Just like the previous installments, Season 9 of American Horror Story titled "1984" was met with critical acclaim. Despite fans being a little divided about it, Rotten Tomatoes gave the slasher-themed season an 87% approval rating. The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences also nominated the season for four Emmy awards.
As is the norm, previous cast members returned to play new characters. However, series regulars Evan Peters and Sarah Paulson missed out for the first time. Season 9 was also the shortest installment in the anthology series so far, with only nine episodes. The following are hidden details that viewers might have missed while watching "1984."
10 Similarities To Popular Horror Films
The premise of the season is reminiscent of the cult slasher movie Friday The 13th. In the movie, people at a summer camp are also being hunted down by a mysterious serial killer. The manner in which Mr. Jingles breaks out from the asylum is also similar to how Michael Myers escapes from captivity in the movie Halloween.
In addition to that, the scene in which the gas station attendant warns the main characters is similar to a scene in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It doesn't end there. The scene in which the friends knock over a person with a car is also borrowed from I Know What You Did Last Summer. The season is basically a retro fest.
9 The Xavier Connection
One of the most polarizing characters in "1984" is Xavier. Before becoming an aerobics instructor at Camp Redwood, he was a junkie. Luckily, Blake found him and helped him. It's also revealed that Blake implored him to perform in a gay pornography production, something he gladly did to further his career.
The name of the production was The X-Man Cometh. Keen viewers might have noticed that this title is from another season in the anthology series. In the third season named "Coven," the title of the sixth episode was “The Axeman Cometh.”
8 Karma Is Mentioned Several Times
Several episodes of "1984" include the word 'karma' in some form. In the series premiere, Montana jokingly fixes the word in a sentence by saying "Karmically, we're good."
Ray also quotes the lyrics of the 1984 Billboard chart-topping song Karma Chameleon by English band Club Culture in the second episode. And in the third episode titled "Slashdance," Xavier comes up with the theory that Mr. Jingles is basically karma walking through the door in order to punish them for the things they did in the past.
7 A Continuity Discrepancy
In the series finale, there is an angle in the plot that seems to mess up with the continuity of Ramirez's character. In the season titled "Hotel," Ramirez is one of several infamous serial killers who were mentored by James March. This is why he appears in the episode 'Devil's Night" back in 2015.
At that time, Ramirez mentions that he died in prison and has only just resurrected. This contradicts the events of the ninth season. In it, it is revealed that Ramirez is held captive by the ghosts of Camp Redwood. The ghosts kept on murdering and resurrecting him. This means there is no way he could have died in prison.
6 There Might Be More Hawthorne Institutions
Angelica Ross portrays Rita, a 'nurse' temporarily working at Camp Redwood. Even though she is a new character, something she says possibly links to the season to the previous one titled "Apocalypse."
Rita tells the teens that she works at Hawthorne Hospital, which reminds one of a key location from 'Apocalypse." In that season, there was The Hawthorne School for Exceptional Young Men which was an institution meant to keep warlocks safe it morphed into Outpost 3. This means that there might be plenty of Hawthorne institutions.
5 All The Killers By Donna Chambers Mentions Are Real
In the third episode, it is revealed that Rita isn't actually a nurse but a psychologist named Donna Chambers who is researching the weird behaviors of serial killers. While interviewing Jingles, Donna lists a number of killers she has had one-on-one conversations with in the past.
Keen viewers might notice that each of the killers that she lists is taken directly from history. She drops obvious names such as Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy as Twisty the Clown, the Butcher Baker, William Bonin aka The Freeway Killer, and Patrick Kearney aka the Trash Bag Killer. She also mentions that Bundy blamed pornography for his crimes, which is true.
4 Briarcliff Manor
In the sixth episode of the season titled "Episode 100" (it's actually the 100th episode of the series), there is a full-year time jump. Viewers get to see what everyone has been doing since the horrific events at the camp.
Margaret is doing well as a real estate mogul. She has acquired every property that has been linked with serial killers in the past. Among the properties she now controls are: the Manson family base at Spahn Ranch, John Wayne Gacy’s house, and most importantly Briarcliff Manor. This was the central location of the unrelated second season titled "Assylum."
3 No Backstories For Two Characters
In the season, the backstories of most of the characters are shown during flashbacks in order to explain their motivations and what drove them to Camp Redwood. However, two characters are left out. These are the ex-Olympian Chet and the Camp Redwood director of activities Trevor.
Trevor is also the only character to not appear in every episode of the season. He is also the first, and only American Horror Story character portrayed by Matthew Morrison. Most actors in the season have also portrayed other characters in the series.
2 Chet's Sexual Orientation
In the fifth season, Margaret suggests that Chet is gay since she hasn't seen him hooking up with anyone. But in the season finale, Bertie mentions that he is bisexual. She claims that Chet had sexual relations with the ghosts of every person in the camp after he died and got trapped there.
Chet also mentions that he "an equal opportunity ghost," meaning he sleeps with anyone. Chet is portrayed by Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy, who is gay in real life.
1 The Stephen King Reference
The hooded serial killer Mr. Jingles ranks highly among the scariest characters in the entire series. Judging from his mannerisms and killing partners, he was modeled after Jason from the Friday the 13th franchise.
However, the name Mr. Jingles is borrowed from renowned horror author Stephen King's work. In King's 1996 novel The Green Mile, Mr. Jingles is the pet mouse of an inmate at the Cold Mountain Penitentiary. Like the pet mouse, this version of Mr. Jingles also lived under confinement for years. He spent time at the Red Meadows Asylum.
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