You can’t run from Twisty… #AHSCult pic.twitter.com/eM9pMi6jl8
— AmericanHorrorStory (@AHSFX) September 1, 2017
American Horror Story: Cult premieres on Tuesday and with it comes the return of one of the series’ most memorable monsters: Twisty The Clown. Ahead of the premiere, we’ve got the return of Twisty in the motion comic above and he will apparently be part of the series, hanging out with the cult full of clowns terrorizing the series. It’s a welcome return and apparently there are a few reasons why Twisty is coming back now, apart from his status as one of the big monsters in the series. We’ve seen some others pop up in similar manners, like Piggy Man during the Roanoke season, but there is a bit more at play this time around.
According to IGN, one of the reasons Twisty is coming back was revealed during the Q&A with Ryan Murphy that discussed some of the plot details and characters from the series. Sarah Paulson’s character suffers from a number of phobias in the series, including Coulrophobia which is the fear of clowns. All of her phobias get a jump start thanks to the results of the 2016 election, this includes a “fear of blood” and a “fear of coffins” to name a few. You can expect these and a few others to get explored in that American Horror Story style — either a great or terrible thing depending on your view of the show.
The clowns will play a big part, be it the ones popping up to menace the streets or Twisty and the comic book he will appear in belonging to Paulson’s kid on the show. You’d have to assume that the comic on the show at least is connected to the motion comic above, but Twisty also appears according to Entertainment Weekly — something that feels “tonally destructive” to them, without any real narrative reason other than, “here it is.”
But at the same time, it does fit the overall idea and the clown theme. That’s where the second connection comes in, with the cult itself and a connection to Twisty. As it turns out, the influence of the killer clown and the real world appearances of “killer clowns” all throughout the United States since last year have directly influenced the plot of the series. As The Hollywood Reporter points out in their review, the clown sightings and the gang of clowns apparently brutalizing citizens in the small Michigan town have an inspiration from the real world clown appearances in 2016. This is aided by Paulson’s fears and the reality that not every clown is “out to get you” and sometimes a panic can just start from nothing.
The real world clown panic started out innocently enough, but soon ended up requiring statements from the police and intervention when someone showed up on a random property. Now obviously the clowns in American Horror Story will actually be a real and quite deadly. The interesting aspect will be seeing how Twisty is actually represented in the series. Is he back from the dead like Jason Voorhees or is it actually just someone new who enjoys murder and dressing up like a psychotic clown.
Here’s hoping it’s the former and we get that nice jawless look sooner rather than later.
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(Via IGN / The Hollywood Reporter / Entertainment Weekly)
