About

Help The Killer Is Escaping refers to a clip from American Horror Story: Asylum where Sarah Paulson's character screams in fear, "help, he's escaping! The killer is escaping, help me!" The audio from the scene became popular in lip dubs on TikTok in September and October 2021. A remix of the clip was posted to TikTok on October 1st by @sleepsleep__ and became significantly popular over the course of the month in dance and skit videos on the platform.

Origin

On October 24th, 2012, season two episode two of American Horror Story: Asylum aired in North America. In the episode, Sarah Paulson's character Lana Winters accuses Evan Peters' character of being a killer, screaming for help as he tries to leave the room. The clip was uploaded to TikTok^[3] by @horrorcovwn on July 1st, 2021, gaining over 10 million views in three months. It was uploaded by YouTuber^[2] caitlin hhh on July 22nd, gaining over 745,000 views in three months (shown below).

Spread

The original sound^[4] for @horrorcovwn's upload of the clip, titled "helllp the killer is ey scape ing," became notably popular on TikTok throughout August and September 2021, often in skits or videos showing something running away (examples shown below, left and right).

The sound saw increased attention in October. On October 2nd, for example, TikToker @thereallightskinmonte used the sound in a skit about Michael Jacson, gaining over 22.5 million views in five days (shown below, left). On October 3rd, Billie Eilish posted a video "lip dubbing" to the audio with her nostrils, gaining over 48 million views in four days (shown below, right). As of October 7th, the sound has been used over 317,000 times on TikTok.

"Help The Killer Is Escaping" Remix

On October 1st, 2021, TikToker^[1] and musician @sleepsleep__ posted a remix of the clip, making it into a house song, gaining over 483,000 views in six days (shown below).

The sound became significantly popular in dance videos on the platform. For example, on October 4th, TikToker @norafawn posted a video dancing in Squid Game cosplay, gaining over 1.3 million views in three days (shown below, left). On October 6th, TikToker @mariah_amato posted a dance-skit video referencing the Jersey Shore characters, gaining over 2 million views in under a day (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References