American Horror Story: Cult Dropped Three New Previews, But Which One Is Creepiest?

Even though October is the time of year when creepy things usually occur, let's not forget that August is often privy to two horrifying ordeals: Back to School shopping and American Horror Story promos. With this year's theme locked down as American Horror Story: Cult, a handful of new videos were released to get audiences pumped. But which of them actually creeps us out the most? Let's dive in...carefully.

The first one we have here is appropriately titled "Hands," and it features what appears to be our regular squad of clown-faced loons that Cult will possibly center on. (We assume it's a following that's tied to Freak Show's Twisty the Clown, but that could easily be proven wrong.) Seeing them all surrounding the floating face is pretty cool, but for me, the most unnerving bit is when all the hands and arms form the AHS logo. It looks like the underside of a human centipede, but not like that kind.

Here we have one called "Ritual Queen" that is less disturbing to watch than it is to think about for a few minutes. Sure, all those milling-about clowns are never going to be easy on the eyes or one's sense of safety, but it's not really so frightening to watch them once again lay hands on someone. Even if their hands are going to the same hexagon that appeared before the very first [American Horror Story: Cult][1] teaser that revealed the theme, since that's more intriguing than creepy. But since this clip's title has the word "ritual" in it, that means that either this one woman is curling into a ball on a platform on a regular basis for these clown to walk around and touch, or there are a bunch of women that have been forced to do that. Either option gives me the heebie-jeebies for sure.

[1]: http://Even though October is the time of year when creepy things usually occur, let's not forget that August is often privy to two horrifying ordeals: Back to School shopping and American Horror Story promos. With this year's theme locked down as American Horror Story: Cult, a handful of new videos were released to get audiences pumped. But which of them actually creeps us out the most? Let's dive in...carefully. The first one we have here is appropriately titled "Hands," and it features what appears to be the "regular" squad of clown-faced loons that Cult will possibly center on. (We assume it's a following that's tied to Freak Show's Twisty the Clown, but that could easily be proven wrong.) Seeing them all surrounding the floating face is pretty cool, but for me, the most unnerving bit is when all the hands and arms form the AHS logo. It looks like the underside of a human centipede, but not like that kind. Here we have one called "Ritual Queen" that is less disturbing to watch than it is to think about for a few minutes. Sure, all those milling-about clowns are never going to be easy on the eyes or one's sense of safety, but it's not really so frightening to watch them once again lay hands on someone. Even if their hands are going to the same hexagon that appeared before the very first American Horror Story: Cult teaser that revealed the theme, since that's more intriguing than creepy. But since this clip's title has the word "ritual" in it, that means that either this one woman is curling into a ball on a platform on a regular basis for these clown to walk around and touch, or there are a bunch of women that have been forced to do that. That gives me the heebie-jeebies for sure. Finally, we have the also aptly titled "Whistling in the Dark." While the first two teasers featured our central clown-folk doing something to someone else that was seemingly willing to go along with it, that's not the case here. A lone woman walking down a dark road is never good in the horror genre, and the antagonists' whistling brought to mind both Walter Hill's The Warriors and Fritz Lang's M. Plus, I like a smart last-second edit like that without any jump scares happening, as that tends to leave me with an extended sense of unease that jump scares fail to inspire. No sign of any election shenanigans here, but we know American Horror Story: Cult will feature moments from Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton's political battle. How that and all the new and returning characters will play into clown mobs remains to be seen, but you can see it all when American Horror Story: Cult debuts on FX on Tuesday, September 5, at 10:00 p.m. ET. While waiting, head to our summer premiere schedule and our fall TV guide to see everything hitting primetime before and after that point.

Finally, we have the also aptly titled "Whistling in the Dark." While the first two teasers featured our central clown-folk doing something to someone else that was seemingly willing to go along with it, that's not the case here. A lone woman walking down a dark road is never good in the horror genre, and the antagonists' whistling brought to mind both Walter Hill's The Warriors and Fritz Lang's M. Plus, I like a smart last-second edit like that without any jump scares happening, as that tends to leave me with an extended sense of unease that jump scares fail to inspire.

No sign of any election shenanigans here, but we know American Horror Story: Cult will feature moments from Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton's political battle. How that and all the new and returning characters will play into clown mobs remains to be seen, but you can see it all when American Horror Story: Cult debuts on FX on Tuesday, September 5, at 10:00 p.m. ET. While waiting, head to the next page to tell us which teaser you thought was creepiest, and then check out our summer premiere schedule and our fall TV guide to see everything hitting primetime before and after that point.

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Nick Venable
Assistant Managing Editor

Nick is a Cajun Country native and an Assistant Managing Editor with a focus on TV and features. His humble origin story with CinemaBlend began all the way back in the pre-streaming era, circa 2009, as a freelancing DVD reviewer and TV recapper.  Nick leapfrogged over to the small screen to cover more and more television news and interviews, eventually taking over the section for the current era and covering topics like Yellowstone, The Walking Dead and horror. Born in Louisiana and currently living in Texas — Who Dat Nation over America’s Team all day, all night — Nick spent several years in the hospitality industry, and also worked as a 911 operator. If you ever happened to hear his music or read his comics/short stories, you have his sympathy.