Update, 10/1: The opening credits sequence for American Horror Story: Hotel is here, and it's just as creepy as you'd hope/fear. It's hard to say exactly where it reached "peak scary" for us, but we'd say it's around the 34-second mark (someone call the concierge, there's a witch lady in my mattress!). Watch the credits above, and watch the premiere on October 7 at 10/9c on FX.

 

We're less than a month away from the October 7 premiere of American Horror Story: Hotel, but today (September 10) a new trailer gives us a good look at the hotel's creepy residents in action. Its creepy, creepy, kind of sexy residents.

The clip starts with a tiny child bursting through elevator doors — then we see a quick cut of three eerie blond kids drinking fountain sodas in the hallway. It's very The Shining.

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"Come play with us!" (FX)
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The kid runs past a sharply-dressed Wes Bentley and Chloe Sevigny, who play Detective John Lowe and his pediatrician wife Alex, respectively. In their all-black Sunday best, they look like they just came from a funeral — Bentley told EW that the couple "had a great loss in the family," so maybe they did.

There's a few deliciously corny horror images, in typically well-executed AHS graphics style: A blender full of BLOOOOD and then a corpse sewn into a Murphy bed, which falls forwared to reveal Sarah Paulson's Season 5 alter ego, Hypodermic Sally. Paulson's previously described Sally as a sexy drug addict who hates Kathy Bates' character, Iris, and she's got big bleached-blonde hair, heavy eyeliner and a leopard print coat. She also has full-blown Crazy Eyes.

Next we see Kathy Bates' Iris, who's the crossword-solving manager of the hotel (hence the huge key ring). She also wears enormous thick-lensed glasses, which is usually Hollywood shorthand for "serial killer," but we shall see.

Suddenly the whole atmosphere changes, and we're suddenly in some type of disco-glam boutique hotel. Here comes Angela Bassett's character, actress Ramona Royale, leading a young man by a leash. Bassett has said Ramona doesn't live at the hotel — so maybe we're actually at her place now? It's very slick. Five stars on Hotel.com, rated "not murdery at all," would recommend.

Matt Bomer wins best outfit, though. Bomer lounges in a mod chair as Donovan, the pink-suited friend of Iris, who he says "has very interesting relationships with the lady folk in his life.”

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Donovan with friends. (FX)
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Evan Peters is the old-timey Mr. March, who originally built the hotel — so he's obviously either a ghost, shown in flashback or both. Judging from both his role and his clothing, Peters' character may be inspired by real-life serial killer H.H. Holmes, who built a women's hotel near the 1893 Chicago World's Fair complete with trap doors and a dissection room. The fact that he's hurling a sinister bundle down a shaft all but confirms this theory.

And finally: Lady Gaga. As the blood-drinking hotel owner Elizabeth makes her way toward the elevator in a Gaga-esque white dress with an impossibly long, feathery train, we first meet two more characters. Cheyenne Jackson plays well-appointed fashion designer Will Drake, who exchanges meaningful looks with Finn Wittrock's Tristan, a male model who seems to hate buttoning shirts. Tristan and Hypodermic Sally vaguely resemble Sid and Nancy...and Nancy was stabbed to death in the hotel the couple were living in...and those scissors that Tristan's carrying look super sharp. Okay, we're just wildly speculating now.

The brief flash of Gaga we get at the end is so worth it. October 7 can't come soon enough. Got any AHS: Hotel theories of your own? Let us know in the comments!

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