Everything that Pisses me off About American Horror Story

Yes, I'm fully aware that Halloween is over, but with American Horror Story: Freak Show only four episodes into it's new season, I thought it would be the perfect time to whine about everything that the show is doing wrong. I'm not typically a fan of horror shows/movies in general, but after watching the first episode of the show's first season (Murder House) I was hooked. It was some weird combination of intrigue, disgust, and - admittedly - fear, that kept me going. It was enjoyable, and I'll be damned if it wasn't a little scary to boot.

Then the second season came and lost me a little bit with it's convoluted story lines, but I was willing to ignore these and hang on for the ride. The third season almost lost me completely: while the title sequence was (and always has been) terrifying, the overall campiness and basic lack of anything scary drove me to almost ditch the show. But then they announced what the theme of the fourth season would be - Freak Show - and pulled me right back in.

RIP buddy

"Alright," I thought. "Clowns scare the shit out of me. This should be perfect." And it was! At least, some of it was. In the few episodes since the season began, there's been one storyline in particular - that of the deranged, murdering, ultimately misunderstood clown Twisty and his whiny, mother's-boy protege - that has been some of the best material that Horror Story has done since it's first season. The clown was, obviously, disgustingly scary, and was easily the most interesting part of the show.

I say was because - BIG OL' SPOILERS AHEAD - they already killed off Twisty. And with that, they may have killed off my viewership.

Let's go through everything that's wrong with the show right now. I've got time to kill, I guess. For starters, the dialogue is laughably bad. As in, I actually spend most of the episode laughing at some of the shit that these characters say. I honestly don't know if it's intentional at this point, but it's just so campy and awful. Also, Kathy Bate's accent is way overdone and outrageously weird.

Aesthetically, Ryan Murphey spends too much time - as always - attempting to make weirdly stylized and dynamic shots. This season is set in the 50s, and as Meghan Malone has so adeptly pointed out, if they had filmed the season as if it was something filmed from that era, it would be way less distracting and make the acting/dialogue slightly more believable. Instead, we're stuck with 30 different shots to cover a 1 minute scene. Not to mention that half of the strange shots are done just so Murphey can cover his own ass when it comes to saving on special effects (every time Sarah Paulson's two-headed character is framed with just one head in shot, you know they got a little lazy)

ooh yah, eh

Finally, this season has featured some of the weakest characters of any Horror Story season thus far. You'd think that the Freaks - each of the main characters is easily distinguishable by some physical deformity or another - would be relatable or unique or even significant in their own way. This is what made Twisty - and, if we're lucky, Dandy - so special: they were interesting. Three dimensional. Complex. The last episode briefly dipped into the past of a few other key characters, but apart from this, all of the plot lines that don't feature a killer psycho clown have just been boring. Find a way to make me actually care about some of the other freaks, Ryan Murphey, and I'll stick with the show for at least the rest of this season.

Eh. Who am I kidding. As long as there's at least one more psycho clown out there, I guess I'm committed.

American Horror Story: Behind the Scenes

One great thing about this multimedia era of television shows is that viewers are offered a glimpse into behind the scenes videos on a show's youtube channel. Some shows release a behind the scenes look at every episode throughout a season. This inside look at the making of the season premiere of American Horror Story tells us a bit about the storyboarding and research process that went into making the episode. Vigorous research goes into each season, since each season is a separate chapter and storyline. The creative team must research the time period, topic, and creative influences that they decide to pay homage to. American Horror Story is largely based off of paying homage to classic horror films and stories. Each sequence in a given episode takes extensive research before storyboarding begins. The director, Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, chose to open the Coven chapter with a shot of a black horse's eyes as a way to set the tone of the season. They use a separate iris that they place in front of the camera that they close up to focus on a specific character in a crowded scene. Many shots are characterized by crooked angles and wide lenses using a 6 mm lens, which began as a method to appropriately visualize a scene, but grew into a signature aesthetic style of the show. This behind the scenes video teaches about how everyone on the creative team must work together to make the visual elements compliment the elements of the story, and how closely the director and director of photography work together, as shown in the relationship between Alfonso and Michael Goi. 

Can We Talk About American Horror Story

American Horror Story: Coven premiered last wednesday night, the third installment in the groundbreaking, boundary-pushing series. The horror genre is experiencing a boom as of late, and its becoming increasingly more popular among youth, especially with the youth appeal of American Horror Story. The Tate-Violet romance of the first season sent young girls into a frenzy, and now the third series follows a group of teenage witches in a witch boarding school. It sounds like a cliche YA trilogy, but AHS is guaranteed to bring much darker, sexual, and disturbing tones to otherwise cliche stories. 

Horror has been prominent throughout all of Hollywood's history, but it is only now grabbed the attention and profits of all audience niches, for a fraction of the production costs. American Horror Story earned more Emmy nominations than any other show, and nearly every network is following suite with the success of horror as a television genre. A few examples of horror in television: Supernatural, The Walking Dead, Bates Motel, Grimm, Hannibal, Hemlock Grove, and NBC's Dracula premieres this month, and TV version of The Exorcist and American Psycho are in the works, to name only a few. 

One thing (among many) about AHS that stands out is their use of promos and teaser trailers. For all three seasons, the short promos are guaranteed to give you the creeps, and don't offer much about the plot unless you look closely and pick out the clues. They typically only make sense after you've watched the entire season. But their mysteriousness and utter creepiness is what makes them and the show so appealing. It's almost like a game, and I'm sure there are threads on the internet where people pick apart every second of every trailer and discuss theories. 

And here, if you're interested, is the trailer for Dracula: 

American Horror Story

Since yesterday was Halloween, I thought that I would be fun to watch American Horror Story, since it has that spooky vibe. As Ron Burgundy says "well that escalated quickly". That one episode turned into a marathon. This show is so interesting and suspenseful that you cannot merely watch one episode. This show features a bounty of talented and well known actors; Jessica Lange, Zachary Quinto, Dylan McDermott, Sarah Paulson, etc. It also has so many different story lines that you never become bored or exhausted from watching the same thing. I was disappointed that they left some storylines open at the end, but they had so much ground to cover that it only makes sense. This is one of the first shows on television of it's kind. People don't normally decide to pop on the couch and watch an hour of suspense when they could watch a feel good comedy show. But this show also has a bit of dark humor to it, I highly recommend it.

 I thought it was interesting that Fox (producers of the show) had to handle a lawsuit about the infringement on someone's tattoos. A male model by the name of Rick Genest has his body fully tattooed to look like a skeleton. In a scene of American Horror Story one of the characters has his face tattooed to resemble a skeleton as well. The problem with this was that the character then shot up a high school. They were able to settle outside of court, but still this brings into question if Rick Genest even has the right to copyright a tattoo or whether if the show was committing defamation, which could have ruined Genest's career.

American Horror Story

The premiere of the new season of American Horror Story was on Wednesday. Basically what this series is doing is using SOME of the same actors, but mainly new ones, a new location, and a new story line. It is more or less a mini series. This new season is at an Asylum for the criminally insane. It is ran by nuns and I think 1 priest. It is creepy. I don't recommend anyone watch it alone if you get scared easily!

The lighting in this first episode really stood out to me as really unique. It does make it seem more creepy which tells the story better. The sound effects and music in this show definitely make the show more scary (just like any scary movie or show). The sound really tells the story. Sometimes the camera movements confuse me as to what is going on, but it also adds to the overall chaos of certain scenes.

American Horror Story

Happy Thursday,

It is that time of year again, when our TVs become filled with new shows and our favorite series are back on the air. Last year, I became completely addicted to the FX television series, American Horror Story, produced by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. The show features an incredible cast including, Jessica Lange, Evan Peters, Dylan McDermott, and Connie Britton. I was immediately addicted to the show because of its successful attempt on turning horror into television. I have been a huge fan of scary movies since I was a young child so I was extremely thrilled to get my scary fix from a weekly show. The show did a great job of maintaining the storyline throughout the season, with surprising plot changes and a strong character dynamics. Each episode left me excited for the next. I love Jessica Lange, for her part as Constance. Constance makes her presence known in the first season for her dark past with the house and her obsession with her youth. She is a strong and bold character and never fails to turn up the drama. 

Season two begins October 17 at 10/9c on FX. This season is set to take place in an insane asylum, instead of the victorian style California home, putting more focus on the living than the dead. Adam Levine, Lily Rabe, and Zachary Quinto will be making a debuts as vital characters in the show this season. It is rumored that season two will feature new characters, new locations, and new twists. Check out the trailer below.

Best,

Brie

American Horror Story

So I realize I'm more than a little behind the times on this one, but within just the past couple of weeks, I've gotten really into American Horror Story. The first thing that drew me to the show was the obvious fact that it was going to be terrifying, (and considering I'm a complete horror movie nerd, that totally appealed to me,) and the fact that it got amazing reviews, despite its borderline-corny trailer.

After the first episode, I was hooked. Not only was the storyline intriguing, but all of the actors were amazing and had incredible chemistry with one another. Now, with just these characteristics, the show could have easily been just another spooky show, but one thing really set it apart from anything else I've seen before: the editing. One of the biggest things that I've noticed is that unlike other shows, American Horror Story does not avoid jump-cuts, but actually seeks them out. The cuts, combined with a perfect mixture of straight-on shots and POV shots make for a really interesting show that I would highly suggest to anyone who hasn't already seen it.

American Horror Story

I made the mistake of watching FX's new American Horror Story by myself at one in the morning. While it probably wouldn't have been as scary watching it when it aired, the unique style of editing and strange story line will leave the viewer with an uncomfortable feeling either way. Even beginning with the warning that you're going to die. Ryan Murphey leaves Glee way behind and introduces the Harmon family who move to California looking for a fresh start and find themselves in a house haunted by the ghosts of it's past. While some are turned off by it's copious amounts of blood and sex, many of the scenes are of a freaky, psychological nature as it boasts unettling imagery. Christopher Baffa's cinematography evokes a classic horror movie feel, combining tension created by handheld shaking with flawless crane shots. While many horror shows and movies rely on the mystery of a darkened room, American Horror Story brings the thrills right out in the open with very filling lighting, bringing the viewer right into the action. The liberal use of close-ups feels like a violation of personal space as we are literally pushed into the character's most intimate moments and best kept secrets.

The Pilot left us with overflowing story lines and the incredible possibility of character development. There is a thawing divide between the husband and wife as they repair their marriage and a very unsettling romance budding between their daughter and her mysterious, unstable friend.

However, what makes the show so different and anticipated is the exact thing that may be it's downfall. The show was so packed with grizzly and horrific elements that the family undergoes so much trauma in the first episode alone. If it were anyone else, they would have been on the next plane home after supernatural experiences and incredibly straightforward warnings from a tragic past resident. While many are eagerly awaiting the second tension filled episode, it makes me wonder how long the show can last riding along this quickly.

Below is a behind the scenes segment about the haunted house on the show.