Warning: The following contains major spoilers for American Horror Stories Season 1, Episode 4, "The Naughty List," now streaming on Hulu.
After exploring the topic of curse films, American Horror Stories is back with another anthology entry. This week the spin-off delivers Christmas in July. "The Naughty List" spotlights the Bro House, a quartet of social media influencers living together in a mansion with the big dream of hitting five million subscribers. The dynamic pokes fun at pop culture trends and reality TV tropes. The episode opens with action-packed stunts and a partying intro before the young men introduce themselves on camera with snarky smiles and cheesy intros like "I am bad news, they say." There is Zinn (Nico Greetham), the "bad boy," Wyatt (Charles Melton), the "heartthrob," Barry (Kevin McHale), the "3.8 GPA" and James (Dyllon Burnside), the "pretty boy."
All pushing their late twenties, the guys are worried that their time as successful influencers is fading, stating that after 30, people become invisible to the audience. Desperate to attain more followers and notoriety, the Bro House decides to record a video of a man committing suicide five days before Christmas. They camp out under a bridge and watch the man jump. Although Barry -- the cameraman and self-proclaimed tech guy -- isn't thrilled with the idea, he films it anyway and uploads it the Bro House's YouTube page. Later, they reveal the video at a big house party and their guests are horrified. The video also receives hefty backlash from their online audience, including the loss of over 100,000 followers, extreme negative comments, a petition to have their channel shot down and the suicide victim's family holding a press conference to denounce them.
Instead of feeling empathy for the dead man and his family, the guys turn their attention to rebuilding their social media empire. Zinn decides they need to "go gay." He wants them to shoot videos of them being "homeysexual," where they are affectionate with each other even though they are straight. Zinn claims it's a movement about transcending sexuality, but Wyatt and Barry worry it's exploitative and offense. Despite their protests, Zinn follows through with the plan and the Bro House record a series of cringe-worthy videos that definitely confirm what Barry and Wyatt feared. As such, the Bro House lose significantly more followers, dropping them lower on the monetization scale.
Fearing they will lose their house, Barry knows they need to correct their mistakes fast. He encourages the guys to return to their roots, capitalizing on what made them Internet sensations in the first place: humor and feel-good vibes. Their new video idea brings them to the local mall, which is all decorated for the holiday, with Christmas right around the corner. The Bro House approaches the area where children are getting pictures with Santa (Danny Trejo). While the video starts with the guy's trademark goofy, chaotic energy, it quickly devolves into an epic disaster.
Zinn, Wyatt and James proceed to make off-putting, sexual remarks to the female elf helper. When the disruption brings over her another elf and little person, the guy proceeds to insult the man's size. The moment culminates with Zinn walking into the picture area and declaring that Santa isn't real in front of all the children waiting in line. To top it off, Zinn performs a lap dance on Santa, who stops the obscenity by roughly pushing Zinn to the ground. Zinn laughs and proclaims, "Guess we're not getting presents this year, boys," to which the Santa responds, "You'll get what you deserve."
After being chased off by security, the boys return home to celebrate with beers. They upload their excursion to the mall online. After watching the footage, they realize they messed up once again -- and their dwindling fanbase responds accordingly. An argument breaks out among the Bro House as they come to terms that their Internet careers may be over. Eventually, Wyatt disappears into the garage for more beers. Shortly after, Zinn receives a phone call from Detective Deena Gibbs (Taneka Johnson) of L.A. Robbery-Homicide. She inquires about the online prank at the Santa's Village in West L.A. and wants to speak to the guys about their interaction with the man posing as Santa. Gibbs explains the Santa is an imposter who took the place of the real Santa's Village employee after murdering him in his apartment. While Zinn agrees to come in with information and a copy of the tape the next day, Gibbs says it's likely not the first time the imposter mall Santa has killed.
Meanwhile, Wyatt enters the garage to retrieve more beer. Upon opening the fridge, he discovers a camera taped to the inside wall. Before he can react, the killer Santa's gloved hands cover Wyatt's mouth before twisting his head around and breaking his neck. As Zinn fills Barry and James in on his conversation with Detective Gibbs, they discover someone has managed to upload a video of Wyatt's death to their Bro House channel. The fans love it, reacting with a plethora of likes and complimenting the special effects. Given the Bro House's fetish for pranks, Zinn, Barry and James assume Wyatt is messing with them.
While Barry and James pursue the video's comments and attempt to delete the video, Zinn searches for Wyatt in the garage. He follows a noise outside, where he crosses paths with the silent, menacing Santa. Zinn still suspects a prank right up until the Santa clubs him with a bone. With Zinn on the ground, the Santa shoves holly leaves in his mouth as a gag and ties him up with string lights. After, he drops the Bro House bad boy into the pool, electrocuting him. The incident causes the lights to go out in the mansion, spooking Barry and James.
James calls 911, but the operator puts no rush on the squad car given the Bro House's past "cry wolf" mentality. Barry and James embrace before running out to the car. However, their escape is cut short by the Santa, who executes James with a crossbow while perched on the roof. After seeing his friend die, Barry flees back into the house but must drag himself because of the arrow sticking throw his leg. He locks himself inside and tries to stop his bleeding with a Christmas stocking. It does little to help, and Barry slowly becomes woozy from the blood loss. In a last-ditch effort, he writes a comment asking for help on the Bro House YouTube channel.
The Santa's footsteps sound on the roof, and Barry suspects he might come through the chimney like the real St. Nick. However, upon dragging himself over there, he realizes that Santa is pouring gasoline through the chimney. Barry crawls away but is preoccupied when he hears a celebratory alert coming from his computer. The Bro House YouTube channel officially received five million subscribers after the recent string of murderous posts. Barry cheers into the empty house just as the Santa tosses a match into the chimney.
A rendition of "Silent Night" starts playing as Barry -- engulfed in flames -- sprints toward the pool. The police arrive minutes later to discover the carnage. Detective Gibbs is most horrified by the Bro House Christmas tree, which sports Zinn's head as a topper and various body parts for ornaments. The scene fades out then back to a parking lot where another mall Santa, presumably finishing a shift, shuffles to his car. However, the killer Santa watches him from his truck, likely plotting his next kill.
American Horror Stories explores a new horror subject each Thursday on Hulu.