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Netflix's Voltron: Legendary Defender - Season 8 Review 

American Horror Story: "Pilot" Review

Glee creator Ryan Murphy gives us a grimy, dysfunctional mash of sex and murder. And it's pretty far out.
By Matt Fowler

Advance Review: Those who listen to the IGN TV Podcast, Channel Surfing, know that I basically refused to watch any episode of Glee after the pilot. And I've been steadfast in my vow. Not a single episode. And I wasn't too keen on Glee creator Ryan Murphy's Nip/Tuck either, but I will note that it was a particularly extreme show which pissed off the PTC on more than one occasion. Which more often than not is a sign that you're doing something right. But now Murphy is back on FX with a new gruesomely infectious little tale called American Horror Story and while it might be a s***load of style-over-substance, it's also totally watchable. It's basically Glee for those of us who'd rather see body parts in jars than watch pretty young people lip-sync to their pre-recorded performances of Lady Gaga songs. Both of which can be equally disturbing depending on your disposition.

American Horror Story, living up to its namesake, is basically a casserole of everything you've come to know, visually and thematically, from most every haunted house story that's hit the silver screen over the past 50 years. It's Amityville Horror mixed with Psycho mixed with Shining mixed with Poltergeist mixed with 1408 mixed with, well – like I said – everything. It's got the Killer Bob strobe-effect from Twin Peaks, the John Doe journal-style open credits from Seven and even elements of Polanski films like Rosemary's Baby and The Tenant. But I'm not going to bemoan this Frankenshow for being a stitched-together quilt of savage murder and shameful sex because I think that's the whole point of it. This is the tone that I sort of wish True Blood had taken on. It's still dark humor, but it's really dark. So much so that the humor is more of a perversion. The set up here is that Ben and Vivien Harmon (Dylan McDermott and Connie Britton) have taken their teen daughter Violet (Taissa Farmiga) and moved to LA in order to try and start things fresh after some substantial marital trauma. I'm not sure that I've ever heard of a family actually moving to LA in order to set things straight in their lives, but let's just go with it. They get an amazing house at a discounted rate thanks a sweet murder/suicide from the previous owners and away we go! So right off the bat, the staging is very familiar as the house, more or less and regardless of the ghosts, will become a reflection of this couple's decaying relationship. As in "the real horror story is in the banality of our lives and the lies we tell each other" kind of thing. This is definitely a "love it" or "hate it" kind of show and while I won't defend it outright, I will say that it's a pretty haunting, subversive television experiment. The fact that it's f***ed up for the sake of being f***ed up is what makes it fun.

Jessica Lange plays Constance, a mysterious neighbor whose dreams of being a Hollywood starlet died years ago. Constance, and her mentally handicapped daughter Adelade, are simply part of the creepy baggage that comes with the property. More baggage includes Francis Conroy's Moira and Denis O'Hare's Larry – both whom have direct ties to the house and its past atrocities. And as of the first episode, we don't know what kind of evil we're exactly dealing with. The farthest back we're taken is 1978, but it's more than clear that this place was teeming with evil way before that and now even the victims that the house claimed in the 70's are a part of the foundation; giving it a true "Overlook Hotel" feel. Hell, even the car ride that the trio take to their new home for the first time echoed Jack, Wendy and Danny's trip.

And so while the grownups deal with bondage, masturbation, sexy ghost maids and pyromania, the teens hold their court as well with cuttings, beatings and fantasy school massacres. There are some elements at play here that could easily come off as distractingly ridiculous, but overall, I feel, if you're in, you're in. There's also a down-home funkiness to this show too, easily apparent in the closing credit song and in the Rob Zombie retro-ness of the home itself. I think that what's most exciting about the series at this point is that it's clear that the house has many stories to tell and that one can assume, having just seen brief glimpses of the madness, that it's going to be a hellacious ride.

American Horror Story premieres on Wednesday, October 5th at 10pm on FX.

American Horror Story First Aired Oct. 2011
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