American Horror Story S5-S9
American Horror Story S5-S9
Embedded Files
Spoiler & introduction
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Hotel
Hotel
Overview
Overview
Basics & Synopsis
Basics & Synopsis
The first word that comes to mind when I think about Hotel is glitz but if I got a second word it’d be decaying glitz. Premiering in October 2015 Hotel is the fifth season of AHS. Set in Los Angeles, the Hotel Cortez is a haunted property based off of the real Cecil Hotel that is the setting and focal point of the season.
When the season begins we arrive at a mostly vacant, stuffy, and drab hotel that is definitely haunted by the living and dead who both seek to victimize guests for the hell of it. The owner of the Hotel, The Countess, and her partner Donovan roam LA hunting for victims to lure back to the Cortez. The Cortez is not simply a hotel, it also doubles as a murderers playground with trap doors and a death chute.
Murphy and Falchuk are heavily involved in the writing and directing of this season alongside Loni Peristere, a newer name, and Buecker. The season started by drawing a large crowd following the two preceding seasons but that viewership dwindled significantly once fans started actually watching the season.
The Setting
The Setting
The entire season’s concept revolves around the Hotel Cortez, a fictional old-Hollywood stylized run down inn in downtown Los Angeles, California. From the initial scene it is made clear that guests flock to the space for its location benefits and little else. While it does appear that the hotel had been grand at some point at the time that season 5 begins in present day LA it is a shell of its former self and almost wholly abandoned aside from random, usually suspect, guests and their visitors.
Like the interior the ghosts that haunt the property are also stuck in their respective time periods that range from the early 1900s through present day. Suzie for example is decked out in 90s heroin chic fashion complete with crimped hair and grunge makeup. The hotel’s original maid still wears a traditional uniform and speaks as if she’s fresh off a transatlantic trip to a whole new world.
The concept and setting are both based on the Cecil Hotel, a real and infamous hotel in downtown LA. The property is notable for its proximity to an open-air drug market and low prices that have drawn in transient populations since it opened in the early 1900s similarly to its fictional counterpart in Hotel. The setting is complete with a cast of characters that live on the property as well as a group that has recently become entangled in the space’s orbit.
Hotel Cortez Background
Hotel Cortez Background
The Hotel Cortez gives and gives in creepy...
The Hotel Cortez gives and gives in creepy...
...during the season, the decor themes are throughout but levels of old and run down touch parts of the hotel. What at first seems like a pristine time capsule you soon discover is falling apart under the weight of financial struggles.
The hotel was constructed in 1925 by James March, a serial killer who hoped to create the perfect place to commit his sadistic murders without interruption. Opening in 1926 March wastes no time putting the hotel to use and filling it with murdered souls. Hazel Evers, the maid, and March’s wife Elizabeth AKA the Countess encourage his serial killing due to personal benefits.
During the 1930s March is caught while doing the Ten Commandments Killings and dies by suicide at the hotel. When he dies the ownership transfers to Elizabeth who is infected with a vampire-like blood virus that allows her to live in youth indefinitely off of human blood.
Main Creators
Main Creators
Alfonso Gomez-Rejon is all over this season. If there is a season I’d credit to one director due to how many episodes they’re credited with it’d be them and this season. Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk are two writers credited the most on the season if you consider both the episode they co-wrote and the individual ones they wrote.
Murphy and Falchuk are heavily involved in...
Murphy and Falchuk are heavily involved in...
...the writing and directing of this season alongside Loni Peristere, a newer name, and Buecker. The season started by drawing a large crowd following the two preceding seasons but that viewership dwindled significantly once fans started actually watching the season.
This season is one where we focus heavily on...
This season is one where we focus heavily on...
...on a non-AHS actor character, played by famous singer Lady Gaga, at the time extremely relevant to pop culture especially horror related pop culture following her theatric and blood heavy performances and appearances. With the addition of Gaga we see less of our faves, with Paulson, Bates, Bassett, Peters, and O’Hare joining the cast as main AHS actors.
The characters this season are varied but similar in the sense that they all had reasons to be in this downtown LA hotel whether that be big dreams or cheap vacations. We know however that this is happening in the same universe as Murder House and Coven with the appearances of Queenie and Marcy the realtor.
Promotions
Promotions
The ad campaign relied heavily on Lady Gaga and her stories in the season but other stories or rather the people whom the Countess is messing with are what truly makes the season. Despite the campaign mostly focusing on the child vampires we don’t really spend much time on them but rather the other characters who are impacted by them. We do however focus a lot on the Countess’ love life as it’s the roadmap to a lot of the events surrounding The Cortez.
Episodes (coming soon...)
Episodes (coming soon...)
Episode 1:
Episode 2:
Episode 2:
Episode 4:
Episode 5:
Episode 6:
Episode 7:
Episode 8:
Episode 9:
Episode 10:
Episode 11:
Episode 12:
Audience Reception
Audience Reception
By the time this season finished many believed that AHS had cracked a secret horror show formula that pushed boundaries that appealed to younger audiences while paying homage to imagery and cultural touch points of the past. Performances by Lange, Bates, and Bassett portraying the most iconic characters in the series set them apart from their counterparts in perpetuity.
As mentioned in the Season 1 audience reception section Taissa Farmiga’s characters, Violet and Zoe, contributed significantly to the Tumblr Girl era in the early 2010s. With the addition of Emma Roberts from Scream Queens to the cast not only did the quiet girl feel represented but then also the mean, vapid-but-actually-deep girl took off on Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram too.
Conclusion & Thoughts
Conclusion & Thoughts
After this rewatch I’d give this a solid rating that puts it above many of the others. I find this one similar to Asylum in that there are so many stories that are interesting on their own aside from the main plots that keep things interesting. At some points in the center of the season it does feel like we transition to a new story and that transition is a tad bumpy but if you can get past that both halves of the season are good.
Roanoke
Roanoke
Overview
Overview
Basics & Synopsis
Basics & Synopsis
The sixth season premiered in 2016 and maintains a 57% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes of over 1K reviews. Following the media coverage of Hotel’s glitz, glamor, and star studded appeal, FX and the creators warned of a completely different direction. Not even confirming an official cast list or theme even the location gave no hints as it is the first and only time an entire set was built from scratch just for the season. The house that AHS built comes with a unique and land specific background that lays the foundation for the season’s plot.
Now haunted by ghosts from multiple generations who died at the hands of both the Butcher and her ghost colony, the house’s history is revealed throughout key plot points during the season.
Most of the season follows the real events as they unfold through cameras set up in the house by the show’s crew and handheld cameras given to the cast. Other video footage is also included to provide additional context like news coverage, trial footage, and even season 2 character Lana Winter’s TV interview of Lee.
The first part of the show we’re following is a reality-based TV show about a couple who moved to the house after a violent attack in LA only to discover the house is haunted. We also meet Lee, Matt’s sister and her daughter Flora who stays at times.
Actors who later become characters as themselves, Audrey, Monet, Agnes, Dominic, and Rory portray the family’s story and how they barely escaped from the land in a reality show called My Roanoke Nightmare. This transitions into the present day following a producer’s efforts to get all of the actors and the “real” characters back to the house to film a season two after the first’s success.
The Setting & History
The Setting & History
1500s to 1585 the Roanoke Colony led by John White settles in North Carolina
John White’s wife Thomasin is left in charge while he travels back to homeland
Fast forward and after the colony moves inland it falls apart post animal sacrifices to a witch Scáthatch and the Butcher kills everyone and binds the ghosts to the land during the Blood Moon
Every year during the Blood Moon they roam and make a sacrifice
Their assumed disappearance is mentioned in season one also as an example of ghosts successfully banished
1792 Edward Phillipe Mott, ancestor of season 4 characters Gloria and Dandy Mott, purchases the remote land and builds the home on it
He is killed by the Butcher and her colony during the Blood Moon
2014 Shelby and Matt, who we open the season with, purchase the home and believe the worst thing about it is the potentially racist Polk family of hillbillies nearby
Promotions
Promotions
After dropping multiple teaser trailers that all hinted at wildly different themes teasing that only one would be the actual theme, fans went into a frenzy on social media apps like Tumblr and Twitter to dissect and theorize. Unfortunately for fans and FX alike, TMZ leaked photos from the set that included features that made the new season’s theme very obvious, the word ‘Croatoan’ carved into a tree and time period specific items.
This leak in addition to the Lost Colony of Roanoke being featured in season one and mentioned by the creators as a possibility in the past made the secret theme a poorly kept one. Suspicions quickly got confirmed with the season focusing on the colony but more specifically the house and land occupied atop the land which the colony had been suspected of disappearing from.
Episodes (coming soon...)
Episodes (coming soon...)
Episode 1:
Episode 2:
Episode 3:
Episode 4:
Episode 5:
Episode 6:
Episode 7:
Episode 8:
Episode 9:
Episode 10:
Audience Reception
Audience Reception
After adding up each episode’s individual rating I divided that by the number of episodes to come up with an average for the whole season. These numbers were pulled from IMDb which represented the largest number of user reviews in one place that were averaged already. The second season is really consistent throughout and only 1 episode is rated below 80% or 8 out of 10 stars, which is the best overall performance of any season. This season is also the one of the highest rated seasons on average over the whole franchise and that is apparent throughout watching. The season is well paced, full of grab-bag-like surprises that the creators stick and the ending is more satisfying than many other AHS seasons, a common issue with the franchise.
Conclusion & Thoughts
Conclusion & Thoughts
Despite its experimental shortcomings the core story isn’t bad and Adina Porter gives her all to her portrayal of Lee and Sarah Paulson’s screams and British accent are memorable.
Cult
Cult
Overview
Overview
Basics & Synopsis
Basics & Synopsis
Cult is the seventh installment of AHS, premiering in September 2017 opted for a spin on the outcome of the 2016 US Presidential Election where Donald Trump lost the popular vote but won the Electoral College vote and thus presidency. With an audience rating of 52% on Rotten Tomatoes it could be considered a season with mixed reviews. The plot follows the events directly after the election in a fictional small town called Brookesfield, Michigan. Most of the episodes take place in the character’s homes and main town areas like the opening couple’s restaurant on Main St.
We start by following Ally and Ivy Mayfair-Richards, a politically involved lesbian couple with a young son named Oz. From the night of the election their personal worlds plunge into chaos along with their town as a mysterious group of clowns begin terrorizing the residents.
Parallel to their story we follow Kai and Winter Anderson on election night, a brother who wanted Trump to win and a sister who put her education on hold to campaign for Hilary Clinton. Both feeling rage about the current events in the country seek to channel that rage into what feels like a productive endeavor.
Cults & Characters
Cults & Characters
We’re introduced to a multitude of other characters as the show goes on including Gary Longstreet a MAGA supporter who cuts off their arm to pledge fealty to their political cult leader with a vote and Bebe Babbitt, an extremist feminist who will go to great lengths to seize power and control, especially creating cults to induce a “feminine rage” takeover to illustrate the two extreme ends of the spectrum on display.
Fear is Truth is the name of the clown cult that the main characters are a part of led by Kai. This cult’s goal and purpose is to make everyone afraid and to use that fear for political gain, so essentially what current everyday politics boils down to when we examine the most corrupt.
Donning clown masks and costumes the group: Triple Dick, Ballgag, Pentagram, Puzzle Face, Holes, Kooks, Brainiac, and Elephant (Wo)man commit gruesome and symbolic murders leaving a bloody, clown smiley face at each scene with the goal of capturing media attention.
Murdering clown cults, extreme manipulation, and conspiracy theories reveal themselves slowly with red herring distractions that allow them to fly even more so under the radar. The paranoia is well built in the beginning of the season, even making you as a watcher paranoid characters are lying to you.
Promotions
Promotions
From the promotion campaign to the finale the season fulfills the promise of its title and theme: cults. We see how Kai, Winter, and Beverly take advantage of people’s fears in order to manipulate them and attempt to control them. The eventual outcomes of the attempts to control end as many other cults tend to: by imploding.
Episodes (coming soon...)
Episodes (coming soon...)
Episode 1:
Episode 2:
Episode 3:
Episode 4:
Episode 5:
Episode 6:
Episode 7:
Episode 8:
Episode 9:
Episode 10:
Audience Reception
Audience Reception
Ultimately the season is really on the nose, clown pun intended, but accomplishes one of my favorite things about horror: holding a mirror up to society and showing us our fears. Without a doubt the early seasons, Murder House, Asylum, and Coven are the most popular seasons.
Conclusion & Thoughts
Conclusion & Thoughts
The season’s ending reminds of the theories of the Illuminati but with the spin of relatively powerless solo actors in the shadows pulling the puppet strings rather than the most famous celebrities and politicians. Kai even explains the demise of real world cults like The Manson Family, Heaven’s Gate, and David Koresh; which are definitely not the kinds of cults you want your cult leader to reference in relation to you.
Apocalypse
Apocalypse
Overview
Overview
Basics & Synopsis
Basics & Synopsis
Without a doubt the early seasons, Murder House, Asylum, and Coven are the most popular seasons. Not necessarily the best all around or most acclaimed they are usually the most known outside of the fandom and the earlier seasons of the show saw increases in viewership from one season to the next as opposed to declines after Roanoke. Apocalypse is an extremely intelligent way to magnetize viewers back to the franchise and give the people what they’ve been asking for: bring back the faves and if possible the queen herself, Jessica Lange.
In September 2018 the eighth installment premiered and is still widely regarded as a considerable improvement in comparison to Roanoke and Cult, boasting an audience score of 75% on Rotten Tomatoes, close to Coven’s audience score of 76% on the same site. Season 8 also marks the return of an original show runner from seasons 1-4, Jessica Lange, who reprises her role of Constance Langdon from Murder House.
The first episode hits the ground running with an Apocalypse as guaranteed, nuclear armageddon takes over the planet and only the mega wealthy and the genetically matched live in underground bunkers called “Outposts” to protect against the radiation. Murder House in Los Angeles, Miss Robichaux’s in New Orleans, and various personal Hells are all settings during the season.
The ending does need to be addressed however, it undoes the entire series of events. Essentially nothing that happened during the season with Outpost 3, and Miss Mead, and the Satanists, and the witches' sacrifices and bonding on the path to save the world saving the world, just didn’t happen. In order to save the world Mallory, the Billie Lourd played badass, has to go back in time and take Michael out when he’s still weak enough to do so.
Characters & Comebacks
Characters & Comebacks
Cody Fern joins American Horror Story for the first time as Michael Langdon, the Antichrist who is the driving force behind the apocalypse. We get two performances from Sarah Paulson AND a directorial debut on episode 6. We’re introduced to male academies for magic and the headmasters like John Henry Moore and Behold Chablis that build upon the universe from Coven.
We’re also given endings and continuations on stories from seasons 1 and 3 regarding characters like the Langdon and Harmon families trapped in the Murder House and the witches from Coven, both burned at the stake and still alive. Madison Montgomery, one my favorite characters of the franchise, also makes a comeback and redeems herself.
Both Murder House and Coven are simply iconic, and Apocalypse is a welcome revisit . As promised the 8th season captured the essence and vibe of the earlier seasons like Asylum and Coven extremely well.
Episodes (coming soon...)
Episodes (coming soon...)
Episode 1:
Episode 2:
Episode 3:
Episode 4:
Episode 5:
Episode 6:
Episode 7:
Episode 8:
Episode 9:
Episode 10:
Audience Reception
Audience Reception
Conclusion & Thoughts
Conclusion & Thoughts
Unfortunately for those of us who felt satisfied with the tied up ends to staple stories none of it mattered anyways. This season is a non-season season and I often think of it as a side quest for my favorite characters rather than a whole, standalone installment to the franchise.
1984
1984
Overview
Overview
Basics & Synopsis
Basics & Synopsis
The ninth season got approved at the same time as the 8th and it’s been said to be influenced by slasher horror films of the 80’s, which makes sense with the title of course. Originally meant to be ten episodes, this is the shortest season of AHS coming in at 9 episodes.
Right alongside season 8 this season has a 76% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is critically acclaimed. Emma Roberts returned but some of the go-to actors from previous seasons like Peters and Paulson sat the season out. The season is a great homage to 80’s slasher horror, from the promo campaigns to the set and costume style to the writing to the acting is just plain good.
Starting with a very trope heavy OG killer, Mr. Jingles, we waste no time setting up the legend of this mass killer who collects ears and kills cabins full of campers in the 70s. The majority of the season takes place in the 80s and follows a group of young adults living in LA all pursuing their dreams and taking an aerobics class. The group leader Xavier invites everyone to spend the summer getting out of the city and being camp counselors at the reopening Camp Redwood.
80s Slasher Tropes
80s Slasher Tropes
Though the story sets up with the basic tropes once we get through the events that would probably correspond with a first movie in a slasher film franchise the characters have evolved. None of the characters are one dimensional, and similarly to in franchises we get different sides and performances from them when faced with different circumstances, and different serial killers with different motives.
Similarly to Murder House this land traps and tethers souls to it, believed to be because of the string of horrific events taking place on the same property. If someone dies on the property they are stuck there forever, which is both beautiful and awful depending on which ghost you ask. In these regards the show features sequel-like stories with parallels and call backs, villains that all fit the slasher criteria, extreme violence against women, and not lacking in the gore department.
All of the characters have their own reasons for getting out, including running from the Night Stalker and hiding from a potential homicide investigation. Later it’s revealed that Margaret, the camp’s director who intends to reopen the camp, is a victim of the original Mr.Jingles massacre and she is also the real Mr. Jingles.
Benjamin Richter, the man who is framed as Mr. Jingles and locked away in a mental hospital, ends up becoming a real serial killer when Donna Chambers, a psychiatrist who infiltrates the group encourages him to do his Mr. Jingle's thing so she can observe him in action for her research.
This season also includes a portrayal of the Night Stalker serial killer from the same time period and general area. This character is inspired by the real killer, Richard Ramirez, a satanist who appears in season 5 at James March’s Halloween dinner. Some of the other serial killers featured are The Lady in White, revealed to be Richter’s mom who killed counselors at the same camp back in the 40’s after her son died in an accident by the dock.
Bruce is a hitchhiker that Brooke and Donna are coerced into giving a ride to as they make their way back to Camp Redwood. He’s been described as a serial killer born into it who has the charm of Ted Bundy and a similar method of selecting victims of opportunity.
Donna Chamber’s interest in Mr. Jingles is due to another serial killer, her father who she believed she might’ve been able to help if not cure prior to his suicide. She catches him in his lair and it’s been theorized on Tumblr and in Subreddits that he is based on the Grim Sleeper, a serial killer who took the lives of ten innocent women.
Promotions
Promotions
The thing that stood out the most for me about this season is how much time is spent on filler. Filler stories, filler scenes, filler moments within scenes, everything. It feels like the studio contracted 13 episodes but the story chosen for the season couldn’t be stretched seamlessly into that many episodes. I don’t care to rewatch this one much and still don’t really after a rewatch.
Episodes (coming soon...)
Episodes (coming soon...)
Episode 1:
Episode 2:
Episode 3:
Episode 4:
Episode 5:
Episode 6:
Episode 7:
Episode 8:
Episode 9:
Episode 10:
Episode 11:
Episode 12:
Audience Reception
Audience Reception
I wish that the season had been ten episodes and that the ending we built up to in the 8th episode could’ve picked up right at the start of the season finale and see that story to its completion. Instead we get a time jump to present day 2019 Camp Redwood and Richter’s now adult son coming to the Camp for answers about his absent father. Aside from that critique it’s a really fun, campy, and endearing season that stands out whenever I think of American Horror Story.
Conclusion & Thoughts
Conclusion & Thoughts
Freak Show is the beginning of the end, with a notable high at the start of the season off the tail winds of Coven and the newly garnered audience members. The quirky and off-beat roots that American Horror Story returned back to and expanded upon unfortunately didn’t meld with the new audience. Quickly following the season premiere the subsequent episodes received significantly less viewership and followed the same trend of other seasons but worse so.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse