American
Horror Story: The Complete First Season (2011)
Review by Jude
Felton
The last
couple of years have been good to genre fans on TV; even outside of the premium
channels. The Walking Dead hit AMC in 2010, and has proved to be a great show (if
you can get AMC that is), and then last year FX debuted American Horror Story.
Having followed the show during its initial run I can honestly say that of the
two shows I enjoy American Horror Story more. Now, you can catch up on the
entire first season of twelve episodes on this 3 disc release.
American
Horror Story lulls you in, with its initial focus on the Harmon family, Ben,
Vivien and their daughter Violet, who have moved from Boston to LA. Ben aims to
continue his psychiatric practice from their new house; a house that many
strange and violent events have occurred in. They are welcomed to the
neighborhood, so to speak, by the eccentric Constance Langdon (Jessica Lange).
She is quite blatantly operating in a different realm of existence than the
rest of us, as she raises her daughter.
Within the
confines of the Harmon’s new house all manner of strange events happen; a
strange character in a latex body suit, a burned and suited man, a teenage boy
hunted by the dead and a housemaid that has more to her than meets the eye.
Where
American Horror Story really succeeds is in making you think that the show is
about the new family in its residence, whereas in actual fact the show is very
much about the house. Yes, the Harmon’s are used as a focal point, and their
history is explored, especially when it comes back to haunt them, but the house
is the main character. The story jumps back and forth in time, slowly revealing
events that have transpired within it walls, as the full story slowly becomes
clear.
This show is
quite riveting; it keeps you guessing throughout and doesn’t hold back with its
heavy mix of sex and violence. It’s a riff on the haunted house theme, but with
a whole new story that is a deviant as it is engrossing. With this Blu-ray
release you also get the added bonus of being able to follow the story without
the distraction of endless commercials, which is always nice.
Add into this
mix the fact that American Horror Story looks terrific in HD and you have
yourself a real winner. If you haven’t caught the first season yet I would
heartily recommend you do so as soon as you can, as you’ll then be ready to
dive into Season 2, which starts in the middle of October 2012.
There are a
few special features contained on this release as well. There’s an audio
commentary for the pilot episode, The Murder House presented by Eternal
Darkness Tours of Hollywood, which is a fun take on the Hollywood celebrity tours.
Also on this set is a feature on the creating of the cool title sequence, Out
of the Shadows (where we get to meet the ghosts) and ‘Making of’ feature, which
although it isn’t too long, it is quite informative with many of the cast and
crew involved. It makes for a decent viewing and adds a little more flesh to
this twisted beast.
American
Horror Story Season One is terrific, and creepy, introduction to a world that I
hope we get to visit a lot more in the future. The cast are all wonderful,
especially the unhinged performance by Jessica Lange, and feature a wide array
of interesting characters. The production values are great and the score
accompanies the visuals perfectly.
There is a
lot of good TV shows floating around at the moment, and American Horror Story
is definitely right up there with the best of them. So, even if you caught the
show on its initial run, it’s well worth your time picking up the Season One
set.
American Horror Story: The Complete First Season is available now on Blu-ray and DVD from 20th Century Fox.
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