David Pierdomenico
It’s a cultural phenomenon that’s been on the air since 2011. An anthology horror series that escapes the cliché of getting worse with each season, because each one is essentially its own miniseries. Despite its popularity however, it’s difficult to overlook some very glaring issues with the series. This is by no means a claim that it’s a terrible series. It’s well acted and has compelling and poignant moments. Rather it just seems like it’s made by non-horror fans for non-horror fans who think they like horror.
It Doesn’t Understand Horror
It may surprise many fans to learn that the creators of American Horror Story (Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk) are also the minds behind Nip/Tuck and Glee. Because of this, their approach to the horror genre is different than the gritty surrealism of David Cronenberg, the intentionally overt campiness of Sami Raimi, or witty slashers of Wes Craven. Their previous series (Glee in particular), were aimed more at teenagers, and it shows. The characters are all over the top, to the point that they almost become caricatures. It’s clear that the writers want the characters to seem quirky, but don’t know how to do so. And the dialogue is often painfully one the nose, while seeming like it’s trying so hard to be witty, but forgetting that it needs to be subtle.
AHS also seems to follow the writing paradigm of throwing as much material at the wall in the hope that something sticks. Even in one of their better seasons Asylum, the story involves alien abduction, possession/exorcism, serial killers, and a runaway Nazi performing human experimentation. It’s as if Murphy and Falchuk looked up as many horror tropes as they possibly could and believed that quantity equals quality. Each of these components have enormous potential, even if fleshed out over the course of a season. But AHS instead tries to be relevant by having as much thrown is as possible. Would The Shining have been the cult classic that it is if it also involved aliens landing at the Overlook, along with some Nazis and a random exorcism scene just for the hell of it?
Its Tone is All Over the Place
Fans of AHS will notice its unique aesthetic style. And while having a distinctive style helps elevate media to a more interesting status, it can sometimes work to its detriment. Quentin Tarantino is known for use a variety of unusual angles and camera tricks. However he does so with purpose. It’s always to build tension, or have some sort of payoff or reveal. AHS uses many of these techniques, but it’s never for any express purpose other than trying to look cool. And the weird camerawork is so prevalent that it becomes a distraction from the story itself. The production design is also beautiful, but it too seems to get in the way. The series producers seem more concerned with conveying glamor and prestige (simply for the sake of doing so), but at the expense of story and dread.
Suspense is something the series has always had trouble portraying because it jumps around with trying to be scary, funny, and socially relevant at the same time. To be fair, it does have moments of genuine poignancy with characters that we come to care for, but when these moments take place, the audience completely forgets they’re watching horror. The tone issue is never more present than in the numerous musical numbers the series has that completely come of nowhere. Clearly since they’re behind Glee, Murphy and Falchuk like musicals, but having characters randomly start singing and turning the episode into a music video is really befuddling in something that isn’t meant to be a musical, especially horror.
It Feels Preachy
It’s no secret that Murphy and Falchuk consider themselves to be progressives on the left side of the political spectrum. And inherently there’s nothing wrong with them wanting to promote things like tolerance and inclusion, which they also do in their other series. Artists have always infused their personal beliefs in their craft. And usually it only receives criticism when said infusion seems obvious, or trying too hard. It’s also usually more tolerable in something like a drama. But “horror” is part of the series’ title, so when the writers seem like they’re shoving a message down the audience’s throats, it can’t help but seem incredibly forced and inorganic.
This is most evident the entirety of Season 7, dubbed Cult. The mistake of the writers/producers was adapting it directly on the Election of 2016 and using Trump and Clinton by name. It made the pro-Trump people almost into cartoon characters, and made the anti-Trump people into melodramatic people whose delivery was so over the top and preachy that it almost seemed like they were doing so sarcastically (as Stephen Colbert did back during his Comedy Central days).
It also made the horror/supernatural elements harder to believe because by feature the real election, it was having it take place in our real world, rather than the slightly surreal one the series had been building for six previous seasons. Back in 2016, The Purge: Election Year tried something similar, but pulled it off much more seamlessly. Because they set in a slightly alternate world with a more allegorical approach, it allowed them more creative freedom without sacrificing realism, and also allowed them to be more subtle about it (as subtle as The Purge series is capable that is).
By no means is this all meant to suggest that AHS is a poor series on the whole. Its production design is amazing, and it has boasted some brilliant performances by series regulars like Jessica Lange, Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, Taissa Farmiga, and many more. Rather, the issue is that it doesn’t seem like a very effective horror series. It has components of comedy and social drama that always seem to come at the expense of the horror elements. There’s nothing wrong with being a fan or enjoying it. It just seems like it’s not really made by or for horror fans.
