble with wavering accents, specifically Kathy Bates and Jessica Lange.

Freak Show (AHS4) should be a fun show to watch if just for the weird, bizarre but exceptionally different characters. I especially think Sarah Paulson's portrayal of conjoined twins Bette and Dot Tattler will be the stand-out performance thanks to their polarizing personalities.

After watching Monsters Among Us I am unsure as to the direction of the rest of the series, whether Twisty or Elsa's curiosities will gain traction as the defining plot. American Horror Story's Freak Show is bound to be perversely sinister but I have doubts whether it will have that gratifyingly coalescent quality fans have longed for since season one's Murder House.

Check out our website for more reviews and to comment and give us your opinions of what is to come for the show!

Plagiarism, anyone?

[jerome-e · 6/10 · 16 October 2018]

First off, I'll confess that visually this is a great show. The titles remind me of the work of Marc Caro (delicatessen), and obviously a great deal of attention went into the "patina" of the show. That said, this 4th season is a fairly blatant ripoff of the 1932 movie Freaks. Nicely executed, but not half as disturbing as the original movie. As I am watching episode 2, I wonder if it will keep my attention - we shall see, I guess. Meanwhile, and on the upside, Miss Eva's secret certainly had me stumped. The two-headed dot/bette are a darker spin on the Knights who say "ni!", so we shall forge ahead. Oh, yes: The clown is definitely a bonus.

Reservations Abound - Spoilers

[happy_hangman · 4/10 · 17 October 2014]

First off, the sound-balance for much of this first episode was way off: distractingly so, as dialogue was swamped by background music.

I really enjoy AHS. Using the familiar tropes and traditions of a distinctively American horror fiction meant that, inevitably, focus would soon swerve from serial-killers, New Orleans Voodoo, Salem Witches, et al, to a pastiche of the first uniquely American cinema horror, Browning's 'Freaks. It may be too early to judge, and my own reservations may prove premature - I certainly hope so - but I think the opening is too much, too soon.

With Browning's masterpiece, the message that the community of 'Freaks' was mutually supportive and compassionate, and it was the superficially 'normal' and 'beautiful' people who were the true monsters was carefully delivered, and the Carnies' recourse to behaving in a monstrous and murderous manner ('One of us! One of us!') was potent, dramatically unexpected and genuinely shocking. Here, though, though there are clear narrative nods to Tod's magnum opus, there is too much eagerness to BE grotesque, and to have the supporting characters behave monstrously...without building our emotional engagement with them, first. An over-eagerness to shock diminished the impact the final scenes should have delivered.

A little disappointing, given that past seasons (2 and 3, particularly) achieved a great sense of subtle tension, and seldom sacrificed the drama of the Big Picture to a gratuitous gore.

I'm undecided about the Gacy-style devil-clown - which is something I'd expect of a more low-rent product - though I suppose the gimmick-slasher IS another American horror archetype.

Less thoughtful and challenging than it's predecessors. But, as I say, I may be premature in judging it poorly.

The YouTube popularity of the 'Seven Wonders' and 'Name Game' scenes from past seasons seems to have triggered the incongruous 50s rendition of Bowie's ('70s) 'Life On Mars', and I think we're going to see much more of this in the future, but it was a stylish sequence and - if not overdone - this could be an interesting feature.

Okay - so far - but no more than that.

Disappointing is an understatement.

[michaelbehan · 1/10 · 13 October 2014]

This is the most egregious piece of garbage that I have seen on TV since the first premiere of Agents of SHIELD. Maybe worse. It is just plain ate up with suck! We have two wonderful actresses. First we have Jessica Lange who, judging by her accent, is from several places around the world. Sometimes she is from France. Sometimes she is from Belgium and sometimes she is from the US.

Then we have one of my favorite actresses of all time - Kathy Bates. She sounds like she is from Alabama, Alberta Canada. Again - sometimes Alabama, sometimes Alberta, sometimes both. What the heck did they drug these women with?

Amidst an overwhelming cast of "freaks" who are either mildly interesting or provoke the question "Why are you here?", it is just plain not scary. Lobster-hands boy - please leave. You have haunted every season (no pun intended) and it is time to go. If your lackluster acting isn't enough, your 16-year-old looking face with that mouth that never fully closes simply obviates the need for your presence. Moving on...

Okay, so the clown is creepy. Even though he is an obvious rip-off from the 'personalities' of both Michael Myers and Jason Vorhees (though without a kitchen knife or machete), he comes off mildly creepy; at least enough to strengthen my fear of clowns.

The clown is the only part I would consider disturbing, and he only has ~5 minutes of screen time. The other 60 minutes are effectively the worst of Dawson's Creek combined with the worst of the 1950s Adams Family.

I have enjoyed the past 3 seasons immensely. This season has launched with explosive diarrhea. If Episode 2 does not improve then I am calling it quits with this show because I was robbed an hour of my life by waiting for nothing to happen in Episode 1. I would like it to become manifested in human form so I can throat-punch it.

I also apologize to the producers of both Dawn's Creek and Adams Family for not being creative enough to find a more suitable comparison.

Better than season 3 already!!

[Marynewcomb2013 · 5/10 · 21 October 2018]

My only thing I saw wrong with this episode was Jessica Lange's character. When it shows her walking to the hospital right after the beginning, it shows her legs in tan stockings. You clearly see there is nothing wrong but near the end of the episode, you see she has two wooden legs from just below the knees!! No where in the episode did it show or say how she all of a sudden lost her legs!! That's why I gave this episode a 5.

Season 4 - Freak Show - Unexpected tearjerker

[Bored_Dragon · 29 November 2023]

Kathy Bates, Jessica Lange, and Evan Peters carry the season, and I was especially pleasantly surprised by Sarah Paulson. In the previous seasons, she did not make an impression, but now she parallelly portrays two very different main roles and she nails it. But, apart from the acting, which is still excellent, everything else is in serious decline and, although the season is quite good in itself, it is weaker than the previous one, and not even comparable to the first two. If you're looking for horror, you won't find even H here. Okay, maybe there is an H, but that's about it. If you're into dark drama, still recommend AHS, but I get the impression that the writers have worn themselves out.

7/10.