The AHS Season That Did Parody And Camp Best According To Fans
To define "camp" is tricky. The aesthetic term was popularized in Susan Sontag's 1964 essay "Notes on 'Camp,'" where she described it as a "love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration" (via TIME). Pop culture enthusiasts can point to Cher performing at the Sontag-inspired 2019 Met Gala in blue jeans. Less ironic examples include, according to Sontag, Tiffany lamps, Scopitone films, and turn-of-the-century postcards.
For horror enthusiasts, camp comes in the form of exaggerated, over-the-top antics. Fans of "American Horror Story" and its spin-off series "American Horror Stories" have become embroiled in debates over this term and whether or not it applies to the two shows. While producer Ryan Murphy has admitted he isn't a fan of the descriptor when it comes to his work, he understands why it is applied (via New Yorker).
One thread on the show's subreddit asked fans to share their unpopular opinions, with answers ranging from which season is the best to dissing fan-favorite cast members like Billie Lourd. Despite being unpopular opinions with a divisive descriptor, many fans agreed that one season of "American Horror Story" delivered on campiness and parody.
Welcome to Camp Redwood
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes described "1984" as a "near-perfect blend of slasher tropes and American Horror Story's trademark twists," which fans on this thread were inclined to agree with. Season 9 referenced classic slasher films like "Friday the 13th," "A Nightmare on Elm Street," and "Halloween," staples of the genre that peaked during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
"It was just a good old summer slasher season," said u/Bella_Climbs. "Sometimes the classics hold up." A classic with a twist, "1984" follows a group of young, horny camp counselors who are picked off by a serial killer only to become ghosts trapped in the campground.
"I love the awful, campy, deliciously cheesy and predictable slasher movies that made up my childhood and 1984 felt like such an homage to that," said one Redditor who described themselves as an "old school horror fan." They pointed to the trope of the Final Girl "falling 10+ times in the woods while running from the killer," calling Emma Roberts' performance "everything."
"American Horror Story" fans may not agree on everything, but it's hard to deny the cheesy, campy homages in "AHS:1984."