Murphy is teaming up with Paranormal Activity producer Jason Blum to remake the 1976 horror classic The Town That Dreaded Sundown. Based on a true story, the film centered on five mysteries murders attributed to The Phantom Killer in the bordertown of Texarkana, Arkansas. Frequent American Horror Story director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon will direct. There’s no word yet on how the film will be updated but it’s a safe guess that the Phantom Killer will forgo his classic pillowcase mask for one made of pleather with zippers all over it. (Shock Til You Drop)

While American Horror Story isn’t a favorite show of this site, the hope, however unlikely, that McShane will call matron Jessica Lange a “cocksucker,” while indignantly tossing back whiskey, then storming out of the room is enough to make us mildly excited about this news.

But mostly it reminds us that we miss Al Swearengen.

He was like a father to us.

Predating Casey Anthony and O.J. Simpson by about half-a-century was Elizabeth Short, a Los Angeles murder victim who has been immortalized in film, television, and newspapers as “The Black Dahlia.” The media circus surrounding the mystery of her murder may be the largest factor in why the case was never solved. Even today, the case manages to intrigue new audiences, as Ryan Murphy demonstrated recently in an episode of American Horror Story.

For those unfamiliar with the facts of the case, as well as the countless adaptations in the media, let’s examine exactly who The Black Dahlia was and what happened to her.

Born in 1924, Elizabeth Short was a Massachusetts-born girl who moved to Los Angeles at the age of 19 with her father, but quickly found herself on her own after a falling out in 1943. After further travels back home to Medford, MA, and then to Florida, Short returned to LA to visit an old boyfriend, Lieutenant Joseph Fickling. She remained in LA for six months, which turned out to be the remained of her young life.

On January 15, 1947, Short’s body was found near what is referred to as South Central Los Angeles. Her body was cut in half at the waist, a smile was carved on her face ear-to-ear, and her body was drained of its blood. She was cleaned and posed despite the mutilations.

Due to the graphic nature of the crime, the local, then national media jumped on the case, sensationalizing Short as “victim material,” painting her as a woman who was loose with both sex and alcohol, though the opposite was true. The Black Dahlia nickname was bestowed upon her after her death by a reporter, a reference to the popular film The Blue Dahlia at the time.

The police working the case received phone calls and packages from the person purporting to be the killer, but they also received over 50 confessions to the murder. The truth was never discovered due to the fact that reporters had trampled the crime scene and tainted much of the evidence police had available.

The Los Angeles District Attorney synthesized, then analyzed the tips and confessions to create a “short”-list of 25 suspects. Predictably, speculation has abounded over the past 70 years, allowing authors and screenwriters free reign over a compelling case that is unlikely to ever be solved. The setting of 1940’s Los Angeles also provides a compelling film noir backdrop for various interpretations, ranging from the practical to the fantastic.

For those not hip to the show, Horror Story follows the Harmon family as they move from Boston to LA, dealing with their marital problems, all the while having to negotiate their new house, which, of course, is haunted. It stars Dylan McDermott, Connie Britton, Frances Conroy, and Jessica Lange.

Ever since the show’s teaser campaign, the project has served as a sort of mystery to be solved, which evidently hasn’t scared away casual viewers who stumbled upon the show looking for sexy vampires or dudes killing zombies.

However thin the plot appears to be, the show’s creators, Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, have managed to weave together perfectly balanced elements of shock, horror and storytelling to accomplish what many thought would fall flat. And in a way, the doubts people had about the show actually ignited the fury behind trying to figure out what Murphy and Falchuk are planning.

What will happen to both the living and the dead people stuck in the Murder House? W

hat’s growing inside Vivian?

And most of all, who controls “The Infantata” in the basement?

Here are nine American Horror Story plot theories.

The entire story is made up by Violet after finding the dead bodies of Ben, Vivian & Hayden and being institutionalized.

Before you shake your head and say this is crazy, think about the show we’re talking about. So far, the rules of American Horror Story exist only within whatever Murphy & Falchuk can come up with. Knowing this, it’s possible that after the scene in the pilot where Viv cuts Ben after she catches him in bed with Hayden, what if Ben lashed out and accidentally killed her, then Hayden, and finally himself. Violet comes home and discovers the grizzly psycho sex murder scene and becomes unglued and is institutionalized, spending the rest of her days living out this fantasy within her head. 

It makes sense because during the pivotal moments of the show, Violet is the person that demands to be in the house. She even says, “We’ll take it,” to Marcie the Realtor in the pilot, and tells her mother she’d run away before she’d leave the house.

Tate is the puppeteer of “The Infantata” in the basement.

There have been lots of subtle hints that Tate is tied to the creature thing in the basement. He uses it to protect Violet multiple times, including when he has Violet lure both the high school bully and the home invasion killer down stairs. But also, he is insistent about meeting Violet there so that they can be alone,. It’s as though he is the only person that can shield her from the monster.

When Tate initially got the bully into the basement, the camera flashed between him and “The Infantata,” causing Violet to ask him what that monster was and how controlled it.  However, once Tate saved Violet from the Home Invasion killers, she stopped questioning his intentions, and instead started asking what the monster was, prompting the tale of Dr. Charles Montgomery’s most vile work, the reanimation of his own dismembered child.

The troubled past Ben Harmon talks about was caused by bizarre psychic powers.

There is something about Ben that just doesn’t add up, starting with the house’s bizarre hold over him. It causes him to wake up in the middle of the night and play with fire. Not to mention his insane meetings with Larry the fire starter. More importantly, is the fact that Ben is becoming slowly unglued.

When Ben meets with Tate in the playground on Halloween, he tells Tate that he can relate to him more than Tate can understand, making him quite possibly the worst therapist on Earth if not the most pathetic human being. If Ben’s childhood antics were the cause of super bizarre psychic powers, it would make sense how he is extremely susceptible to the power of the house and incapable on fighting it off.

So it makes sense that at least some of the upcoming FX horror series, American Horror Story, would have to do with dreams. As you can see above, this video has a lot of dreamlike imagery and music, from the backwards-in-places score to actual dialogue discussing dreams.

Man, all this dream-talk is making me want a nap. I hope I don’t dream about that old leather guy again. No, not Charles S. Dutton!

American Horror Story premieres Wednesday, October 5th at 10:00 PM ET/PT on FX.

This first one is the most subtle of the bunch – the creepiest thing in it is a simple shot of a staircase, which is still pretty creepy, don’t get me wrong.

Now things are starting to get weird. Remember that shiny leather I told you about? Yeah, it’s here. If there’s one thing to make a haunted house creepier it’s a little S&M imagery.

This last one is the creepiest of all – even more shiny leather shots, plus some kind of weird topsy-turvy room to boot. It’s kind of like the shining meets Lady Gaga meets the creator of Glee. Jesus, that truly is horrifying.

The show premieres on October 5th, on FX.

(Check out these ‘American Horror Story’ viral clues‘)

Between this little teaser and the “clues” that we posted about yesterday, this show is shaping up to really raise the bar for horror on TV. Now, we don’t know a thing about the premise, beyond “it’s a family that moves into a haunted house,” but the production designs and cast have been enough so far to ensure that we keep our eyes on this until the October 5th premiere on FX.

As we see from this video, we’ve got Dylan McDermott as the patriarch, and Connie Britton as the mom, supported by Jessica Lange, Jamie Harris, a bunch of disembodied arms and legs, and everyone’s favorite vampire encased in concrete, Denis O’Hare.

How much you wanna bet the kids are home schooled?

(Check out ‘American Horror Story: Meet the Family‘)

But clues to what?

Uh, the show? Stuff that happens in the show? Show-related goings-on and occurrences?

It’s not really clear what the clues are for, but don’t take my word for it. On the show’s YouTube channel, there appear to be nine clues (as of press time. Expect more.) that reveal what we can safely assume are elements of the show.

Even if you can’t put two and two together, watching these videos gives you a good sense of how creepy the show is going to be. Extremely. It appears to be extremely creepy. It’s good to see Glee hasn’t sucked out the more macabre sensibilities from Ryan Murphy.

So, take a gander at the videos and let us know what you can deduce.

All I’v taken away is that the lady with the sword to her stomach looks preggers. Is someone gonna take her baby? Intriguing…

FX has been hot on the show ever since Murphy said, “I have an idea.” They even wrote it in big red letters with little hearts on their fall calendar before the pilot was ordered to series, and have now officially set it to premiere October 5. In creating it, Murphy and Falchuk took inspiration from classic 1970s horror movies, including Rosemary’s Baby, Don’t Look Now and The Shining. If the series turns out to be half as awesome as it sounds, we could be in for a nice companion to The Walking Dead. No, not the Sandra Bernhard special. (Deadline)

In “American Horror Story,” McDermott stars opposite Connie Britton, her boobs, and Jessica Lange. The plot is being kept under wraps but a pilot breakdown did provide this info about two characters:

Ben Harmon (McDermott), a handsome and masculine but sensitive therapist who loves his family but has hurt his wife, and Vivien Harmon (Britton), his gorgeous wife who is a force to be reckoned with. Lange plays their nosy neighbor, a role that has been beefed-up after her casting.

Masculine but sensitive. Probably uses Brut aftershave and wears turtle-neck sweaters the rest of us can’t pull off. That’s perfect casting. (Deadline)

She’s playing the “nosy neighbor” of the two leads, which is being expanded into a larger role to accommodate Lange. One of those two leads is a played by Connie Britton, while her husband on the show has yet to be cast. Denis O’Hare is also attached, as “Larry the burn guy.” I’m assuming that Larry the burn guy is a comedian who wears sleeveless shirts and sets people on fire. Man, I hope this show gets picked up, it sounds awesome. Ah, nope, he’s actually a vampire or something. (Deadline)

And we’re about to get hit in the dome with a big ole’ gay vampire. O’Hare has been cast opposite Connie Britton as “Larry the burn guy.” Subtlety, thy name is Murphy.

I have reservations about this decision. I don’t know if I will be able to believe that O’Hare isn’t a gay vampire after he was SUCH a gay vampire on “True Blood.”. I guess if they cover him with enough burns, I can suspend disbelief.

The pilot episode shoots next month once Murphy finishes shooting this season of”Glee.” Expect the pilot to radiate the quiet dignity for which Ryan Murphy shows are known. (Deadline)

Historically, horror TV programs have “sucked” (it’s an industry term), which apparently Murphy realized as he promises to transcend genre as he did with “Nip/Tuck” and medical shows then with “Glee” and all those other shows about gay handicapped teenagers.

FX President John Landgraf refers to it as a “really complicated, interesting psychological horror show…” Interesting? I guess he doesn’t want to oversell it. This news is surprising given this recent story that David O. Russell sold a secret show to FX with Connie Britton firmly attached to star. The only logical conclusion that one can draw from this paradox is that David O. Russell and Ryan Murphy are the same person. Which explains why they’re both such big yellers. (THR)

Glee

Michael Ausiello did some digging and was able to uncover a casting breakdown for the pilot’s four leads. And, thankfully, the Twilight elements are minimal.

• Ben Harmon | Though as sensitive as a woman, this 40ish therapist is also a man’s man.
• Vivien Harmon | Ben’s gorgeous wife, she is a force to be reckoned with in spite of her vulnerable demeanor.
• Violet | The Harmons’ 16-year-old daughter is a Goth with more issues than a Borders magazine rack.
• Tate Langdon | This 17-year-old is as dangerous as he is seductive. And not “Glee’s Puck dangerous,” either; we’re talking “Charles Manson dangerous.”

Ah. So it seems that the action is centered around the Harmons and their shitty daughter. Still no word if there will be a supernatural element to this show, but it seems that they’re going for a more reality-based drama. One thing is certain, it seems there won’t be any glee clubs on this show. Though seeing a jazz tap routine performed by a “Charles Manson dangerous” type sounds compelling. If that doesn’t work out here, maybe “Dancing With The Stars” can figure out some kind of work-release situation. (TV Line)