Amerikai Horror Story - A gyilkos ház

Pilot: American Horror Story came out of nowhere. Until the day the pilot was out, I didn’t have any detailed information about it. When foreign horror websites wrote about it, I didn’t pay attention to the articles because the title made be expect some kind of documentary (like, Nightmares in Red, White and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film). Under these circumstances, I didn’t have time to get sufficiently excited and maybe that’s why I liked the pilot more than if I’d been expecting something great. So far, it feels like Twin Peaks in a B-movie package. The cold opening is fantastically scary and the rest of the episode is entertainingly unsettling. I’m very curious about what aces the creators have up their sleeves, because stretching a haunted house story to the length of a TV series won’t be easy. There are two things that bother me: the character of Ben and that the scenes don’t link with each other very well – I’ve no idea whether the first episode takes place during a week, a month, or even more… The rating is provisional, I feel that with the remaining episodes the series can either drop to three or go up to five :) 1st season: So, it held to four. I liked the interesting characters and the story as a whole, which exploited everything it could out of the trodden premise of a haunted house, especially considering it is a twelve-episode series. If there’s one thing to complain about is that we didn’t get that many horror moments. But thumbs up. The last episode was a beautiful farewell to the characters and I’m looking forward to the second season, which will be about something completely different. (2011.10.08)

Weird, weird, weird! Which was actually the purpose. Some see fear in it, others see the atmosphere of the town of Twin Peaks. One thing is clear, and that is the fact that this series doesn’t care about reality, simply playing with the viewer, and even though the story is based on paranormal phenomena, it seems to me as if it was not about them at all. The touch of the creators of Nip/Tuck is evident here. Some things managed to properly disgust me, but I don’t know if I can stand it until the end. Somehow the characters didn’t dazzle me enough to keep me going. But the idea definitely deserves it and the same goes for some of the characters. Anyway, I have to say that it’s pretty little for a long-running series. (2013.07.07)

Relationship problems, infidelity, trust, new beginnings, and yet this story is definitely not a romance. Evil under the stairs, a ghost around the corner, and lots of skeletons that want to come out of one scary house's closet - and yet I wouldn't label the series purely as a horror show. Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk have simply dusted off the optimism and enthusiasm that accompanied them for three years on Glee and decided to write down all the negative thoughts that had accumulated in their heads since the end of Nip/Tuck. And when the phenomenal Jessica Lange or the captivating Evan Peters came to assist them, they hit the mark. Although AHS is unsettling from the first seconds and creepily unpleasant with all its converging storylines, I found it hard to look away. If the family conversations didn't occasionally stutter in pace, the events could have been even more captivating. Nevertheless, it was the first obsidian from the black treasure. (2012.03.17)

American Horror Story is an ambitious project in the horror genre; with a touch of exaggeration, it could be compared to The Pacific in the war genre. Despite featuring a strong ensemble cast, the result does not meet my expectations, even though I really liked the pilot and would give it about four to five stars. In horror, it is generally believed that fear is best evoked by what you do not see or know. Unfortunately, this series is too literal and tries to explain the motivations and past of its (anti)heroes in such a way that both the horror and mysterious potentials of the story quickly disappear. Where in the first episodes the camera cuts and explores the underground spaces of the house, showing artifacts from a mad laboratory, faded photographs, and small pieces of the gloomy estate's history, the atmosphere is excellent. However, later on, it becomes more of a fantasy series about a world and a place where the living and the dead converge, resembling something like True Blood, though without its entertaining sexually deviant aspects. The series is more interesting in its first third because it still plays with the theme of uncertainty about the future of the characters. In this context, it is impossible not to think of the excellent Twin Peaks, which completely overturned the idea of the mystery genre and essentially redefined it. The strength of that project lay in Lynch's ability to deftly balance several genres, constantly keeping the viewer in suspense, as he revealed very little about his characters, and the viewer never knew where the ever-changing nature of his favorites would lead next. American Horror Story has many good gimmicks and micro-stories that would be rated with 5 stars if they were standalone Tales from the Crypt episodes, but here, it is necessary to evaluate the whole work comprehensively. Some of the characters are fantastic, with selfish and cold Jessica Lange being truly fascinating. However, as the series approaches its end, the screenwriters' helplessness increasingly surfaces, dragging the series down to mediocrity. In general, the direction is better than the screenplay. The second season followed the rule that sequels must bring much more to maintain the viewer's attention. It inundates the viewer with motifs that together create an incredible mishmash, which is more laughable than evoking tension and fear. It seems as if the team of screenwriters did not create a whole, but each followed their own line and played in their own sandbox, so Asylum mixes motifs of aliens, psychopaths, serial killers, war criminals, and purely spectral themes, including the devil himself. Again, there are many interesting characters whose stories often get lost, and because the series loses any logic and internal coherence, I have to mercilessly give it only two stars. Overall impression: 40%. (2013.06.28)

It’s nice, bizarre, and disturbing. Ryan Murphy. It also has more than just the excellent idea of combining the story of Victor Frankenstein with Lindberg's child. The Black Dahlia is always a pleasure too, and the two faces of Moira is what it's all about. I've missed Alexandra Breckenridge tremendously since the end of Dirt... In the end, who wouldn't want to buy a house in La La Land on the famous murder trail? Jessica Lange is great and so is Connie Britton, and strangely enough, it's all one big romance again. Constance's fawn is proof of that. The ending is also delightfully satisfying and gives us the opportunity to get excited about the sequel and to be satisfied with the loop. (2012.02.11)

It should be mentioned right from the start that American Horror Story cannot be considered a serious work of horror. On the other hand, the FX guys are well aware that "seriousness" isn't much of a draw these days and that the more eccentric a given work is, the better its chances of success. I don't want to pontificate about the (non-)horror plot – though of course it is present here and there are some good jump scares here and there. Rather, I'd like to point out that the main reward of AHS is not the story, but the narrative style they’ve chosen, which is enhanced by the formal features (it took me a long time to get used to the initially very peculiar editing, only to appreciate it later as an element contributing to the ambivalence and confusion of some of the characters) and the omnipresent sexual tension. What I appreciate most about the first season that the creators managed to wring something very superior out of a subject that has been similarly raped a thousand times. The weirdness of the entire story and the abnormally perverse behavior of the characters are the alpha and omega of success in this case, but objectively there's not much to find fault with, as most of the ensemble cast delivers performances of a lifetime (Jessica Lange is demonically perfect) and the pace of the first series is for the most part truly murderous. For me, AHS represents an appealing deviation and interesting excursion into places I don't normally seek out. AHS probably won't find a place in my top ten TV series, but I can't deny the fact that in many ways it is a very original and intriguing piece of work that deserves its fair share of attention. Season I, Murder House – 85%... I will add ratings for the other seasons when I get to them, seeing as how I’ve got higher priorities in my viewing list at the moment :))) (2014.09.05)