This week, instead of featuring a “Read Me!” book, I am enthusiastically recommending the new FX show American Horror Story. Although it has already been on for a month, this Monday on Halloween you have the chance to play catch up and watch the first four episodes back-to-back if you haven’t seen it.
American Horror Story is not only a terrifying haunted house story, but it’s got creepy characters, cheating husbands, dead maids that appear differently to different people, and a weird guy in a black fetish suit. Some of the characters are alive, and some are dead, and it’s not always easy to tell which is which. The house in question has an endless supply of back-stories, and each episode reveals the terrible fate of one of its former residents. Enter the Harmon family, Ben, Vivien, and their daughter Violet. They have just moved from Boston to Los Angeles to escape some family trauma (Ben cheated on Vivien, Vivien had a miscarriage) and are hoping to start over. But it doesn’t take long to figure out that there is something dreadfully wrong with the house.
American Horror Story is co-written and produced by Ryan Murphy (Glee, Nip-Tuck) and Brad Falchuk. It is immaculately written, acted, and produced, and it has one of the best, if not the best, main title sequences I’ve ever seen (think Six Feet Under or True Blood). So get your DVRs ready: if you like your horror smart, scary, and bloody, this is the show for you. Note: for mature audiences only! It’s pretty disturbing…
Here’s a video of the opening sequence of the first episode. Enjoy!
I have to fast forward through the opening sequence. It’s too disturbing for me! But I LOVE the show.
I agree, I almost stopped watching during those first few minutes. Especially disturbing to me was the happy, pop song playing when the boys start trashing the house. The 70s were creepy enough, now this!