American Horror Story

[Magnificent]

Sorry is already posted but ... wow!!!  I watched the pilot last week and (aside from far too much nekkid Dylan McDermott) was thoroughly entertained.  Only time will tell if it's going to be on the level of LOST or BSG, but if it keeps going at the pace the pilot set, it's going to easily blow by Sons of Anarchy.

[Midnite]

Never heard of this show, how many seasons so far?

[Previsionary]

It premiered last week, so 1 season and 1 episode.

[lugaru]

I only know about this show from seeing banners for it on IMDB, which got me interested (It is FX!) but the banner looked more like a photoshoot for a bondage site rather than anything particularly creepy so I did not make a huge effort to track it down.

Can I get some opinions on it or maybe even a plot spoiler or two?

[Magnificent]

You really can't get a good feeling for it from a pic.  The black leather plays a part, but not how you think... sort of.

Quick synopsis:  Hubby, wife & teen daughter (all with their own issues) move from the East Coast (NYC?  can't remember) to Los Angeles in a house that has a history of people dying in it.  Craziness ensues. 

In all fairness, the pilot was like a mini thriller (only a little blood, so the term "horror" in this context isn't just "gore for the sake of shock").  It reminds me a little of Carnivale (HBO series) except without the whole Depression Era sideshow aspect.

[lugaru]

Oh nice, there is a place on TV for seralized creepy weirdness but still very few shows deliver, since I guess it can be hard to write. I'll check this out and report back.

[Magnificent]

I hope you had the chance to check it out last night.  The episode was kuh-ray-zee!

[lugaru]

And now that it is the weekend I've seen episodes 1 and 2.

Wow.

I was a little worried that the show would be pretty extreme given that I was a huge fan of stuff like Nip/Tuck and they never pulled a single punch on that show. I'm like "well, that was on a soap opera about cosmetic surgeons, imagine a horror show".

It is very intense and very brutal, and scary and atmospheric. The only problem is that it moves at a movie pace, even though they have a big canvas to stretch things out on. Too much has happened in the first two episodes in my opinion, meaning the show will either end very quickly or "jump the shark" very quickly.

Either way really digging it, especially the esthetics of it, very good looking show.

[laughing paradox]

What I appreciate about this show are the different little 'easter eggs', references with music or images, you can find if you're a horror fan. Or if you're just a fan of moves in general.

I liked the first two episodes, with the second one being more interesting. I was not expecting the second half of that episode to go the way it did, and I was pleasantly surprised.

[lugaru]

The show is getting a little bit better, which is good since I already liked it. It has a nice mix of themes which remind me of work from Satoishi Kohn, David Lynch and Darren Aronofsky. Nowhere nearly as accomplished, but for sure that mix of stress, waking dreams and the ability to make anything spooky.

Episode 3 slowed down a tiny bit too... and I like some of the developments. The bit with the "famous murders" tour was great.

[Magnificent]

I'm still amazed that this show can keep it's movie-style pacing each episode.  While last night's episode (with a special appearance by New Spock(tm) ) was great (and hinted at the origin of the thing in the basement), next week's looks to be even better.  Can't wait to see what happens with Jessica Lange and/or her daughter.

[JeyNyce]

The Mrs felt the same way.  It feels more like a movie than a TV show.  Last night was a great show

[lugaru]

Just saw episode 4 last night.

Kudos on them for taking the "urban legend" that is the previous couple in the house and fleshing them out into pretty interesting (and active) characters. The show remains creepy and slezy, but that said I'm a little upset about what happened to the neighbors dauther, she was becoming one of the only likable characters on the show.

Also they are going out of their way to lay down the rules of how the haunting works, which is cool on a logical level but they might paint themselves into a corner when they want to do something really crazy.

[Magnificent]

They used Halloween to allow the ghosts lots of extra leeway, plus it was very interesting to see how various ghosts reacted to the plots of others.

I'm not too sure Addie (the one in the mask that got killed) isn't going to come back as a ghost.

For last night's episode, I loved the extra info about Tate.  It makes me wonder if they are wanting the doc there to fix his psyche so he can "move on"?

[lugaru]

The recent episodes have been absolutely great... Hayden turned into a fairly important character and the flashback with Tate (about 3 episodes ago) was... wow. Probably the scariest thing I've seen on TV in a while. That episode also had one of my favorite actors from Modern Family.

[Vertex]

   This show is often gross and frustrating and brilliant. But you gotta admit, the more you watch the more you wanna just keep on yelling GET THE HELL OUT OF THE HOUSE STUPID!!!

[JeyNyce]

They try to leave, but every time they try, something always pulls them back in.

[lugaru]

They try to leave, but every time they try, something always pulls them back in.

Yeah, I was telling my friend "If they where not trying, I would have stopped watching this show already".

Seriosly there is a part of me who, despite loving the show, wants to see that house torn down and turned into a starbucks.

[UnkoMan]

The mother and father might be trying to leave, but they are still two of the dumbest people I have ever seen.
Seriously, the father? Oh man, how could he get stupider? At this point he has dug himself into such a big hole there is no way out.

But I keep watching because GHOSTS! Got to see what will happen! Even when twists are totally obvious!

[lugaru]

But I keep watching because GHOSTS! Got to see what will happen! Even when twists are totally obvious!

That is where I am right now with the show, the ghosts are the main attraction for me. It almost feels like a place between dimentions where characters from very different soap operas live side by side. Also the show can still be really scary when it wants to.

As for the idiot dad... in the most recent episode (the Dhalia one) he started to morph into a proper $^$#%# meaning I would no longer care if they kill him off or do something awful to him.

As for some spoilers:

Spoiler

Hayden has gone from being an annoying dead mistress to being a central character. I think her intelligence and training in psychology makes her immune to some of the mind weakening aspects of her dead condition. Also she is just clever, tricking the living and dead into doing stuff for her. I'm a little weirded out by where the pregnancy thing is going though, kind of a big plot for a small story.

[JeyNyce]

But the Dad knows something is up with the house, he just can't put his finger on it.  Maybe 2 or 3 episode before he stated that the house has power.  The daughter seems to be caught in the middle of the whole thing.  I have to watch the latest episode.  Hopefully it will be on demand tonight.

[UnkoMan]

Hmm... I will put this all in a spoiler tag, I think... Since I will mention things from the Dhalia episode.

Spoiler

I thought the Dahlia thing was a bit silly, to be honest. "Hey, let's get an ex-celebrity to play somebody who wanted to be a celebrity. And we can loosely tie into a real life murder for no reason!" Plus, did they really need to add another random ghost? It is like, if they don't get a new ghost per episode they don't know what to do. Oh right, but also Constance's boyfriend died...

Also, one thing I don't get... how come the maid goes between old, lonely, angry woman (which seems like her actual personality in the brief flashback) to young slut? She didn't seem particularly promiscuous. Is it some kind of afterlife punishment for her to appear and act like that around men? I don't get it.

Hayden... I agree with you, Lug. She was horribly annoying at first and, well, she still is really... But she is a pretty awesome totally psychotic ex villain. And I love that. I mean, I totally hate her and think she is retarded for being so obsessed over the dad, but then I think if not him she would have gotten attached to somebody else and been psycho on them. And, yeah, the way she manipulates everybody is great.

And, yeah, they can kill the dad. He has constantly sucked. And now he is sooo mad that his wife cheated on him even though he cheated on her first and was always like "It wasn't a big deal." And lied to her constantly. What a hypocrite.

Anyhow, I am just waiting for the episode where Tate is sexually molested by his mother, because he was the only child she had who was attractive.

[JeyNyce]

The way it works with the maid is

Spoiler

if you are sex driven and pretty much a D-bag, you will see her in a sexy slutty way, which is the way she died when she got shot, but if you are more of a kinder type person, you will see her as her true self and that's what happen towards the end of the episode.

I know everybody wants the husband to die, but I don't.  I want her to become evil, or at least a Jekyll & Hyde type person.  Let the house get to him.

[UnkoMan]

Spoiler

Oh, so it doesn't matter if you are a man or a woman? Okay, that makes more sense to me then. I guess we just haven't really seen any female characters who are like that. So, like... the security guard dude would see her as an old lady then.
I guess the only men I've ever seen her interact with (who aren't ghosts) are douches.

[JeyNyce]

Spoiler

Oh, so it doesn't matter if you are a man or a woman? Okay, that makes more sense to me then. I guess we just haven't really seen any female characters who are like that. So, like... the security guard dude would see her as an old lady then.
I guess the only men I've ever seen her interact with (who aren't ghosts) are douches.

Spoiler

I think Hayden saw the maid as a young person, before she died....I think, not sure

[JeyNyce]

Did anybody see the show?  Were you expecting that??

[UnkoMan]

That was pretty good. The clues were there, but I didn't put it together until

Spoiler

she couldn't get out of the house. Then I was like, "oh man, that is her body under there, isn't it?"

I wonder how they are going to deal with this. I wonder if everybody on this show will just end up turning to ghosts and then a new family will move in next season? Ha ha.

[lugaru]

That was pretty good. The clues were there, but I didn't put it together until

Spoiler

she couldn't get out of the house. Then I was like, "oh man, that is her body under there, isn't it?"

I wonder how they are going to deal with this. I wonder if everybody on this show will just end up turning to ghosts and then a new family will move in next season? Ha ha.

This show makes me want to build a very nice house in the sims, kill 3 generations of inhabitants, bury them all in the basement and see what happens.

As for spoilers:

Spoiler

HOLY &^$#. Im with Unka, the second she tried to escape and could not I was like NO! NO! Wow. I thought that suicide attempt was wrapped up too neatly, but becoming a bloated corpse full of flies is not exactly getting out unscathed. I still feel this show is unsustainable, but while it continues to be good I'm loving it.

[lugaru]

Season finale out in a couple of days! Will a single character survive?

What will they do for the scheduled season 2?

[JeyNyce]

You didn't see it?  I saw it and it was good.  If you follow the show, you will understand me when I say that the house is getting very crowded.