American Horror Story is a horror-drama series that premiered on FX on October 5, 2011. You can still watch the first two episodes on Hulu as of right now, but the pilot will be pulled off on October 31.
Plot Overview:
American Horror Story follows the Harmon family, Ben (Dylan McDermott), Vivien (Connie Britton) and Violet (Taissa Farmiga), who move from Boston to Los Angeles after Vivien gives birth to a stillborn baby and Ben has an affair with one of his students. The family moves to a restored mansion, unaware that the home is haunted. Ben and Vivien try to rekindle their relationship while Violet suffers from depression.
I finally watched the first episode last night and mostly like what I see. I think the show has some pretty cool potential for the mysteries of the house, but there are some fairly cheesy things (like the burned man) and some mostly boring things (the high school drama).
I really dig the house itself, and the surrounding mysteries. The maid was particularly cool, as was the creepy neighbor lady. I'm excited to see the show progress and find out more about the house and the spirits that inhabit it.
One thing I wonder about is Tate, the teenage boy who was a patient of Ben's. His first appearance had him wearing a shirt very similar to the twins who were murdered in the intro, and the basement scene was clearly more than a little weird. Ben also had trouble contacting the police about him being a danger, so I wonder if he is actually real or just another phantom of the house.
The maid and Jessica Lange were very cool, and I'll keep watching because of them. It seems like the producers trying to do too much of everything though. Instead of scaring you with the unseen, they're just throwing every archetype/scary image they can think of at you. Babies, down syndrome prophets (wtf?), masks, burnt people, ghosts, psycho kids, etc.
I'm a sucker for horror movies/shows and I've been watching this myself. The show overall is pretty entertaining but my god, Dylan McDermott is such a bad actor.
Yeah, the acting is a bit meh, but it doesn't really detract much. The only thing that bothers me is all the high school drama stuff. I find it to be very unneeded and boring. I hope it develops into something shortly, though. I hope to watch episodes 2 and 3 tonight and be caught up.
On October 25 2011 04:41 Osmoses wrote: That was a pretty tame trailer tbh. I can see a horror series working, but surely not with the whole "haunted house" premise from the getgo.
I was really skeptical, too. In particular, I had no idea how they could take a haunted house concept and turn it into a full season. Episode 1 was pretty impressive, though.
I'm up to ep3, the production is pretty good although I'm inclined to hate the Vivien character. If anyone hasn't watched ep2 or 3 I'd advise stick with it, although it seems farfetched just pretend all the plot holes aren't there and you get a nice viewing experience. My only concern is all these storylines they add will contribute to a kinda 'Lost' effect where you just lose track of whats going on. Otherwise it's really enjoyable if you have 45 minutes to kill.
Tate is very clearly not human. I liked the Tate-LaBianca referene in the patient names. Overall, I'm less impressed with episode 2 than with 1, but it's mostly fear of how they'll handle it. I worry that episode 3 will not sufficiently portray the extreme trauma that they suffered during the break in / attempted murder. I still love Constance, though. She is perfectly creepy and insane.
I think the house wants to keep them here, or at least keep Ben here. After the intruders were killed, Moira, Constance, and Tate were discussing the situation. They decided that they need to hide the bodies so that Ben can keep treating Tate.
I love Constance so much. She is so evil in so many ways, ranging from murder to call Vivien an old fat ass. I can't figure out her history with the house. It seems like she was another victim of the house in 1983, but why was her daughter (presumably, more on that in the Addy section) outside the house in the 1977 scene? I think Constance is the main antagonist, though. She's got something on both Moira and the house, and her plan is to keep things going the way they are for some sick reason.
At first, she seemed like Constance's daughter, but this last episode made me unsure. The house was abandoned in 1977 with Addy outside, and then Constance lived in there in 1983. I think Addy is more a child of the house than anything else.
I now feel genuine sympathy for Moira. She was murdered and is trapped in the house. I think her curse is that all men see her as a slutty, young maid, and all women see her as a broken old crone. This curse can only be lifted by getting her body off the property, which she was trying to get Ben to do through drugging him, and she is now fucked because her body is entombed.
Tate is another one that I'm unsure of. At first, I thought he was an apparition created by the house, but this last episode makes me think everyone in the house was killed in the house, except the ones that are actually alive. I suspect he might be one of the twins from 1977, mostly because he was wearing a very similar shirt in his first appearance. The only part of this that makes little sense is the rules of aging. Moira went from early 20s to early 60s, and in only a slightly longer timespan, Tate would have gone from about 14 to about 17.
I think the curse of the house is deeply tied to him, though, since the house wants Ben to treat him. Maybe Tate is Charles' son?
The curse definitely started with this man. He wasn't intentionally evil, but bad things happened with him there and the curse began. I think those bad things were all of the abortions taking place there, ending with a murder/suicide where he killed his wife, then himself.
I have no idea who this is, but I think this guy is a manifestation of the house that gets women pregnant to make up for all of the abortions, trying to even the score.
I think the curse of the house originated in the late 20s/early 30s, when Charles was performing all of those abortions and then snapped and killed his wife before killing himself. If any one person is the spirit of the house, it's Charles. The curse of the house is now tied to undoing the abortions through impregnations, by any means possible. It wants the curse to end, but is unable to do so on it's own and thinks Ben can help/
In the end, I think the house is cursed and is trying to fix itself and Ben treating Tate is key to that. I think Constance is trying to prolong the curse for some reason. The only problem with that is Constance helped Tate and Moira get rid of the intruder's bodies so that Ben could continue treating Tate.
Wow, is no one really watching this show? It shits on Walking Dead imo in terms of drama. This is a well executed Drama Horror show. Episode 6 was such a disturbing episode.
On November 11 2011 09:47 matiK23 wrote: Wow, is no one really watching this show? It shits on Walking Dead imo in terms of drama. This is a well executed Drama Horror show. Episode 6 was such a disturbing episode.
I'm still watching. I just stopped posting when I realized nobody was responding.
I'm going to watch episode 6 as soon as I get home tonight. Because of how late it airs, it's a bit inconvenient for me to watch on Wednesday.
Episode 5 was kinda meh, though. It had a bit too much going on, but that is to be expected since 'on Halloween, the dead walk freely'. I really liked the revelations that Tate seems to have been a school shooter about 16 years prior to the show.
EPT
