American Horror Story: 1984 – Slashdance

By: Kelly Kearney

On the latest episode of “American Horror Story: 1984” two killers are on the loose in Camp Redwood and nothing is as it seems. Confessions are made and identities are outed, but a surprise from Nurse Rita and Montana adds new angles to this horror story that hasn’t even begun to unfold.

Serial Killer Wannabes…

“Let me in you b*tch! I’m coming for you!” That is how the episode kicks off with The Night Stalker (Zach Villa) tracking down Brooke (Emma Roberts) and her friends at Camp Redwood. The serial killer is breaking through the cabin door, preparing to finish the job he started on Brooke. The group of friends tries to barricade the door, but then something on fire comes crashing through the window. The cabin is surrounded and Ray (DeRon Horton) comes up with the worst idea ever. He wants to split up and make a run for it. That’s when Richard Ramirez comes through the window and attacks Ray. He takes a good beating, but Chet (Gus Kenworthy) manages to rescue him as Richard goes to search for Brooke.

In another nearby cabin Montana (Billie Lourd), Xavier (Cody Fern) and Trevor (Matthew Morrison) are hiding from The Night Stalker when a flaming bag of poo is tossed through their window. Trevor kicks the fiery feces out and then two young men enter, laughing about the prank they pulled. Apparently, it’s the anniversary of Mr. Jingles’ (John Carroll Lynch) massacre and the local kids celebrate it with a little mischief and mayhem. They even dressed for the part, wearing their best Benjamin Richter cosplay. The problem with dressing like a serial killer on the loose is that these two geniuses can’t tell the difference between their costumed buddies and the real Richter. That becomes a deadly problem when Mr. Jingles comes out of the woods and hacks the two look-a-likes to death. This all goes down in front of a stunned Montana and Xavier, who watch the murder but yet somehow forget to run for their lives. Perhaps running wasn’t invented until 1985 because, quite frankly, there is no excuse for the two of them to stand there watching this bloody killing unfold. Xavier snaps out of it long enough to announce the obvious, that the slicing and dicing was done by the real killer and not his fanboys. That’s enough for Trevor who orders them all to run for their lives.

Meanwhile, Nurse Rita (Angelica Ross) and Brooke are running in one direction while Chet and Ray take off in another. That’s when the buff athlete takes a tumble down a dirt pit filled with spikes, impaling him in the shoulder. Luckily for him Mr. Jingles is too busy staring down the asthmatic nerd version of his costumed self to be bothered jumping in pits. There must be something appealing about this overweight killer wannabe because instead of striking the teen down, Benjamin lets the fake Richter walk away.  Maybe Jingles has a heart and pities this loser’s sad life so much he doesn’t want to add to this guy’s torture?

Back to the pit, Ray is trying to peel Chet off the spike but it’s clear this hole was a trap and built by someone whose studied war tactics used in Vietnam. Two killers on the loose picking teens off jungle fighting style? Chet says what all AHS fans are thinking, “What kind of camp is this?” Apparently, a camp that doesn’t vet its hires very well. We find this out when Rita turns on Brooke by injecting her with a sedative! Nurse Rita is neither a nurse, nor named Rita. She’s a doctoral student researching serial killers. Her new case study? Mr. Jingles!

Donna Chambers: Killer Profiler…

One week earlier we find (Rita a/k/a Donna Chambers) at the asylum and meeting with Dr. Hopple (Orla Brady) to ask if she can study Benjamin Richter. Chambers’ specialty is profiling serial killers and in the past she’s met with many famous murderers. She even managed to get two confessions out of Ted Bundy, something she proudly mentions as a selling point to her work. Donna knows her killer stuff or so she says. She portrays herself as the AHS version of Netflix’s “Mindhunter” and she is determined to get to the bottom of what makes Mr. Jingles tick. Dr. Hopple thinks Donna won’t get much from Benjamin. He hasn’t spoken to anyone since he came to the asylum. Donna is willing to risk it and with some smooth talking Hopple grants her the permission to try.  She’s escorted to Mr. Jingles, who’s shackled and silently sitting at a desk. Donna introduces herself as someone who isn’t there to judge the killer, but just wants to hear his story. Since the mid-1970s there’s been a steady increase of serial killers and she wants to know why. Is this the result of nature or nurture? Are evil people on the rise or are they turning evil thanks to the sexual revolution and the access to pornography. Donna seems to have a real ax to grind with the porn industry and links it to a host of evils mankind falls victim to. She also wants to offer Benjamin a chance at redemption. If she can uncover the reasons he became a killer her research could one day be used to prevent killers from ever realizing their full murderous potential.

After a decade of silence Benjamin begins to tell Donna his story. He first learned of his crimes after he was captured and brought to the hospital. He had, and still has, no memory of Mr. Jingles’ camp massacre. Everything he knows about his killings he learned after the fact. It’s immediately noticeable that the soft-spoken Benjamin is a far cry from the murdering maniac that’s currently hunting camp counselors at Redwood. Donna might have an answer to why that is. She tells Benjamin that government created him and he may not be completely to blame for his crimes. This appeals to him and he agrees to help Ms. Chambers. Research starts immediately when Donna hands him a newspaper clipping about Margaret Booth (Leslie Grossman) and the reopening of Camp Redwood. He immediately admits the sight of Margaret sets off murder fantasies in his brain. Donna wants him to face this enraging woman IN PERSON! She offers to help Benjamin break out of the asylum so she can study him in his natural habitat! What better way to understand a killer than to witness his decline into madness herself? Her plan has three parts: He has to kill the guard, open all the asylum cells and then find a bag of clothes and weapons. When he’s finally armed and free, Donna wants him to come find her at Camp Redwood. She’ll be working there as a nurse and going by the name Rita, a name that she stole from the real Nurse Rita (Dreama Walker) she kidnapped on route to the camp!

Secrets and Confessions…

Elsewhere in the woods Chet is still in nailed to the pit and now unconscious from the blood loss. Ray sees this as an opportunity to come clean about something he’s felt guilty about for over a year. In college a fraternity party he hosted ended in a deadly choice that has the potential to ruin Ray’s life. A drunk freshmen pledge fell down the frat house steps during a wild party. Ray was afraid he would be blamed for the accident and decided to cover it up by faking a drunk driving accident. He put the young pledge in a car and just as it was about to careen off a cliff the injured man woke up! Delirious, he begged Ray to help him but the car was in motion and there was nothing he could do. As the teen reached out for help, he grabbed ahold of Ray’s watch and it slipped off his wrist as the car went over the edge! The guilt from that night destroyed Ray’s motivation to finish school, so he went to LA to work in the gym. Three days ago he heard the police found the car and no doubt his watch, too. He thinks it’s only a matter of time before he goes down for this kid’s murder. It’s why he decided to come to Camp Redwood. He wanted to escape the punishment he knows is waiting for him in L.A. Of course, Chet was awake the whole time and heard his confession. Ray sees this as his cue to climb out of the hole and leave Chet for dead.

In another part of the woods Xavier is running hot on hero fuel and wants to rescue Margaret and Chef Birdie (Tara Karsian) before the killers can strike. He’s hoping for some redemption from his guilt over his porn daddy’s death. He, along with Montana and Trevor, set off to find the others and that’s when they uncover Rita’s secret. The real nurse Rita, as named on her uniform, is bound and gagged and being held in a cabin in the woods. As the three try to free her Mr. Jingles is creeping his way towards them. The killer hears the terrified nurse’s muffled cries, but Xavier, Montana and Trevor manage to stay hidden as Jingles focuses on her. Grabbing a canoe oar from the cabin wall, Mr. Jingles rams the entire wooden nightmare down Nurse Rita’s throat! Death by oar is as brutal as you can imagine, and the looks on Xavier and Montana’s faces are proof. Traumatized, they somehow manage to slink out of the cabin without Jingles hearing and run right into Ray who has quite the tale to tell. He lies about Chet and claims they got separated. Lucky for him, Chet is not there to object. Trevor throws Ray his motorcycle keys and tells him to take Montana and go look for help. He and Xavier will go find Brooke, Chef Birdie and Margaret. On their search they stumble upon Chet screaming for help from the pit. Xavier manages to extricate him from his spike and with the help of Trevor, and his arm guns, lifts him out of the hole to safety. Within seconds they see Mr. Jingles approaching and Trevor tackles the killer and tosses him into the spikey pit. There’s just one problem…that wasn’t Jingles. It was a Jingles fanboy in a mask!

Back to Ray and Montana, who aren’t getting that help anytime soon thanks to the Night Stalker who emerges from the woods. Always looking out for himself, Ray hops on Trevor’s bike and leaves Montana to deal with the serial killer herself. He doesn’t get far because Mr. Jingles is there to dish out some serious poetic justice. Raising his knife, he decapitates Ray as the racing biker flies past him on the road!

Montana, on the other hand, is doing much better than Ray as she tries to flirt her way into the good graces of Ramirez. Or maybe they already knew each other? Before The Night Stalker can attack, Montana angrily barks out the question, “Why the HELL haven’t we killed her yet?” It looks like Donna Chambers isn’t the only one at Camp Redwood hiding a secret.  Montana and Richard Ramirez are working together!