American Horror Story is What Horror Fans Have Been Waiting For
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American Horror Story brings all the elements of a superb horror film into a television series. Creator Ryan Murphy of Nip/Tuck and Glee fame has struck gold on this one.
Horror Queen Says: Bloody Thumbs Up!
Written by BHM Editor Horror Queen
October 5, 2011
Video Gallery
Released: October 5, 2011
Directed by: Ryan Murphy, David Semel
Written by: Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk
Starring:
Dylan McDermott as: Ben Harmon Connie Britton as: Vivien Harmon Taissa Farmiga as: Violet Harmon Jessica Lange as: Constance
Ah the beauty of cable television. Where else can horror fans celebrate their passion without having to go to the movie theatre or out to rent a video, but in their own home with a perfectly satisfying hour of madness and the macabre each week? Thank you, FX.
American Horror Story has us at the opening sequence. It’s the late ‘70s and twin boys carousing around the neighborhood looking for trouble find it in an abandoned estate. Despite the warnings of a little girl with Down Syndrome in the front yard warning them they are ‘going to die in there’, they burst into the house swinging their baseball bats at anything they can smash…that is until they go down to the basement and meet their violent demise. And believe me, it’s violent.
What the hell is in the basement we wonder as the show cuts to the
present, and a new family is moving in. And is it still there? The 
Harmons don’t seem to be too
concerned, even when their realtor tells them the previous occupants
died in a murder suicide incent in the same basement. What she neglects
to tell them is that nearly every occupant in the house since
its construction has suffered a similar fate.
The Harmons already have their own issues. After suffering a miscarriage the year before, Vivien (Connie Britton) came home one day to find her psychiatrist husband Ben (Dylan McDermott) screwing one of his students. So there are some trust issues. And daughter Violet (Taissa Farmiga, Vera’s sister) is a pretty disturbed young girl who immediately falls in love with the house once she finds out people died in it. So it’s a brand new start for everyone.
Except it’s not. Vivien can’t seem to forgive Ben for what he did.
It doesn’t help matters that the maid who appears as an old woman to 
Vivien, is to Ben a twenty year
old hottie who he immediately lusts after. When Vivien finally gives in
to Ben’s affections, it’s not Ben getting on top of his wife but a man
in a black latex hooded suit she assumes is Ben. As we could have
predicted, Violet doesn’t fit in very well at her new school so one of
her father’s patients Tate helps her scare a girl by bringing her down
into the basement where whatever’s down there leaves her fleeing in
terror.
The most outrageous character is nosey neighbor Constance (Jessica Lange) who stops by repeatedly to hint at the morbid things that have happened in the house, and threatening the maid, ‘don’t make me kill you again.’
Aside from the constant eeriness of American Horror Story, it comes complete with downright terrifying horror - extreme violence, dead babies in jars, satanic symbols, you name it. The genius that sets it apart however are the many solid characters and subplots, not to mention the endless potential for further stories based on those who lived in the house before the Harmons. No doubt fans will want to tune in each week to see how American Horror Story unfolds. Confirmed horror fan or not…everyone loves a good scare.
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