American Horror Story

Being an incorrigible Gleek, I had to check out Ryan Murphy’s latest project, American Horror Story (AHS), which premiered October last on FX.

Although Nip/Tuck was already about troubled souls and disturbed lives (McNamara, Troy, their families and patients: wackos, the whole lot!) and even the apparently glossy, sugary Glee was actually about inner turmoil and anxious kids, I couldn’t have imagined that Murphy, or anyone else for that matter, could have such a twisted, bloodthirsty imagination.

The show centres around the Harmon family, who moved from Boston to LA to escape their latest family drama: after Vivien has a miscarriage, her husband Ben has an affair with one of his Psychology students and their daughter Violet is unavoidably neglected in the middle of all this.

They move into a macabre mega-mansion which reeks of bloodcurdling, spine-chilling, haunted horrors but, somehow, the miserable couple don’t seem to notice and their angry teen daughter doesn’t seem to care.

AHS brings to life (or death, rather) the most horrific urban legends you could think of, decked with disturbing hallucinations, an all-too-scary-to-be-funny-but-also-kinda-sexy gimp (reminds me of Pulp Fiction’s “bring out the gimp” scene) and sh*t-your-pants secondary characters, such as Jessica Lange as the spooky fifties-era next door neighbour and Six Feet Under’s Frances Conroy as glass-eyed governess Moira.

Influence of 60s and 70s horror movies is palpable, from the characters to the setting but, when compared to AHS, Rosemary’s Baby should be playing on Nickelodeon.

Honestly, no matter how blazé you are about this stuff, AHS will scare the sh*t out of you. For real, my heart’s racing and stomach tightening just thinking about the damn show, that’s how good it is! I admit I scare easy and
normally I wouldn’t be caught dead (no pun intended) watching a thriller or horror movie. Only Ryan Murphy can make me endure hour-long episodes of permanent fear. The only time I wasn’t curled up in foetal position was when Dylan McDermott, albeit in a pretty disturbing scene, struts naked around the house, showing off his perfect, tight booty. Hubba hubba!

In an interview promoting AHS when they were still doing Glee, Murphy said he and co-creator Brad Falchuk were "doing some squeaky clean, sweet, optimistic, non-cynical piece, [Ryan Murphy] wanted to do something that sort of tapped into the different side of [his] personality”. Oh, it’s different alright. But different’s good, very good.

Well played, Mr. Ryan Murphy You sick, twisted, demented, disturbed genius. Well played.