American Horror Story is an American horror anthology television series created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk for the cable network FX. The first installment in the American Story media franchise, seasons of AHS are mostly conceived as self-contained miniseries, following a different set of characters in a new setting within the same fictional universe (which the show occasionally utilizes for crossovers between seasons, and shares with episodic spin-off American Horror Stories), and a storyline with its own "beginning, middle, and end." Some plot elements of each season are loosely inspired by true events.[2][3][4] Many actors appear in more than one season, usually playing a new character though sometimes as a returning character, and often playing multiple characters in a season. Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, and Lily Rabe have returned most frequently, with each having appeared in nine seasons, followed by Frances Conroy and Denis O'Hare who both appear in eight; Emma Roberts, Billie Lourd, and Leslie Grossman appear in six, while other notable actors including Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Adina Porter, Finn Wittrock, and Jamie Brewer appear in five of the seasons.
Set in the titular year of 1984, the season follows Brooke Thompson (Emma Roberts) as she travels to a remote, newly reopened summer camp, known as Camp Redwood, to work as a counselor following a terrifying encounter with serial killer Richard Ramirez, "The Night Stalker" (Zach Villa). Those traveling with Brooke include preppy Xavier Plympton (Cody Fern), athletic Chet Clancy (Gus Kenworthy), easy-going Ray Powell (DeRon Horton), and spunky Montana Duke (Billie Lourd). Upon arriving at the camp, they encounter its owner, the deeply religious Margaret Booth (Leslie Grossman), who was once a camper there, and who has her own experience surviving a killer. Other residents of Camp Redwood include its nurse Rita (Angelica Ross), activities director Trevor Kirchner (Matthew Morrison), and camp chef Bertie (Tara Karsian). Not long after the counselors settle into their first week, news breaks that deranged murderer Benjamin Richter (John Carroll Lynch), also known as Mr. Jingles, has escaped a local insane asylum and is presumed to be heading for the camp, where he has a violent history. However, as the season progresses, more secrets unveil about the counselors, as well as flashbacks detailing the history of the camp, including Richter's abusive mother Lavinia (Lily Rabe).
Creators Murphy and Falchuk began working on American Horror Story before their Fox series Glee began production. Murphy wanted to do the opposite of what he had done previously and thus began his work on the series. He stated: "I went from Nip/Tuck to Glee, so it made sense that I wanted to do something challenging and dark. And I always had loved, as Brad had, the horror genre. So it just was a natural for me."[22] Falchuk was intrigued by the idea of putting a different angle on the horror genre, stating that their main goal in creating the series was to scare viewers. "You want people to be a little bit off balance afterwards," he said.[23]
At the 2013 PaleyFest, Falchuk compared the series to horror films: "It does demand a little bit of compassion at the end because you fall in love with these characters in a different way than you would in a movie," he said. "If you want to kill everybody in a movie except one person, you can kind of get away with that, but if you're looking to do a horror TV show, you have a different responsibility to the characters because the audience has a different affection for them."[28]
Murphy then explained the process of planning a series' season takes about a year. "We come up with story first and then we come up with the characters," he said. "It is a repertory company, so we'll move people around and sometimes there won't yet be a role for somebody. Like when we started [the second season], I really had no idea that Dylan [McDermott] would be the person to play Sarah's son, but the deeper we got, I thought, that would work great."[28]
Principal photography for the fifth season began on July 14, 2015, in Los Angeles, California, where the story also takes place.[102] Murphy revealed a six-story hotel set was being built on the Fox lot. A dummy set of the hotel was built at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con, showing an Art Deco-style building from the 1920s, inspired by the old Hollywood era.[103]
The second season, American Horror Story: Asylum, received critical acclaim from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 84% of 220 critics gave the season a positive review. The site's consensus is: "American Horror Story: Asylum crosses boundaries to shock and scare with sexy subplots and some innovative takes on current social issues."[137] It scored 65 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 23 reviews, indicating generally favorable reviews.[138] James Poniewozik from Time stated: "AHS: Asylum feels like a more focused, if equally frenetic, screamfest. It's also gorgeously realized, with a vision of its '60s institution setting so detailed you can smell the stale air and incense."[160] Maureen Ryan of The Huffington Post said: "It's to the credit of Asylum's writers, directors and cast that the emotional pain of the characters often feels as real as their uncertainty and terror."[161] Verne Gay from Newsday gave the season a C grade, stating it "has some good special effects, just not much of a story to hang them on."[162] Linda Stasi of the New York Post thought the season was "over the top," adding: "I need to enter [an asylum] myself after two hours of this craziness."[163]
The third season, American Horror Story: Coven, received critical acclaim from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 85% of 221 critics gave the season a positive review. The site's consensus reads: "A noteworthy ensemble cast combined with creepy storytelling and campy, outrageous thrills make American Horror Story: Coven a potently structured fright-fest."[139] It scored 71 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 24 reviews, the second-highest score for any season, after Roanoke, on that site.[140] In their post-season reviews, The Michigan Daily gave Coven a B+, saying, "And while its conclusion, appropriately titled "The Seven Wonders", never quite matched the high standard it set for itself throughout the season, Coven's reputation will nonetheless remain a solid one."[164] Not all reviews were positive, however, with criticism focused on both the story and character arcs in the second half of the season. The A.V. Club gave this season the low rating of a D+, with critic Emily VanDerWerff remarking: "It lurched drunkenly from idea to idea, never settling on one long enough to build anything of worth."[165]
The fifth season, American Horror Story: Hotel, received more mixed reviews from critics, in comparison to its predecessors. Rotten Tomatoes reports that 64% of 214 critics gave the season a positive review. The site's consensus is: "Favoring garish style over effective storytelling, the fifth American Horror Story strands a talented cast at Ryan Murphy's Hotel."[143] Hotel scored a 60 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 24 reviews, indicating mixed or average reviews.[144] Some praise the season for its increased amount of horror elements and experimentation, while many believe that Jessica Lange's departure negatively impacted the show's ratings and the overall character of the series moving forward. Dan Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter gave a positive review, writing, "Early on, Hotel hasn't hooked me with its storytelling, but it's always fun to see what the series does with its repertory acting company and with new additions. Throw in the normal grotesquerie and visual panache, and that should keep me going for a while, even if all of the humor appears to have been funneled into Scream Queens."[166][167] On the other hand, Matt Zoller Seitz of New York Magazine found the season "confusing, tedious, annoyingly precious, and often ostentatiously brutal", but also praised it for being "darkly beautiful, deeply weird, and (sometimes) exhilarating."[168] Although Scott D. Pierce from The Salt Lake Tribune praised the production design and the cinematography, he said "the storytelling is derivative; the scares are non-existent; and it's all about style without much substance."[169] Mike Hale from The New York Times complained that it "suffers from the absence of Jessica Lange".[170] IGN's Matt Fowler gave a rating of 5.9 out of 10, criticizing the season as "mediocre" and concluding "all weight and meaning is gone."[171]
Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk have been credited with creating a series that increases both the LGBT creators and storylines in the industry. Theresa L. Geller and Anna Marie Banker have stated that Murphy and Falchuk utilize "the formal structure of the serialized anthology...to present serial narratives made by and about 'queers,' openly subverting gender and sexual norms that define the majority of television."[180] In the journal Gender Forum, Robert Sevenich further acknowledges that "American Horror Story is a unique and challenging text that confronts issues of queer visibility, provides queer performers and creators a vehicle to contribute to cultural conversations, and gives audiences a lens to glean meaning."[181]
American Horror Story has won over 100 awards out of its 359 award nominations. The franchise has garnered 28 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, with Jessica Lange winning for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie and for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie, James Cromwell winning for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie, and Kathy Bates winning for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie. It received an additional 50 Creative Arts Emmy Award nominations, winning eleven times, including Outstanding Hairstyling for a Miniseries or a Movie, Outstanding Costumes for a Miniseries, Movie, or Special, Outstanding Sound Editing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Special, and Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Limited Series, Movie or a Special.[227] It has received nine Golden Globe Award nominations, with Lange winning for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film,[228] and Lady Gaga winning for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film.[229] The series has also received three Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, with Lange winning for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series.[230] Additional accolades include eighteen Critics' Choice Television Awards nominations, with four wins,[231] the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Miniseries,[232] four Costume Designers Guild Awards nominations, winning three times,[233] eight wins out of ten nominations at the Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild,[234] five People's Choice Awards nominations, winning once,[235] and eleven Satellite Awards nomination, with three wins.[236] On April 9, 2019, it was announced by the Television Academy that American Horror Story: Apocalypse would not qualify for the Limited Series categories, and instead be moved to Drama.[237] American Horror Story was named the most in-demand horror TV show in 2019 by Guinness World Records,[238] based on global TV demand data supplied by Parrot Analytics.[239]
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