tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post2301184557005917556..comments2024-03-29T04:57:26.162-04:00Comments on John Kenneth Muir's Reflections on Cult Movies and Classic TV: TV REVIEW: American Horror Story (2011)John Kenneth Muirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15629979615332893780noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-89180610210947691372012-02-05T04:38:39.081-05:002012-02-05T04:38:39.081-05:00I obviously am writing with the luxury of seeing t...I obviously am writing with the luxury of seeing the show aire an entire first season and I am curious to see where the show goes for the 2nd season. I enjoyed the show immensely, however, I am not all that interested in following the daily drama of ghosts or being introduced to an entire new family. Which I find unlikely since Dylan McDermott and Connie Britton are hardly supporting players. <br /><br />I look forward to season 2, but with reservations.Trenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00419980258148279356noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-50716788415473955162011-10-22T01:50:58.557-04:002011-10-22T01:50:58.557-04:00Some interesting observations on American Horror S...Some interesting observations on American Horror Story, John, but I think that you are trying too hard to attribute the first two episodes of this series to a single sub-genre of horror. This was my mistake, because from the initial descriptions of the premise that I read before watching the pilot episode, I had assumed it would be a simple haunted house story; a worn-out sub-genre that I find rife with cliché. However, at least if the first two episodes are any indication, the ghosts of American Horror Story are mere catalysts for the real world horrors that the Harmon's will face in the future. This blending of supernatural, psychological and real-world horror give American Horror Story a unique sensibility that feels very contemporary, yet oddly retroactive as well.<br /><br />Horror films for the past decade have been bludgeoning us into near insensibility with their graphic depictions of violence. Historically, broadcast television, because of the severe restrictions placed on them by FCC regulations, has had to rely more on implied violence than cinematic horror. For this reason, horror television programs always felt somewhat passé and ineffectual. Now that television regulations have loosened up to the point that they are nearly as graphic as their cinematic counterparts, it must now rely on creative writing to generate fear and tension. American Horror Story, being on a cable network after 10pm, is able to stretch the limits of graphic violence, sexuality and langue even further. However, I find it refreshing - in a deeply disturbing way – that it is the implied or unknown aspects of the story that bring out the true terror of the show.<br /><br />Ultimately, what will keep me watching American Horror Story are not the visual visceral pleasures (of which there are many), but the perceptual progression of the mental fear and psychological anxieties that the characters face from both within and without.Fritz "Doc" Freakensteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13209589620766485745noreply@blogger.com