Great art demands pain in the first trailer for American Horror Story: Double Feature

Thankfully, this trailer for the first part of Double Feature is surprisingly manageable. There’s nothing too nonsensical happening here, and as a matter of fact, it all starts off with some familiar hooks. A writer (Finn Wittrock) moves to a seemingly idyllic coastal town with his wife (Lily Rabe) in hopes of getting past a crushing case of writer’s block (Alan Wake, anyone?), but as he spends more time with the locals (Evan Peters and Frances Conroy) he finds writing easier and easier… and also scarier and scarier. It seems like drinking blood or hurting people makes you more creative, with Finn Wittrock banging his head like a rockstar when his writing is really hitting a groove—a thing all writers have done at least once, let’s be honest—but the thing about spooky supernatural cure-alls is that there’s generally a high price to be paid. It’s all very Stephen King, especially if whatever magic stuff is going on could be read as a metaphor for substance abuse (and, based on this trailer, that seems likely).

American Horror Story: Double Feature will premiere on FX on August 25.