WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for American Horror Stories Season 1, Episode 3, "Drive In," now streaming on Hulu.

After American Horror Stories' two-part premiere, the spin-off is back with a third installment. "Drive In" leaves familiar American Horror Story locations behind and features the Starlite Drive In as the renovated theater prepares to release the forbidden film Rabbit Rabbit. After airing only once in 1986, the film caused unexplainable violence in viewers, resulting in a massacre that left six people dead. While Rabbit Rabbit is purely fictional, American Horror Stories nods to the real-life series The Joy of Painting. With Creepshow also recently paying tribute to the painting legend, Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk's spin-off further confirms Bob Ross as a quiet horror icon.

American Horror Stories' "Drive In" opens with Chad (Rhenzy Feliz) trying to seduce his girlfriend Kelley (Madison Bailey). As they make out, Bob Ross' The Joy of Painting plays in the background. Chad's reasoning for playing reruns of the PBS show is to relax Kelley so much that she lets him go all the way -- something they haven't done yet in their six-month relationship. Later, when talking to his friends about his strategy, he compares Bob's show to "female Viagra."

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American Horror Stories - Season 1 Episode 3 Drive In

While the moment features a few of Bob Ross' well-known catchphrases, like "happy tree" and "beat the Devil out of it," he doesn't appear in the episode again. However, Bob's calm, soft-spoken demeanor establishes a nice juxtaposition to the terror and screaming that transpire later in the episode. As such, Bob's gentle personality makes the violence caused by the possessed moviegoers seem way more extreme in comparison. Bob Ross and zombie-like possessed people seem like an odd combination, but American Horror Stories isn't the only property to pair them up.

Shudder's 2019 continuation of George Romero and Stephen King's horror anthology series, Creepshow, utilizes the same pairing in its second season. "Public Television Of The Dead" sees The Evil Dead's Deadites invade a public television station. As such, the episode spoofs some of PBS' most popular shows, including Lamb Chop's Play-Along, Antique Roadshow and The Joy of Painting. While Creepshow features a fictionalized version of Bob Ross called Norm Roberts (Mark Ashworth), it goes a step further than American Horror Stories with the character.

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Creepshow - Public Television of the Dead Bob Ross

This Bob Ross takes central stage, with his past military training giving him a significant edge over the Deadites. Once again, Bob's trademark calm personality makes him fighting the demonic Deadites known for their slapstick style horror all the more hilarious. In that regard, Creepshow and American Horror Stories expertly use Bob Ross' sunny demeanor to contrast against some of horror's darker elements.

Bob Ross has no doubt earned a well-deserved spot in pop culture. While his likeness has been spotlighted in film and television from Family Guy to Deadpool 2, his inclusion in horror is perhaps the most iconic. Therefore, American Horror Stories' nod to the painting icon is no happy little accident.

AHS fans can find American Horror Stories on Hulu to see what topic the spin-off tackles each week. New episodes air each Thursday.

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