FOXSYLVANIA

The Fx series American Horror Story: Freak Show is remarkable dark television horror, combining good writing and superb acting on a bizarre subject in a fashion rarely seen on the small screen. Inspired by Tod Browning’s Freaks and Herk Harvey’s Carnival of Souls and set in Florida in the early 1950’s, the show details the relationships between a closely-knit colony of sideshow freaks in a dying profession, and the often harsh outside world of gawkers and exploiters who constitute the real monsters. Every subtype of human oddity is represented, including a brilliantly-portrayed tormented “bearded lady (Kathy Bates),” a “lobster boy,” “pinheads,” and the stars of the show, a pair of stunning conjoined female twins with radically different personalities. Paranormal elements are injected, and there is also about the most scary predatory clown that you are ever likely to see, “Twisty” (pictured).

This is disturbing but mesmerizing stuff, definitely not for the kiddies due to gore and sexual content. It’s perfect, however, for horror fans, and those of us who enjoy Halloween themes year-round…