American Horror Story: Season 4

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 506 Ratings

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7.1	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 506 Ratings

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American Horror Story

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Season Details & Credits

FX | Season Premiere Date: October 8, 2014

Starring: Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Michael Chiklis

Summary: Set in 1952, a freak show run by Elsa Mars (Jessica Lange) comes to Jupiter, Florida. Also set to appear: Angela Bassett, Kathy Bates, Michael Chiklis, John Carroll Lynch, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Emma Roberts, and Gabourey Sidibe.

Creator: Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk

Genre(s): Horror

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Season 4 Episodes

tbd
S4:E13. Curtain Call
Air Date: January 21, 2015
tbd
S4:E12. Show Stoppers
Air Date: January 14, 2015
tbd
S4:E11. Magical Thinking
Air Date: January 7, 2015

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Metascore

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Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

100

Uncle Barky Ed Bark

Oct 7, 2014

Freak Show looks like a beauty, with a wealth of fascinating characters and a little smattering of heart helping to balance out the grisly appointed rounds of a so far unidentified clown with a hellish half-mask. Read full review

Verne Gay

Oct 7, 2014

Whom to vote for--Dot or Bette? Or will Paulson end up splitting the vote? The special effects are so seamless and Paulson's performance so memorable that it's not a completely incidental question. Then, of course, there's Lange. Read full review

James Poniewozik

Oct 8, 2014

There’s enough talent and intensity here for me to step behind the tent flap, to see if all this can cohere into something super freaky. Read full review

The Daily Beast Kevin Fallon

Oct 9, 2014

It’s hardly [his crowning achievement], lacking the aggressive whimsy and emboldened storytelling that’s made him the pied piper to a nation of TV-watching weirdos, mocked and ignored. But there’s a seriousness with which he’s given this first Freak Show outing that actually piques more of a curiosity than trotting out the expected onslaught of spooks, one-liners, and cheekiness could’ve possibly be done at this point in the American Horror Story run. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Brian Tallerico

Oct 8, 2014

The overall narrative is a bit lacking, just as you don’t go to a circus show in the hope of seeing all the various acts tied together through storytelling. Yes, there’s a murder to hide, a few secrets for each of the major characters, and Murphy’s overall arc of the outcast who holds more humanity than the “normal people,” but I hope the actual storytelling of American Horror Story: Freak Show improves in subsequent episodes. Read full review

Mike Hale

Oct 7, 2014

It still has plenty of clever touches in word and picture.... But it’s not particularly scary, and doesn’t even feel that creepy or freakish, despite the sideshow setting and the obvious attempt to emulate one of the eeriest of American movies, Tod Browning’s “Freaks,” from 1932. Read full review

David Wiegand

Oct 6, 2014

Freakshow boasts some extraordinary performances by actors who labor in vain against a sometimes plodding script, weighed down with underwhelming horror moments, way too obvious metaphors about tolerating differences and a pervasively airless claustrophobia. Read full review

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User Score

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7.1

User Reviews

MickMiko

Oct 10, 2014

Definitivamente esta temporada viene muy buena , el payaso , cada personaje viene muy bien y de verdad que no puedo esperar mas , s extrañara a lily rabe y taissa pero vaya que la temporada sera de lo mejor !

2 of 4 users found this helpful22

eddyallnight

Oct 29, 2014

I'm in love with this season so far. The freaking Clown , Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, it's just the whole show. They deserve an Emmy!!! I was always like the walking dead or American Horror Story and now I realize, definitely American Horror Story. It's never getting boring!!

4 of 5 users found this helpful41

willlol

Oct 8, 2014

Por mais que seja difícil de assistir, por se tratar de temas delicados e mostrar a sociedade daquela época como realmente era com relação ás pessoas com anormalidades, essa temporada promete ser bastante agonizante.

13 of 19 users found this helpful136

DirigiblePulp

Jan 26, 2015

An up and down season, even by AHS standards. The promise of the premise, the setting, the actors, the situations and the events seems to be an exciting and interesting one rife with possibilities, but nothing is ever really made of them. Jessica Lange plays a variation of her CovenAn up and down season, even by AHS standards. The promise of the premise, the setting, the actors, the situations and the events seems to be an exciting and interesting one rife with possibilities, but nothing is ever really made of them. Jessica Lange plays a variation of her Coven character, coveting fame and fortune and youth and "using" Freaks to get there. It's nothing new.

The biggest problem with the season was a lack of narrative momentum. The show just lolled from scene to overly dramatic scene, a whole lot of sound and fury without much or any dramatic weight or wicked Asylym-esque fun. It's the kind of show where you keep having to pinch yourself to remind you that what you are seeing is "fascinating", but you never feel it and you never care and it never really is (Edward Mordrake aside, I did especially like those episodes and of course the whole Pepper backstory episode).… Expand

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

OpinionatedGuy

Jan 25, 2015

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The fourth season of American Horror Story had a lot of promise at the start but it got weak at the end.

Its main problem was the plot and the way how it was narrated. In this season’s plot, a group of freak show performers have to survive the odds. It doesn’t sound exciting at all but that’s not the real problem. The real problem was that the writers don’t know how to narrate its plot into a 13 episode story. The strongest point of the plot was the antagonist of the first half of the season named Twisty the Clown. But when he was killed off in the middle of the season, the antagonist title is given to Dandy Mott which he showed a lot of promise to be a much more scarier villain than Twisty the Clown but he ended up being a spoiled brat.

The nowhere going plot also affected the character development this season. Like Dandy Mott, a lot of characters showed a lot of promise that they could be complex written characters but they ended up being underdeveloped thanks to its shallow plot narrative.

The shining light of Freak Show was its acting performance. I would like to highlight Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Finn Wittrock, Angela Bassett, Kathy Bates, John Carroll Lynch and of course, Jessica Lange. It’s sad that they’re not given much to do with their characters but at least they tried their very best on what’s given to them.

Another good thing about Freak Show was the way how it was directed and shot. The cinematography really feels like it’s set in the 50s.

Despite everything that’s wrong with it, I still enjoyed watching Freak Show and that’s why I rated this season a bit higher than I should have but its flaws cannot go unnoticed. I hope they improve its story telling next season and even if they didn’t, they better make it entertaining at least.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

slappycider

Jan 21, 2015

It was a slow season. Started off slow, ending with a literal bang. The second half of the season is something to marvel, but sadly... it doesn't quite redeem it for me. The whole season has just felt empty, almost pointless.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

michelobannon

Oct 28, 2014

I've watched this show from this its beginning, I am utterly disappointed with this season. Glee is dead, there is no reason AHS should have singing for an empty tent, or at all really. What a sad rip off of the classic "Freaks". And now there's Lord Voldemort!?! Ryan Murphy just stop it.I've watched this show from this its beginning, I am utterly disappointed with this season. Glee is dead, there is no reason AHS should have singing for an empty tent, or at all really. What a sad rip off of the classic "Freaks". And now there's Lord Voldemort!?! Ryan Murphy just stop it. I had a bad feeling when I heard you were directing so I guess my instincts were right.… Expand

2 of 14 users found this helpful212

SEE ALL 64 REVIEWS

Seasons & Episodes

65

Series Overview
Season 11

tbd
- Season 11 Overview
  Air Date: October 19, 2022
Season 10

tbd
- Season 10 Overview
  Air Date: August 25, 2021
Season 9

tbd
- Season 9 Overview
  Air Date: September 18, 2019
Season 8

63
- Season 8 Overview
  Air Date: September 12, 2018
Season 7

66
- Season 7 Overview
  Air Date: September 5, 2017
Season 6

72
- Season 6 Overview
  Air Date: September 14, 2016
Season 5

60
- Season 5 Overview
  Air Date: October 7, 2015
Season 4

69
- Season 4 Overview
  Air Date: October 8, 2014
- tbd
  S4:E13. Curtain Call
  Air Date: January 21, 2015
- tbd
  S4:E12. Show Stoppers
  Air Date: January 14, 2015
- tbd
  S4:E11. Magical Thinking
  Air Date: January 7, 2015
- tbd
  S4:E10. Orphans
  Air Date: December 17, 2014
- tbd
  S4:E9. Tupperware Party Massacre
  Air Date: December 10, 2014
- tbd
  S4:E8. Blood Bath
  Air Date: December 3, 2014
- tbd
  S4:E7. Test of Strength
  Air Date: November 19, 2014
- tbd
  S4:E6. Bullseye
  Air Date: November 12, 2014
- tbd
  S4:E5. Pink Cupcakes
  Air Date: November 5, 2014
- tbd
  S4:E4. Edward Mordrake, Pt 2
  Air Date: October 29, 2014
- tbd
  S4:E3. Edward Mordrake, Pt 1
  Air Date: October 22, 2014
- tbd
  S4:E2. Massacres and Matinees
  Air Date: October 15, 2014
- tbd
  S4:E1. Monsters Among Us
  Air Date: October 8, 2014
Season 3

71
- Season 3 Overview
  Air Date: October 9, 2013
Season 2

65
- Season 2 Overview
  Air Date: October 17, 2012
Season 1

62
- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: October 5, 2011