Syfy's homemade horror, FX's all-pro 'Freak Show'

* TOWN OF THE LIVING DEAD. 10 tonight, Syfy.

* AMERICAN HORROR STORY: FREAK SHOW. 10 p.m. tomorrow, FX.

FOR A TV critic who doesn't live for Halloween horror, October's tough.

FX's "American Horror Story" returns tomorrow, with its fourth edition, the creepy - and star-studded - "Freak Show." AMC's "The Walking Dead" starts Season 5 on Sunday.

ABC Family celebrates Halloween for 13 nights, Syfy for a full 31. AMC has Fearfest, the Disney Channel Monstober (though that doesn't scare me - much).

Even FYI's "Tiny House Nation" plans a haunted-tiny-house edition Oct. 15.

It could be worse. I could live in Jasper, Ala., where zombies have been known to prowl the grocery store, and not just in October.

Home to Syfy's funny and charming new docu-series, "Town of the Living Dead," Jasper, a city of just under 14,000 souls, gets its ghoul on tonight, thanks to some residents who've spent nearly six years trying to make their own zombie movie.

The director works at Radio Shack. The male lead, who suffers from panic disorder, turned down "The Walking Dead" to work on the movie. ("It's extra work, but still, it's 'The Walking Dead.' ") And the producer's assistant who coaches the extras, shouts things like, "No laughing, zombies! Think of dead puppies!"

Syfy heard about the project and agreed to put the movie on TV. Assuming they ever finish it.

Based on tonight's two-episode premiere, I wouldn't start popping the corn just yet.

Which doesn't mean it's not worth checking on the progress (or lack of it) on a project that evokes the spirit of another low-budget horror flick, George Romero's Pennsylvania-filmed classic, "Night of the Living Dead."

Like Romero, who recruited friends and acquaintances as extras, the cast and crew of the film they're calling "Three Days Dead" has gone into the highways and byways - not to mention the grocery store and retirement home - made up like zombies to recruit people with a yen to stagger around on camera covered in ketchup and barbecue sauce.

Romero, according to Wikipedia, used Bosco Chocolate Syrup, but Romero didn't have Tina Teeter.

The film's producer, Tina's the true star of "Town of the Living Dead."

An enthusiast with no apparent film background, she's so far put about $25,000 of her own money into the production, whose most recent delay involved the pregnancy of one of the leads, her daughter, Catie.

She really can't afford to fail and she'll stop at nothing to make it work, even if that means cajoling someone into letting her "borrow" a boat she fully intends to blow up.

Making horror movies isn't for the faint of heart, and Tina acknowledges that Jasper's not entirely on board.

"We are in a small southern, Christian city. It's not everybody's cup of tea," she says of her zombie flick.

It's not usually mine, either, but "Town of the Living Dead" makes me want to believe that this one zombie dream might just come true.

What to say about FX's "American Horror Story: Freak Show"?

If you liked the first three editions of the Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk anthology, I can't imagine you won't like this one, as it boasts strong performances, largely from actors you've already seen, in material that's as over-the-top as ever.

I mostly find "AHS" hard going, with each season offering me a new opportunity to eventually be a little put off. But it's hard not to be impressed with the quality of the repertory company Murphy's built over four seasons. Among the returnees are Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Frances Conroy and Angela Bassett.

Michael Chiklis ("The Shield") joins the cast this season, which is set in 1952 and finds Lange playing the proprietor of one of the last "freak shows" and Paulson as her newest headliner. (No spoilers here, but fans probably already know why she qualifies.)

Also joining the cast are some actors whose differences aren't the result of CGI, including Jyoti Amge, who's said to be the world's smallest woman.

Is it scary? Let's just say that I've never before been afraid of clowns. And now I am.

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On Twitter: @elgray

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