Ryan Murphy is for including numerous Easter eggs to some of horror's most iconic movies, especially in American Horror Story: Freak Show. Season 4 in his critically acclaimed anthology series takes place in Florida at Elsa Mars's (Jessica Lange) carnival of oddities and musical entertainment. It follows a close-knit group of "freaks" who enjoy the spotlight but fear the evil that lurks within and outside of their troupe. Creator Ryan Murphy has utilized some of the most famous horror movies in the slasher and human oddities subgenres to create captivating storylines and characters - here's every horror movie Easter egg in American Horror Story: Freak Show.
AHS: Freak Show features several series regulars including Sarah Paulson as the conjoined twins Bette and Dot Tattler, Evan Peters as Jimmy Darling, Frances Conroy as Gloria Mott, Denis O'Hare as Stanley, Finn Wittrock as Dandy Mott, Emma Roberts as Maggie Esmerelda, Angela Bassett as Desiree Dupree, and Kathy Bates as Ethel Darling. It focuses primarily on Elsa Mars and the hatred her freaks face from outsiders. As the story develops, Twisty the Clown presents a new threat to their world by inspiring Dandy Mott's murder spree.
Nearly every character featured in AHS: Freak Show is based on or directly influenced by a popular horror movie. Since AHS: Murder House, Murphy has included these Easter eggs and references as a way to build on the series' characters as well as pay homage to some of the greatest movies in the genre. Here's every horror movie Easter egg and reference in AHS: Freak Show as well as what they represent.
Chained For Life
Sarah Paulson, who recently starred as Nurse Mildred Ratched in Ryan Murphy's Netflix series Ratched, portrays Better and Dot Tattler. The conjoined twins had killed their mother prior to Elsa recruiting them for her freak show. In the series, Bette dreams of becoming a singer and an actress while Dot is cynical and dreams of brutally separating herself from her sister. Their characters are based on the 1952 exploitation movie Chained For Life about Daisy and Violet Hilton. Throughout the series and the movie, the conjoined twins battle with the prospects of marriage, surgical separation, and being exploited for the stage. Chained For Life isn't outright horrific, but the truth behind it is. The Hilton twins were exploited for being conjoined twins and their 1952 movie epitomized their experiences with the cruelty of show business based on their difference.
American Psycho
Finn Wittrock, who starred alongside Paulson in Ratched as Edmond Tolleson, was the sadistic and maladjusted Dandy Mott. After growing infatuated with the prospects of fame, he started stalking the freak show in hopes of attaining some of its performers. He was inspired by one of horror's greatest psychopaths, Christian Pale's Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. The most apparent Easter egg to the movie occurs when Dandy is working out and goes into a long monologue. He also mirrors Patrick's narcissism as well as his refined wardrobe. The two get away with their crimes because of their attention to detail and status but their biggest similarities are entirely based in their narcissism and inability to recognize right from wrong.
Freaks
Freaks (1932) is undoubtedly the biggest influence on AHS: Freak Show. The horror movie released before the Production Code Administration (PCA) was established to ensure that the correct coding was given to features that included sex, violence, blood, and anything else viewed as overtly obscene. It is a remarkably horrific movie that includes a cast of actual people with physical abnormalities. Most notably, Naomi Grossman's Pepper, first introduced in AHS: Asylum, was inspired by the pinhead people in Freaks. Nearly every character in AHS: Freak Show was inspired by someone in the 1932 pre-code horror movie.
IT
Twisty the Clown is a direct reference to Stephen King's IT. Pennywise the Dancing Clown is one of the most famous clowns in the history of horror and, as such, was an obvious influence on Twisty. Before his jaw was entirely shot off, he resembled Tim Curry's rendition in the 1990 miniseries. Rather than feeding off of fear, Twisty feeds off of joy, but his horrific appearance causes children to run in the opposite direction. He is a much sadder depiction of Stephen King's classic creature.
Zodiac
When audiences first meet Twisty the Clown, he is walking in a field towards a young couple on a picnic date in Jupiter Farms, Florida. As he approaches them, the scene is almost an exact mirroring of 2007's Zodiac about the infamous and anonymous serial killer. By drawing the connection between the two killers, Ryan Murphy creates a mystique behind Twisty the Clown as a cryptic murderer who will never actually get caught. It alludes to the very end of his story arc, when Edward Mordrake takes him to the underworld.
Halloween
While Twisty is stalking potential victims, he lurks from behind a bush. The scene is an exact copy from John Carpenter's Halloween when Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) gets her first glimpse of Michael Myers. Both men are masked killers but their similarities stop there. It is likely that Murphy included this scene to pay homage to Carpenter's Halloween. This isn't the first time he has copied a scene from the movie either, as AHS: Murder House reenacts the moment in the movie when Michael Myers is standing among several clothing lines.
The Elephant Man
One of the most subtle Easter eggs out of the entirety of AHS: Freak Show is to David Lynch's 1980 movie The Elephant Man. It is about the real-life Joseph Merrick who was put on display at freak shows across London for his physical abnormality. The Easter egg occurs in episode 1, "Monsters Among Us," when Bette and Dot walk up to the main tent for the first time. John Morris's song "Carnival (The Elephant Man Theme)" plays during this pivotal moment in order to allude that there will be dark moments of exploitation ahead for the twins as well as everyone inside of the tent. It is one of the briefest and most subtle nods to one of the greatest works on human oddities but it perfectly establishes what is to come for the season. Ryan Murphy continues to prove that he is the master of including iconic horror movie Easter eggs, especially with all of the subtle ones that he utilized in American Horror Story: Freak Show.