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American Horror Story: Cult |OT| Sarah Paulson Suffers In This One, It Must Be Good

P

Psychoward

Banned
Ponn said:
I mean, its right in the name, Cult. The tangents with alt-right fucks couldn't be anymore blatant. The guy is getting followers, hes manipulating and from the previews hes going for power. This is like when everyone says "what the hell is going through these peoples minds" I'm honestly surprised they have the balls to do something so topical, so close to home and happening right now. I'm just wondering how the alt-righters/4chaners, etc are digesting this. My guess is they think its funny.
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I mean... it is kinda funny.
 
P

Ponn

Banned
Psychoward said:
I mean... it is kinda funny.
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The undertones are blatant. Sure they are taking some stuff to the extremes but thats to make it entertaining. Like the flip side of every liberal is not "triggered" by everything or have a plethora of phobias or mental problems. If you look at the general ideas of how cults work and how the alt-right popped up and how the Trump campaign used them and lured people in it fits. That guys speech in that council meeting, I admit I chuckled a bit at how ridiculous it was but i've actually seen and heard that exact rhetoric coming from them in earnest. I don't know how many pureed cheetos and used it for facepaint, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if a few did. I also can already imagine more than a few current and past GAFfers who were probably celebrating like that dude, pelvic thrusts into the TV and all.

edit: In retrospect one of the lines that really got me was that "nothing is worse or more powerful than a man humiliated" or something like that. While it might have been meant to be serious I can see a bunch of people laughing at that scene. However when you think about Gamergate and the people that make up the alt-right and how they got lured into those groups thats actually a pretty fitting line. If they really dig into the minds of these peoples, the manipulations and the how they get to that point this could be a very interesting season.
 
M

MarkusRJR

Member
Ponn said:
I mean, its right in the name, Cult. The tangents with alt-right fucks couldn't be anymore blatant. The guy is getting followers, hes manipulating and from the previews hes going for power. This is like when everyone says "what the hell is going through these peoples minds" I'm honestly surprised they have the balls to do something so topical, so close to home and happening right now. I'm just wondering how the alt-righters/4chaners, etc are digesting this. My guess is they think its funny.
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The few posts on the show there seem to think it's playing it entirely seriously, and not as a parody/comedy.
 
L

Lord_Byron28

Member
I will say that I do enjoy the concentrated cast so far. There were a lot of seasons where you were constantly flying between multiple different sets of protagonists. Right now we have the three people in the family along with the siblings and the psychiatrist. The siblings seem to represent both Trump and Clinton taking on the fear/evil of both. I'm guessing Winter will have something to do with the hive mind imagery.

Overall, thought the premier was enjoyable and not convoluted. Although there are only so many seasons where I can take Sarah Paulson screaming about something scary she just saw that no one else did. There are only so many episodes that can go on of Sarah Paulson's character fighting with her wife about her sanity.
 
T

The Culture Vulture

Member
G

Gaius Cassius

Member
MarkusRJR said:
Lmfao when he puts on the MAGA hat randomly when she's talking to him. This is bordering on a complete parody. Were the last few AHS comedic like this?
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Comedic? Yes. Somewhat realistic however, as I've personally seen that sort of obnoxious behavior from Trumpists here in Texas when they interacted with others right after the election.
 
R

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
So yeah, that was a bit odd. The only scary part was in the beginning - having to re-experience election night was one of the scariest things the show has done. Apart from that though, I thought it was all a bit underwhelming and far too tame.

Random thoughts:

Not feeling Sarah Paulson's hysterical phobia ridden character as - presumably - the main person we're supposed to connect with.

Kai and Winter seem interesting - wonder what they're planning, exactly?

The Purge clowns have the potential to be interesting, but parading through a grocery store and then murdering a couple in their home is pretty *yawn* at this point.

The opening credits are by far the weakest of the series.

somedevil said:
The idea is basically Kai speech to the council.

Its about how Fear can be used to control people into doing what the cult leader wants them to do. Kai is using that to get more powerful and the clowns seem to be his way to spread more fear and get revenge against those who humiliate him.
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Basically:

Ryan Murphy said:
The season explores ”the rise of a cult of personality that can rise in a divided society" and said he had been considering how to tackle the phenomenon for a number of years before Trump's rise. Explaining that he had previously considered making a season about Charles Manson, Murphy said: ”But it never felt right to me, because it's been done a million times, and I didn't know how to make it fresh. But I kept coming back to the idea of the cult of personality."

”It's about somebody with the wherewithal to put their finger up to the wind and see that that's what happening and using that to rise up and form power. And use people's vulnerabilities about how they're feeling afraid... and they feel like the world is on fire."
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MarkusRJR said:
This is bordering on a complete parody. Were the last few AHS comedic like this?
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Roanoke had quite a few bits of humor/parody, particularly in the back half with British Sarah Paulson.

MetalGearZed said:
The People vs OJ Simpson is so good it makes up for everything else he's done and will do.

its damn good
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Ryan Murphy exec produced The People vs OJ, and directed a few episodes, but he didn't write any of it.

Gaius Cassius said:
Comedic? Yes. Somewhat realistic however, as I've personally seen that sort of obnoxious behavior from Trumpists here in Texas when they interacted with others right after the election.
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Absolutely.
 
xaosslug

xaosslug

Member
so far so... awful. Sarah Paulson really can't carry this show.
7uywNvG.gif
Jessica Lang, wherefore art thou.
 
R

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Here's a list of some of the notable connections between the seasons so far:

Murder House - Sarah Paulson's psychic character tries to use the "Croatoan" spell from Roanoke against Zachary Quinto's ghost.

Asylum - ?

Coven - Emma Robert's character is somehow related to Matt Ross and Lily Rabe's characters from Murder House.

Freak Show - James Cromwell's character from Asylum cuts off Jessica Lange's legs (just like he went on to do to Chloe Sevigny in Asylum!); Sister Mary Eunice and Pepper from Asylum have an arc.

Hotel - Sarah Paulson's psychic character from Murder House appears in an episode; Matt Ross' character from Murder House helps Lady Gaga give birth to her killer baby; Queenie from Coven (Gabourey Sidibe) gets murdered by Evan Peter's ghost.

Roanoke - Shows the origins of the Piggy Man from Murder House; Lady Gaga's character is the first Supreme witch from Coven; Sarah Paulson's reporter character from Asylum pops up near the end; Dandy's (Freak Show) ancestor built the big haunted house.

Cult - Twisty (Freak Show) appears in a comic book.
 
D

DarknessTear

Banned
Just watched the first episode. Not sure how I feel about it, honestly. I'm sure I'll sit through it even if I hate it, just like I did in seasons past. Not much is going to match up to the quality of Hotel for me though...
 
D

dead souls

Member
I enjoyed the premiere. I'm not sure they can get a whole season out of this, but that's a constant problem for the show.

If Colton Haynes does even one flip this will be number one on my top ten for 2017.
 
Pilgrimzero

Pilgrimzero

Member
Someone is going to have to explain how 2 was "good".

Felt like 4 people had ideas and them all into a pot.

It's aliens! And demons! Oh and a serial killer! Oh and fuck it we have room for Nazis, right?
 
Z

zeemumu

Member
What are the odds that Sarah Paulson accidentally kills her wife or her kid due to the clown thing?

Or that Ivy is in league with the clowns to drive Sarah Paulson to insanity to gain sole custody over their kid because she's stuck in a terrible marriage?
 
K

kirblar

Member
Pilgrimzero said:
Someone is going to have to explain how 2 was "good".

Felt like 4 people had ideas and them all into a pot.

It's aliens! And demons! Oh and a serial killer! Oh and fuck it we have room for Nazis, right?
Click to expand...
*spoilers for Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull*
Nazis and Aliens are in S2 for the exact same reason they're in Crystal Skull -both things were absolutely huge in the 50s.
 
R

ronaldthump

Member
cho from the mentalist
getting it in the first episdoe

Ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
 
Monocle

Monocle

Member
WordAssassin said:
Yes actually! And I commented on it in the Roanoke thread too, because there was a lot of violence in Roanoke and there was some pretty intense gore but I thought it was handled differently (other than a few stand out scenes) which made it more bearable to me. Like I started getting reeeeeeally squeamish with the torture stuff and thought I'd have to bail, but they'd do things like hand a close-up shot and right before the actual gore happens, cut to a wide shot so you don't necessarily SEE it but it's really implied and you still know what happened. That's enough of a difference to make it watchable to me. I can see someone raise a sword and cut to a shot of the floor and their head rolls into frame but to actually watch someone get hacked apart, I typically can't do that unless it's Monty Python.

Hotel was just like not only really over the top gore but it was also sexualized a lot too, though there's a difference between something being gratuitously bloody (which I can stomach and has been used effectively for even comedic things like in Evil Dead 2) and something being gratuitously gory with people split open and their organs hanging out in a pile in front of them (and yes something similar happened in Roanoke but the over the top gore was an exception to that season, not a rule like in Hotel where it was in like every single episode). A few of the crime scenes were worse than the shit they did in SE7EN and the sequence where you find out how Sarah Paulson's character died has absolutely scarred me forever. That was so fucking vile I can't believe they got away with showing that shit on TV. Sometimes I can even still fucking hear it. I hate it. I'm so mad I watched that because I can't erase that memory and even when I think I've forgotten it it'll pop up again like a witch you thought you killed.

Edit: Ugh I had actually forgotten about the anal rape scene. Hotel to me was them saying "Let's see exactly how far we can push the gore on TV before S&P tells us we have to reel it back"
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Huh, Roanoke was far worse for me with the skinning, tooth pulling, head squishing, gutting, and impalement. It pushed a lot of my gore buttons.

Thanks for the different perspective though. Always interesting to see varied reactions to AHS, as long as there's more to them than GAF's typical "this awful thing is the worst awful thing ever."
 
T

The Driver

Member
I had a blast with it, seems way more comedic than past seasons with Paulson's hysterical character and Peter's being a complete nut.

Will also appreciate if this show keeps it with real people and sticks with the cult theme rather than shove a million different supernatural things in like they like to do but I guess we'll see.

Calling it now, Paulson is a shrill basket case now but by the end she's gonna be in Terminator mode and will be bodying some clowns. Could be neat for a season to go action horror at some point for a bit.

Going back a few pages too, I'm a little confused by Murphies circle of hell IG post. Hotel and Roanoke seem like they would slot into the Lust and Violence circles, especially with how mean the latter got lol. I'm kinda worried about what those seasons would look like from this guy, it already feels like this show really pushes it.
 
F

Fenderputty

Banned
So whether or not Sarah Paulson is seeing clowns will be the gimmick. They clearly exist, her mind will play tricks on her and we get to wonder what's real.

The interplay between the kid, winter and Peter's character seems the most promising.

Felt like a lot of set up. Not much was scary but the clowns seem like they're gonna go for the chaos Peter's character wants.

For the most part the politics was meh, but I appreciated the play on the politics of fear some.

Cautiously optimistic
 
Z

zeemumu

Member
Fenderputty said:
So whether or not Sarah Paulson is seeing clowns will be the gimmick. They clearly exist, her mind will play tricks on her and we get to wonder what's real.

The interplay between the kid, winter and Peter's character seems the most promising.

Felt like a lot of set up. Not much was scary but the clowns seem like they're gonna go for the chaos Peter's character wants.

For the most part the politics was meh, but I appreciated the play on the politics of fear some.

Cautiously optimistic
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Wouldn't it be something if Paulson's wife was in on the clown thing and supplied the clowns with knowledge of her exact fears to terrorize her and send her to the nuthouse as a way of getting out of her stressful marriage while keeping custody of their son and the shared business as a weird parallel to what Peters' character wants by causing chaos in her personal life until she's able to seize total power in the relationship because she's seen as the only sane one?
 
J

JigglesBunny

Banned
I'm so tired of Ryan Murphy's sex shtick. It's so fucking off putting. The drilldo bit turned me off of Hotel immediately and the banging/masturbating clowns here are just ridiculous.

I think I'm done with the show full stop.
 
R

randome

Member
I didn't like this episode at all. Annoying politics shit aside, it just seemed...wrong. I liked the other seasons because at least they were mysterious/interesting/weird/whatever. This just seemed gruesome; like torture porn or something. I don't like how the kid was exposed to the killing videos, that really bothered me. Idk, I can't put it into words. Im sure its what they were going for but ugh.
 
L

LaNaranja

Member
I see this show continues to be as divisive as ever. I thought the premier was solid and I am interested to see where they go with it.

Also Roanoke was a fantastic season, some of you are crazy saying it was no good. I was hoping Cuba Gooding Jr. would be coming back in a staring role this season. Can we all at least agree that Freakshow was a steaming pile of shit outside of Twisty? It was so bad I ended up skipping Hotel because I sat through all of season 4 waiting for some kind of payoff that never came. I still need to get back to it at some point.

RatskyWatsky said:
Reposting from the last OT:

CNChr6L.png


The show has been renewed for seasons 8 and 9 btw
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I'm guessing they are going to save violence for the anti-christ story. That seems like it would be the best place to end the series if they decided to wrap the whole thing with a neat bow. I'm more curious as to what the hell they are going to pull out of their ass for lust.
 
S

SeppOCE

Member
I liked it but it feels so overly dramatised compared to other seasons. The trump stuff kinda irks me in the wrong way like this is going to be way too politically driven for me to enjoy. I know AHS panders but this is on a whole new level.

The actual horror stuff was great and promising as it usually is.

Maybe I have these reactions to the series because I'm Australian and have no relation to American culture outside of playing games with the same group of Americans for nearly 10 years.
 
R

Razmos

Member
They are going to play up the fact that Sarah Paulson's character is crazy and isolate her until she finds out that the detective and her wife are both part of the cult, at which point she will go on a bloody rampage. Thats what I think.

I bet Kai and Winter actually have nothing to do with the cult and have their own weird thing going on.
 
S

Spikematic

Member
Over-the-top, cringey, bizarre, random... yep, another season of AHS alright...
I was thoroughly entertained and am looking forward to the fuckeries!
 
M

Matt_

World's #1 One Direction Fan: Everyone else in the room can see it, everyone else but you~~~
Didn't really enjoy the first episode much but as always with AHS I'm in it for the entire season
 
R

Ragnarsson

Member
I almost feel guilty for saying this, but... I loved the episode. It wasn't particularly scary (though it had some tense moments), but it was a damn fun and funny hour of television.
 
J

jetjevons

Bish loves my games!
Enjoyed the supermarket clowns. Also who else thinks SP's new fear of Trypophobia is going to make a horrible comeback at some point.
 
D

dead souls

Member
Ragnarsson said:
I almost feel guilty for saying this, but... I loved the episode. It wasn't particularly scary (though it had some tense moments), but it was a damn fun and funny hour of television.
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Why feel guilty? I laughed out loud at multiple points during this episode. It was really funny.
 
T

tootie923

Member
Thank god there's Billie Lourd to balance out Evan Peters. Also, when will Sarah Paulson stop screaming? It was alright in Asylum, now it's just excessive.
 
T

The Driver

Member
Billie Lourd better not have some weird incest shit going on with her brother, this a Ryan Murphy show though so I guess...

I'm mad to see her ears, she needs ear muffs!
 
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