**_Thoughts on Apocalypse_** > _In our new age of terrifying, lethal gadgets, which supplanted so swiftly the old one, the first great aggressive war, if it should come, will be launched by suicidal little madmen pressing an electronic button. Such a war will not last long and none will ever follow it. There will be no conquerors and no conquests, but only the charred bones of the dead on an uninhabited planet._ - William L. Shirer; _The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany_ (1960) Less a stand-alone narrative than a sequel to _Murder House_, _Hotel_, and especially _Coven_, _American Horror Story: Apocalypse_ makes explicit what fans have implicitly known since Pepper (Naomi Grossman) was committed to Briarcliff towards the end of _Freak Show_ - each season takes place in a shared universe (as well as being a sequel to the three aforementioned seasons, _Apocalypse_ also features oblique references to _Asylum_, _Freak Show_, and _Roanoke_). In recent years, the show has unquestionably stumbled, first with the poorly constructed meta-narrative of _Roanoke_ and then with the horrendous _Cult_, leaving a fanbase yearning for a return to the brilliance of _Murder House_ and _Asylum_. _Apocalypse_ is nowhere near as good as those glory days, but it's a damn sight better than the last two seasons. When a nuclear conflagration wipes out most of mankind, a gr…

**_Thoughts on 1984_** >They Live _was a primal scream against Reaganism of the '80s. And the '80s never went away. They're still with us. That's what makes_ They Live _look so fresh – it's a document of greed and insanity. It's about life in the United States then and now. If anything, things have gotten worse._ - John Carpenter; "_They Live_: John Carpenter talks about his sci-fi classic" (Chris Nashawaty); _Entertainment Weekly_ (November 5, 2012) >_What you don't want is for violence and gore to become more important than character and structure. A lot of slasher movies from the e__ighties were only focused on violence and gore, which robs the human beings in the story of any empathetic reaction from the audience, and instead makes them cheer for the gore._ - Mike Flanagan; "_Hush_ Director Mike Flanagan Talks Slasher Violence, Silence and…Sound" (Brad Miska); _Bloody Disgusting_ (April 16, 2016) Initially a pitch-perfect homage/parody of summer-camp slasher movies, _AHS/1984_ subsequently morphs into something of an amalgamation of a ghost story, a true-crime thriller, a study of serial killing, and a multi-character tale of redemption, giving us one of the coldest and most ferocious villains the show has ever seen. For me, it's the best season of _American Horror Story_ since the exceptional second season, _Asylum_. However, there's no denying it's a divisive beast –…

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