AHS Hotel, episode 4, Devil’s Night

Tonight marks the famed “Halloween” episode of American Horror story.  My favorite Halloween episodes were seasons one and two.  Lily Rabe returns as infamous serial killer Aileen Wuornus.  (Charlize Theron portrayed Aileen in 2003’s Monster, which earned her an Oscar.) It will be interesting to see how Lily Rabe will play the mean prostitute who was executed for murdering seven “johns.”

The episode opens with a man entering the Hotel Cortez wearing sunglasses and a black leather jacket.  He approaches Liz at reception and is warmly greeted as “Richard Ramirez.” (The Night Stalker!) Liz leads him to his room and Richard laments the fact Charles Manson won’t be joining them for “Devil’s Night” as he is still alive.  Liz tells Richard, “The master has left some treats on the pillow.”

Ramirez enters the occupied room, and proceeds to bash the sleeping man’s head in. The woman next to him screams and he makes her “Swear to Satan” that she won’t scream.  The woman complies, and then screams again as she runs down the hall into the arms of Patrick March. The woman yells, “There is a killer behind me!” March calmly replies, “And in front of you, Richard, finish her off!”  March and Ramirez have a good laugh over the slain tourists who couldn’t get a room at the Marriot.

John phones his daughter Scarlett.  She informs him she’s not so interested in Halloween this year and would rather stay at her grandmother’s and bake.  John agrees.  Has Scarlett been traumatized by meeting her vampire brother?  John admits things are weird at the moment.  As he hangs up he notices blood dripping on his “murder board.”  He follows the source upstairs to room 76 to find a distraught Ms. Evers aggressively scrubbing blood out of some sheets.

Ms. Ever’s is remembering a Halloween of her time, making a simple ghost costume for her son and going trick-or-treating.  Even in those days, Ms. Evers was quite the chatterbox and she becomes distracted speaking to another mom dressed as Marie Antoinette.  When Ms. Ever’s realizes her son is gone, it’s too late.  The boy in the ghost costume stares out the back window of a car.

John knocks on Ms. Ever’s door, interrupting her memory.  She confesses she’s busy and it’s a hard time for her because she lost her son on Halloween.  John asks if her son died.  She replies, “Not right away. I didn’t see him, it was my fault!”  She cries and asks for John to pour her a sherry.  John empathizes, recalling the loss of Holden. He says, “It feels like a walking nightmare!” Ms. Ever’s continues her story; the killer took her son to a ranch.  All that was found was a bloody costume and bones. She was never sure if it was her son. (These murders are known as the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, which were depicted in the movie Changeling starring Angelina Jolie.) As she concludes her tale, she says she knew her and John were kindred spirits.  She asks him to call her Hazel.  Abruptly she switches back to manic self and shoos John out of the room so she can prepare for the night’s party.

Alex holds Holden’s hand and brings him back to the family home.  The dog barks at him.  She explains they got the dog because his sister was so lonely.  She proceeds to examine the boy.  His core temperature is seventy-five degrees, yet he doesn’t feel cold.  Holden complains of thirst and Alex goes to get him some juice, one glass of orange and one apple. (Illustrating she doesn’t know what her son likes!)  When she returns what she sees causes her to drop the glasses.  Holden has killed the dog to drink his blood.  He tells his mom, “I don’t feel good, I want my mommy.”  Alex says she’s his mother but Holden continues, “I want my other mommy!”

At the police headquarters, John learns from Detective Hahn that the blood found on Gabriel was not his. This gives the detectives another possible homicide without a body.  John asks about the story he heard from Ms. Ever’s. Hahn confirms those murders took place nearly eighty-five years ago and made the town so infamous, it changed its name. (The Wineville murders occurred between 1926-1928 and the killer Gordon Northcott was suspected of murdering up to fifty boys but was convicted and executed for the murder of five. Wineville’s name was changed to Mira Loma in 1930.)

Alex takes her son back to the hotel as Liz watches from the reception desk.  The boy leads Alex to the white room with the coffins and proceeds to lie down in his. The Countess sneaks up behind Alex, “I’m sure you have a lot of questions, I have answers!”

Back in the Countess’s room, the vampire begins to explain.  She assures Alex her purpose was to save Holden from “neglect” and the life he would have lived due to that neglect.  Alex bristles at this suggestion, but the Countess points to John as being the neglectful parent. (He was on the phone when Holden was abducted.)  She continues to tell Alex what her son has become. “I know you’re a doctor, so I’ll put this in terms you understand, your son has contracted an ancient virus which has given him health, vitality and everlasting life.”

Alex is horrified and pulls out a gun demanding the Countess “Change him back!”  The Countess states that is impossible but she could also become like him.  Alex tells her she will summon the police.  At this moment, Tristan interrupts the discussion and punches Alex in the face!  He is concerned Alex will alert the authorities but the Countess assures him, “She won’t risk losing her one true love!”  Confused, Tristan asks, “Are you banging her too!” Oh Tristan, you adorable shallow homophobic vampire model!

John heads to the lobby bar tended by Liz.  She mocks his non-alcoholic choices. John states his soon to be ex-wife doesn’t think he is an alcoholic, but rather a control freak!  John orders a double martini much to Liz’s approval.  “That’s my boy, surrender to the illusion!”

A woman makes her way to the bar, swaying to the Natalie Merchant’s “Carnival.” (Aileen W. apparently loved the song and it was used in the movie Monster.) She tells Liz proudly this is her thirteenth year coming to the hotel’s “Devil’s Night.”  John stares at her bewildered, “Do I know you?” Aileen laughs and retorts, “Did you ever pick up a hooker on I-95 in Florida?”  Liz warns Aileen John is a cop.  Aileen shouts, “I’m the greatest female serial killer of all time!”  John assumes she is dressed as Aileen for Halloween and has a “great costume.”

Aileen begins to rave how people had taken advantage of her since she was a little girl.  The seven men she killed were killed because they “took things that didn’t belong to them!”  John calls her on this lie, stating the men she killed weren’t violent. This enrages Aileen more and she says, “I knew who those men were that day!”  She boasts, “You don’t know screwing until you’ve spent an hour with a bat-shit crazy whore!”  John asks her to come up to his room. (WHAT?) Liz cautions John, “You’re too drunk to see how ugly she is!”  But the two leave for room sixty-four.

Once inside, Aileen punches John and pulls a gun on him.  She turns to John saying, “Look at me, does this look like a costume? Welcome to Devil’s Night at the Hotel Cortez!”  The pair struggle and John ends up handcuffing her to a chair. Aileen manages to break the chair and John forces her into the bathroom and handcuffs her to the pedestal sink.  He grabs her wallet and her driver’s license confirms she is Aileen Wuornos.

John rushes down to the lobby’s reception desk.  Liz is incensed he’s trying to sneak a peak at the guest book.  He’s able to see Aileen’s name before the logbook is shut. He asks, “What is Devil’s Night?” Liz laughs, “That’s when all the real ghouls come to play!”  Liz notices John’s name is on the list and hands him a formal invitation.

John returns to his room but it’s empty, just as Liz predicted.  On the bed is a garment bag with a note, “Knock ‘em dead! Love Liz.”

John uses the elevator to travel to March’s floor looking dapper in his tux.  He meets Ramirez.  Aileen offers him an apology for their earlier encounter.  March shows John to his seat at the strange dinner party.  Absinthe is poured and March introduces himself.  John is bewildered, “March from eighty-five years ago?”  March quips, “Here the impossible is possible!” A man enters dressed all in black wearing a hood over his head. (The Zodiac killer!) Ramirez mocks Zodiac for his disguise and for his self-given nickname.

The other party guests are introduced, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffery Dahmer, Aileen and Richard Ramirez.  John and viewers recognize these names as some of the most infamous American serial killers.  John asks if they are actors playing some sort of sick joke on him.  Mr. March chides John, “You are blind, you have no vision!” Ramirez encourages John to listen to the “master.”

March continues, “Murder is one part perspiration and ten part preparation.”  March brags about his “chutes and ladders” in his murderous hotel.  Gacy states he came to the hotel in his late teens and March taught him the art of murder.  March says Gacy could have been much more prolific if he followed his method. (Gacy killed thirty-three, mostly teenage boys.) John attempts to leave and is handcuffed by Gacy and the Zodiac killer holds a gun on John.

Aileen also praises Mr. March’s tutorial skills stating he was the first man who ever respected her.  Dahmer complains he’s hungry adding, “I don’t eat salad!”  Ramirez moves to put on a record, Lou Reed’s “Sweet Jane.”  March announces he has an “amuse bouche” for Dahmer. (Amuse bouche is French for mouth entertainment, a bite sized appetizer.) A half naked longhaired young man is brought to Dahmer.

Dahmer strokes his victims hair, whispering, “I want to control them, make them part of me. But it never worked, they always died like ten minutes later.” Dahmer takes out a power drill and starts drilling into the young man’s head.  John makes a grab for the Zodiac’s gun and fires off a shot that injures no one.  Dahmer turns to John and says, “Don’t you get it, we are already dead!” Aileen and Ramirez dance slowly.

March continues to lecture on his specialty. “In order to be a great killer, you need to understand people. Get inside their heads.  I didn’t expect he (Dahmer) would take it literally!” Laughter fills the room.

In front of the hotel, Sally watches costumed Halloween revelers walk down the street.  A man in a business suit comes up to her.  They both mock the adult revelers, “Halloween is for losers!” Sally asks him “What’s your idea of fun?”  He smiles, “Whatever your selling!’

Dahmer draws up an old-fashioned looking syringe and uses it inject the young man’s skull. “I’ve made a zombie!”  March is mad at John’s lack of enthusiasm about the night’s festivities.  March praises his guests for being infamous killers about which books and movies have been made.  Gacy brags, “Johnny Depp likes my paintings!” March announces dessert.

Sally brings in the businessman; “He’s flying high on an eight-ball of China White!” Sally confirms with March he is her “payment” for a year of living at the hotel.  March passes out knives to his guests.  Gacy is wearing garish clown make-up. (He enjoyed dressing up as Pogo the Clown, eck!)  March announces, “The sacrifice bonds us together for eternity!”  The crowd starts stabbing the man, as John yells, “NO!”

When John comes to, he finds himself alone with Sally.  She comforts him stating he mush have hallucinating due to the martini and Absinthe.  Sally assures him she is real.  John recalls how Sally disappeared on him before near the elevator.  Sally calls herself his protector and takes him back his room.

The Countess appears in shocking red outfit to meet Alex.  The doctor has made her decision, “I can’t lose my boy again!”  The Countess warns her the process will be painful and she may feel like she’s dying.  The vampire cuts her chest with her knifed silver glove and Alex drinks her blood.  The Countess assures her, “You’ll be reunited with your son for all eternity!”  Alex lies with her head on the Countess’s lap, not moving.

This episode was quite creepy with the inclusion of the real serial killers and their stories that continue to haunt us.  John seems to realize he’s slipping into an alternate universe living at the Hotel Cortez.  Iris was missing from the episode, how would she take to her new life as a vampire? Angela Bassett returns next week to attempt to extract revenge on the Countess.  Reality seems far away from the creatures that inhabit the Hotel.