American Horror Story: reviews

The new series from Glee‘s Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk gets underway in the US soon -but no word on Australia yet.

It’s made for FX, could it feasibly be part of any international FX channel on Pay TV?

By the sound of things critics like the show, but some wonder if there is enough to keep coming back.

Washington Post:
To judge from its first two episodes, it’s a robust diversion from the real-life droughts and hurricanes, joblessness and political stalemate that were already giving you the willies. It aspires to be “The Shining”-meets-”Rosemary’s Baby,” with “Carrie” and “Don’t Look Now” tossed in. But more than a dead-on horror show, it’s a homage to cinematic spookery. And a good one. In short, “American Horror Story” doesn’t really scare you. It just gets in your head. The big unknown: Is it wily enough to stay there, week after week?

Hollywood Reporter:
Look, there’s nothing on television quite like American Horror Story and, because of that, FX could be looking at record-breaking numbers here. (Against past precedent and common sense, maybe people should seriously watch the pilot just to see how messed up it is.) However, the retention rate could be precipitous after the pilot. On the other hand, maybe people who like horror don’t care about the little things like, say, staying the hell out of the house (particularly the basement, though – surprise – the attic is no picnic scene either). Maybe people will wander back to American Horror Story the way crazy-creepy people seem to wander into the Harmon home.

EW:
Unlike most scary TV shows (and movies), which rely upon the rhythm of a few quiet scenes followed by a boo! fright every 20 minutes or so, AHS is pretty much all scare, all the time: a whole lotta screams, sex, jolts, mashed faces, psychotic behavior, and dead babies. On the basis of this and his Nip/Tuck, it’s difficult to escape the idea that Murphy has a thing about women’s bodies. He and his collaborators find endless ways to distort, alter, or torment them.

Monsters and Critics:
It goes without saying that “American Horror Story” is has freakishly odd moments and downright scary scenes, so no kids should be watching. The bright spots for me are Jessica Lange as Constance, who sends up a bit of Piper Laurie (if Carrie’s mother were a mature sex kitten) in her berating bullying of her Down’s Syndrome daughter who she curses and labels “mongoloid.” Constance gives us a delicious tease in the line, ”Don’t make me kill you again” to the changeling maid played by Frances Conoy. How these two neighbors (Constance and her disabled daughter) get in the house all the time for me was more upsetting than discovering evil wallpaper and murals in the remodel.