The American Horror Stories References To Murder House That You Probably Missed
Contains spoilers for "American Horror Stories," Season 1, Episodes 1 and 2: "Rubber (Wo)man, Part One and Part Two"
The new "American Horror Stories" enticed fans of the original "AHS" by using a familiar setting for the two-part premiere of Season 1. A new, unassuming family moves into the Los Angeles Murder House from the parent show's debut season. From there, the parallels between the new short-form anthology and its predecessors start quickly rolling out. Some are obvious, like when Scarlett (Sierra McCormick) dons the gimp suit, once worn by at least two other ghosts in the house, including Tate Langdon (Evan Peters). A man in the gimp suit looks at her through the mirror when she first wears it.
In "Rubber (Wo)man Part Two," we see the most recent ghostly additions to the house venture out for Halloween, a night when all ghosts can freely roam the earth. Similarly, in "Murder House," we follow both Tate and Moira (Frances Conroy) as they venture outside of the house one night a year. These recurring themes weren't the only nods to the source material, as some familiar (and unfriendly) faces appeared to greet the newest inhabitants, and references to the "hundreds of ghosts" sharing the house were also scattered in the newest anthology by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk.
The ghosts of the past
The familiar words "You're all going to die here" lead us into "Rubber (Wo)man, Part One." Words originally spoken in "Murder House" by Adelaide (Jamie Brewer) as a warning to the Harmons when they first arrive to the house. Another child of Constance Langdon's (Jessica Lange) makes immediate contact as well. The red ball that rolls towards Scarlett when she's in her bedroom belongs to Beauregard Langdon, another innocent victim of the house's evil. Just like in "Murder House," some of the first ghosts we see are Troy and Bryan, the two boys who broke into the house and were murdered by Infantata, originally portrayed in "AHS" by late actor Benjamin Woolf.
Infantata (now Shane Carpenter) also comes back for Part Two. He terrorizes the four girls in the basement while they're being chased by Scarlett in the gimp suit. Finally, Michael (Matt Bomer) tries to convince Troy (Gavin Creel) that he's seeing ghosts — particularly a man in a pig's mask. This is a reference to Episode 6 of Season 1, "Piggy Piggy," when one of Dan Harmon's (Dylan McDermott) patients recounts his fear of the Pig Man urban legend, who appears in a mirror, like it did for Michael.
The most tongue in cheek of the ghostly callbacks comes from Gladys (Celia Finkelstein). In "Murder House," Gladys and fellow nursing student Maria were murdered by serial killer R. Franklin. Ruby (Kaia Gerber) kills Gladys, and later, they're seen joking together, all during the second part of the premiere.
There are more thematic references from Murder House you may have not noticed
Speaking of tongue in cheek, Dr. Andi Grant (Merrin Dungey) mentions there's another therapist in the house. She's referring to Dan Harmon, who is apparently dueling for office hours with her. The overarching plotlines also pull from "Murder House." Although Scarlett is not as innocent as Violet (Taissa Farmiga), they both use the house to get revenge on their high school bullies. In a reference to Tate, the bullies try to enact revenge on their killer. In another nod to Tate's story, the song "Twisted Nerve," which played during Tate's school shooting, can be heard when Scarlett hunts down the girls that humiliated her.
Ruby, who killed herself in the house, says that the realtor buried her bones in the backyard. This is likely a reference to Marcy (Christina Estabrook), the shady realtor from Season 1 who withheld the truth from the Harmons. Parallels between another couple from "Murder House," Chad (Zachary Quinto) and Patrick (Teddy Sears), also come into play. Like Chad and Patrick, Michael and Troy must now learn to exist in the same medium, something that doesn't sit well with either Troy or Patrick, whose wandering eyes got them in trouble in the first place.
Part of the soundtrack came from "Murder House" and more "AHS" references
Perhaps the most memorable song from "Murder House," the haunting 1956 single "Tonight You Belong To Me," also plays in Part Two. The song played in both the first and last episodes of "Murder House" too. Perhaps the creators dropped it in as a reminder that all the families that enter the house are doomed to stay in it.
Multiple sources for 20th Century Fox told TheWrap that although the premiere for "American Horror Stories" relies heavily on the lore set up in "Murder House," it is their goal to make the show stand on its own. They described the idea of returning to the Murder House as "essentially a Tales From the Murder House kind of story. It's just another bad thing that happened in that very bad place."
That didn't stop the creators from putting in other Easter eggs. Scarlett and Ruby attend a "Freak Show" Halloween Party, the name for the fourth season of "AHS." In said party, a woman dressed similarly to Lady Gaga's witch character from Roanoke, Scáthach, passes behind Scarlett in a scene. We're only two episodes in, which means we could be in for many more references to other "AHS" moments.