‘American Horror Story’ has ‘Cult’ mentality

A few weeks ago, a number of the female stars and producers of FX’s “American Horror Story: Cult” — including Emmy winner Sarah Paulson, Alison Pill and Billie Lourd — took questions from TV critics about the show.

After more than 40 minutes, they had effectively avoided saying almost anything concrete about the seventh season of the anthology series, including the most intriguing aspect: President Trump.

Show creator Ryan Murphy has said the new season of “AHS” will tackle the 2016 presidential election, but when that was broached, executive producer Alexis Martin Woodall would only say, “It’s not what you think it is, and I’m not trying to be cagey.”

Then on Aug. 22, the first trailer for the series was released. It opened with a voice-over asking, “What’s the thing that scares you the most?”

Then we see Paulson’s character, Ally, screaming in shock as it’s announced on television that, “It’s official: Donald Trump is now the next president of the United States.”

Last week at a screening of the first three episodes of “Cult,” Murphy talked a bit more about the series. He described it to reporters who attended as not about the president but rather about the divisiveness of the nation since the election.

“Politics in the past year has become entertainment in a weird way in our country,” Murphy told those who attended.

(Journalists are under embargo about what they saw, and as of this writing nothing of substance has leaked about the actual plot lines of the show.)

The second scene of the trailer, though, has a bluehaired Evan Peters reacting to news of Trump’s election with a display of sexual ecstasy. Presumably, that is part of the first episode called “Election Night.”

In “Cult,” Peters, who has been in all seven “AHS” seasons, plays Kai. He’s described as a creepy but charismatic psychopath who invokes fear to build a following.

Along the way, Peters will also play cult leaders such as Charles Manson, David Koresh, Jim Jones and other figures, including Andy Warhol.

(In one episode, Lena Dunham portrays Valerie Solanas, the woman who attempted to kill Andy Warhol.)

Meanwhile, Paulson’s Ally grows more paranoid. The election has triggered her coulrophobia, an irrational fear of clowns.

Beyond these tidbits, only the most mundane details have emerged. We know Ally is married to Ivy (played by franchise newcomer Pill). Lourd’s character, Winter, tells Kai that children “fill her heart with dread” and then gives Ally’s son a Twisty the Clown doll. Lourd is also a newcomer to “AHS” but was on Murphy’s campy horror show “Scream Queens.”

Where Murphy and company are going with “Cult” is anybody’s guess. The various incarnations of the series can be hit and miss. No one can deny the production values and the terrific casts, but it’s often more horror spectacle than substance.

“Freak Show” from 2014, which introduced Twisty, was the best of “AHS” so far. It was truly weird and nightmarish — Paulson played conjoined twins — and had something to say, although it could be a bit too obvious at times.

Still, it was hard to look away.

Will “Cult” measure up? It’s already thrown out a couple of weird teases in TV ads, including a honeycombed head with bees, but Murphy has said there are no supernatural elements in the series.

Murphy also told journalists that elements of the series have already come to pass in recent weeks — “Charlottesville, for example.”

“It’s bizarre,” he adds.