American Horror Story - Season 1 [DVD]

American Horror Story is the unique, fresh and scary horror series created and produced by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, the guys behind Glee and Nip n Tuck. Since its initial run in October 2011 it has achieved worldwide fame and acclaim. Actress Jessica Lange even won a Golden Globe award for her performance in this. The first season centres around "the murder house" a malevolent haunted house that seems to claim the life of anyone foolish enough to stick around. It features Dylan Mcdermott and Connie Britton as Ben and Vivien, a couple who have been torn apart due to the miscarriage of a baby boy and his subsequent infidelity with a younger student. They move to LA with their teenage daughter Violet (Taissa Farmiga) as they believe it is the only way to save their family from falling apart. After moving into their new "dream home" the family meets numerous strange and interesting characters, including their eccentric actress neighbor Constance (Jessica Lange) her daughter Adelaide (Jamie Brewer) who has downs syndrome and the mysterious housekeeper Moira (Francis Conroy/Alexandra Breckenridge.) Ben, a psychiatrist also begins therapy sessions with a troubled boy named Tate who may or may not have been responsible for a shoot-out massacre at his old high school. Tate also begins "seeing" Violet and ultimately ends up being the centre of the troubles in the house. From there, things take a terrifying turn as the family fight to stay alive in the house that knows no bounds.As this is a haunted house-type drama series there are plenty of scares and a whole bunch of gruesome ghosts, but this is very much a character driven story about trying to hold onto your sanity and save your family from the greater evils in life. Each episode begins by explaining a little bit more about the history of the house and some of the ghosts who reside there (like how they died and why they are bound to reside at the house.) The main story then begins and each chapter adds depth to a family who are on the verge of falling apart. McDermott plays a man struggling to find himself, his wife is stricken with grief for their unborn child and the ultimate betrayal from her husband and the teenage daughter has a hard time with bullies at her new school and the psychotic relationship with Tate who is antagonistic and narcissistic. So much happens to these characters that any "supernatural" occurances (and yes there are many) almost seem a relief as it takes away from dealing heads on with the obvious problems that are tearing the family apart. The characters who appear throughout the season are all interesting and layered and some scenes are unsettling to say the least. There are lots of jump scares but what works the most is the creepy atmosphere that seeps through the story. There are also lots of sadomasochistic sex scenes (this is a real life couple trying desperately to add spice into their relationship) but it is mostly done tastefully. There is also lots of violence, some of which is pretty disturbing (children getting their throats cut, people being shot in their beds, set on fire etc) but these moments are few and far between and actually add a lot to the story so they are not just scenes thrown in for shock value.This was obviously penned to shock critics and audiences across the world. Everything is thrown in- hardcore sex, countless bloody murders, children with downs syndrome being verbally abused etc, but if you can look past this then you will discover an interesting story that twists and turns and keeps you guessing til the very end. The acting is superb, especially from Lange and Evan Peters as the disturbed Tate. The dialogue between the characters is also very intriguing. The script goes from serious to tongue-in-cheek at times. Lange plays a deliciously evil character underneath but her bittersweet appearance and behavior makes her almost comical to the audience who know her real motives. Farmiga also steals the show from time to time as the angst-y teen with a fully loaded mouth to boot. Each actor and their alter ego ultimately does a very god job at convincing which is great to see in a horror driven TV show.The only thing that takes away from the entertainment are the cliches that sometimes rear their ugly head. Every single haunted house cliche is thrown in (though sometimes it feels as though this is done as an in-joke or homeage to other films) however AHS is mostly so scary that it never really matters. The basic plot is ripped directly from The Amityville Horror (family buys an expensive house for half the price due to a number or murders that occurred there, family moves into house to try and build a relationship) and the main protagonist Ben could almost be Jack Nicholson from The Shining (he starts to lose his mind etc) but overall this still feels fresh and there are interesting twists added to keep the story moving.This is definitely worth your time. It will keep you gripped and on the edge of your seat. The story is rich, fun, interesting and you can actually relate to the characters. Yes there is plenty of violence and it is also pretty sexy as well but this was never made for kids so hopefully you can look past that and see this for what it is- a horror series that aims to scare the living daylights out of you.

Years ago, I watched the first season when it came out, I was about 12, didn't understand it and certainly didn't finish it, it's now been 10 years and I binged the whole season. It's a very acquired taste, however, it couldn't have been more perfect. I was hooked all the way through, and I understood every aspect of the story, you aren't made to like every single character and the actors/actresses were on par with their acting! Jessica Lange, Lily Rabe and Evan Peters did a brilliant job in catching the personality of their characters. Absolutely brilliant! And I will binge-watch this season again.

Just occasionally a studio executive will take a brave decision and risk making something extraordinary and, in the process, create an instant cult classic - think Firefly (interestingly also produced by Tim Minear) or Fringe. American Horror Story, however, falls quite a long way short of the mark. It is weird, quirky and genuinely scary in places but the spooky atmosphere is not maintained consistently; a lot of the time it feels more like American Family Soap. The mainstay of the show is the old "who's dead and who isn't" plot device which, in a house crowded with fully corporeal ghosts isn't as simple as you might think. Unfortunately, not being great aficionados of cult horror movies, a lot of the apparently clever reverential hat-tipping to famous scenes was completely wasted on us so maybe that is a dimension that may have added some much needed depth to the series. Mind you, if they are as subtle (not!) as the Kill Bill and Psycho pastiches then they're just as likely to interrupt the narrative flow.With little time devoted to character development the cast are stuck playing simple, monolithic stock roles and this, combined with the uneven pace and atmosphere makes for a very shallow, superficial and almost corny feel to the whole show. The above notwithstanding, there are some good performances; Jessica Lange is a splendid faded southern belle and Zachary Quinto camps it up for all he's worth. A bit of mythology developed towards the end of the series but, on the whole, each episode is just an inconsequential and improbable series of events which fail to both further the almost non-existent plot or to engage the viewer. For us it certainly did not fall into the "I don't care how late it is, let's just watch another episode" category which defines the best series'; it was just something to watch as it was too early to go to bed & read.As is evident, we were rather disappointed; we expected more given the 73% five star rating. Perhaps we were expecting too much or, more likely, we weren't the intended audience. It was OK'ish but definitely nothing for us to rave about.