"American Horror Story" Review (ENGL101)

Another English 101 writing assignment. This one is a short review for the movie or televison show of our choice. I decided to go with my absolute favorite television show of the past year, American Horror Story.

Often, I have a short attention span involving television series’. Few shows can keep my attention to last though the season, let alone an entire series’ run.  American Horror Story, or AHS as it fans soon called it, aired its initial season on FX beginning in September 2011. AHS is the first series in a long time that managed to hook my attention thoroughly for an entire season, as well as leaving me impatient for the next season to begin.



American Horror Story is a modern day drama delving into the lives of a family living with the supernatural. The premise of AHS is the Harmon family, consisting of father Ben, mother Vivien, and daughter Violet, move into a large, old, and beautiful house in Los Angeles, bought for a fantastic price. Now, everyone knows when a house is sold for a price too good to be true, it usually comes with an interesting, often deadly history, and of course that’s the case with the Harmon’s new home.

Almost immediately after moving into their new home, the Harmon’s start to experience odd and creepy events while beginning to meet some of the formerly living tenants, although initially they have no idea that these people are actually ghosts.  As the series progresses, more of the house’s inhabitants come out of the woodwork, each with their own plan for the new owners; some ghosts motives are not to harm the Harmon’s, only wanting to see them leave before they join the other spirits, while others have much more malicious intentions. The living characters are much the same; some of them have no intentions of causing any trouble and others have their own agendas and history with the house. The living and formally living characters interact daily to further their individual plans and this leads to many bizarre and extraordinary circumstances.

American Horror Story offers a variety of situations to its watchers. Within each broader story arc, there are many little stories involving the issues of each character and offering more back story on the house. Because of this, each character has a depth that goes beyond the basic on-screen scenes. This detail to the individual characters and their motivation helps the viewer understand the character, no matter how complex they are. Along with that, the actors portraying their characters truly express their character’s personalities and behaviors, so that the viewer really believes in these individuals.  The series also covers a wide range of topics that concern people in modern times: infidelity, rape, school violence, home invasion, financial worries, giving birth and, of course, death; these topics, among others, ground the series in reality so that the entire storyline isn’t too surreal to be believable. Because of its in-depth character development and blending of supernatural and realistic elements, the show maintains its grip on its viewers.

Throughout the series’ first season, American Horror Story offers its viewers a compelling drama and lots of creepy entertainment. While it sometimes may brush into a more campy horror, its edginess, special effects, and adult-oriented material allowed it to grab viewer’s attention and keep it. The series’ ambiguity leaves the watcher wondering after each episode where the story would go next. Will all the Harmon’s escape from the house with their lives? Who will die next? The series’ high drama imparts a feeling of constant suspense and the graphic, over the top, and often disturbing imagery, creates a haunted, tragic feeling to each scene that the viewer will have a hard time forgetting.