Jessica Lange
Evan Peters
Denis O’Hare
Frances Conroy
Sarah Paulson
Kathy Bates
Angela Bassett
Gabourey Sidibe
Danny Huston
Grace Gummer

Created by:
Brad Falchuk
Ryan Murphy

2014-2015
Drama, Horror, Thriller
FX
TV-MA

The fourth season of the “American Horror Story” anthology series (each season has a different story line with different characters; some of the actors recur, though) is called “American Horror Story: Freak Show.” So … there’s a freak show, and the story revolves around freaks of all sorts.

Unlike previous seasons of this show, the first episode of “Freak Show” doesn’t rely on camp to entertain. Instead, in the first episode, creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk have decided to amp up the serious horror elements. But here’s the thing: If you want to handle horror seriously, then you need a strong pulse to be just underneath the surface. The audience needs to have the sense that something bad is about to happen; the audience needs to feel a sense of dread. Regardless of how unrealistic the story line may be, we should feel that this could happen. If you can’t accomplish that, then the story won’t be absorbing.

Since I didn’t sense that pulse while watching the first episode of this season, I didn’t care about anything that was going on. It would have been better if they had chosen to play up the humor, which could have added an extra fun thrill to the horror moments à la “Slither” and “The Strain,” or if they had chosen to go the action route à la Zack Snyder’s “Dawn of the Dead” remake, “World War Z,” and “28 Days Later.”

There is bluster in certain places, but it isn’t effective. At times, the episode moves too slowly to seduce or excite. I guess that, as always, they want to be outrageous, disgusting, scary, and fun. But all I got was weird, in a boring way. It just seems like they’re faking it.

The actors, as always, are very committed to the material, and that helps. In particular, I appreciated the acting choices of the incomparable Kathy Bates, now in the role of a bearded lady who inexplicably speaks in a dialect common to the Maryland area of this country. Bates doesn’t overplay a thing, because she doesn’t need to: The writing does enough of that on its own.

It’s not that “Freak Show” is bad; actually, it’s well-made. It’s just not enticing. I’m not tempted to keep watching as I am when watching NBC’s “Hannibal,” “The Exorcist,” or “Rosemary’s Baby.” Serious horror should make you want to stop watching and keep watching at the same time. You should be transfixed.

They do a good job of depicting the 1952 setting, though. The look of “American Horror Story” is always great, and this season is no exception. This season looks like a cross between “The Help” and “Carnivàle”: That’s a good thing.

“Freak Show” will probably work for die-hard fans of the peculiarities of “American Horror Story” or for die-hard fans of the horror genre, in general, but not for anyone else. (By the way, why would a milkman investigate the house of a client after seeing that client’s dead body in it? That’s an example of careless storytelling. I’m all for ridiculous moments, but even I have limits. You have to justify ridiculousness, not simply lay it in the audience’s lap.)

Verdict: OK

About: (Source: freakshow)

American Horror Story: Freak Show begins its tale in the quiet, sleepy hamlet of Jupiter, Florida. The year is 1952. A troupe of curiosities has just arrived to town, coinciding with the strange emergence of a dark entity that savagely threatens the lives of townsfolk and freaks alike. This is the story of the performers and their desperate journey of survival amidst the dying world of the American carny experience.