Despite some hit-or-miss execution,American Horror Storyis among the most successful television phenomenon of the modern era, still running strong during its tenth season and greenlit for three more. In a fascinating move for the franchise,American Horror Storiessubverts the format and upends much of the series hallmarks, creating something unique both from its forbears and from its competitors.
American Horror Storieswas created by the same duo behind the original series, Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, who also wrote three of the episodes. Each of the seven episodes is helmed by a different director including music video director Liz Friedlander,Just Wrightdirector Sanaa HamriandThe Blair Witch Projectwriter and co-director Eduardo Sanchez.
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Most are familiar with the American Story franchise and its trademark format. Each season ofAmerican Horror StoryorAmerican Crime Storytells a single story from dozens of different angles. Actorsoften reappear across seasonsor series in different roles, themes are regularly recurring and the occasional meta self-reference rewards long-time viewers.Storiesflips most of those details on their head, telling a full horror story in each episode with no interconnection over the season. This is a more classic anthology structure, more akin toThe Twilight Zonethan its source material.
American Horror Storiesstands out from a very well-populated field of horror content, in part, because of themassive depth of content that came before it.Storiesis not entirely based around self-reference, and it does stand on its own, but the first and last episodes build themselves around previous concepts. The series' first season and its iconic Murder House provide the setting for the first story, a double feature that brings back the famous Rubber Man. The final episode of the season takes place in our world, based entirely around diegetic reference as a mother designs a video game adaptation of the previous series'. This continuity turns a series into a universe, embracing the franchising technique of the MCU for this horror anthology.
One of the best parts of the American Story franchises is the soundtrack. The theme song is one of the most beloved in modern television, remixed several times throughout the series. The main theme was composed by Charlie Clouser, who also composedfor theSawfranchiseand played keyboard for Nine Inch Nails.Storiesalso features music by regular franchise composer Mac Quayle, who works with Murphy on most of his projects. Apart from Murphy, Quayle also composed forMr. RobotandThe Last Of Us: Part II.The music brings a beautiful eerie vibe to even the calmest scenes, setting a brilliant atmosphere.
Alongside the music, comes the sound design, an often underrated aspect of film and TV. The moment-to-moment audio effects surrounding the littlest things, from the guttural roar of the ferals to the subtle squeaking of the Rubber Man suit.Storieshas a very solid grasp of sound design, often unmatched by the competition. Horror is so dependent on subtle details, and well-integrated audio is a key aspect of immersion. Most of the horror of this series is visceral, based in actual bodily violence and gore. Most fans of horror films have probably discoveredhow jarring a bad sound effect can be, especially in the case of a tense scene. Not only doesStoriesuse its sound design to ramp up tension, it’s key to its payoff.
Shifting from telling a story over a full season of television to telling a story in just under an hour would logically lead to somesubstantial things hitting the cutting room floor. This can be seen in the series, the first couple of episodes leave some details unexplained and the final episode gets tangled in details, but one aspect of the series that is dutifully maintained is social commentary. This series features commentary on social media, old-school censorship, bullying, and a number of other issues relevant to the day. Though horror is often about something deeper, at least as far backas the class implications ofDracula,Storiesinserts its social commentary in a direct way that cleverly weaves into the narrative.
Since each episode in this new anthology is a separate story from a different team and completely unrelated, they do vary in quality. The series as a whole has taken a bit of a beating from critics, and not undeservedly so. Thefirst two episodes did not inspire confidencein the series, breaking some of the earlier series' continuity alongside some dodgy performances and unimpressive writing. After that difficult start, the third episode completely reversed much of the ill will the series had accrued, a solid short horror story with a chilling ending. The next few manage to keep up the third episode’s standard before ending on a fanservice-heavy mess that sacrifices cohesive storytelling to provide a little self-referential fun. The series as a whole is messy, but, taken as a whole, even its missteps are interesting, even if viewers would be forgiven for skipping an episode or two.
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