Day 9: 31 Days of Horror: American Horror Story (2011 to Present)

Yeah, I know I've posted about American Horror Story before and it's not a movie, but it is a mini-series and can be enjoyed like it's a long movie. Any horroraholics out there should be watching this show! It is brilliantly done, extremely creative and the acting is above average with each season. One of the best things about this show is that it changes the focus of the show with each season. Nothing is ever dull in the world of American Horror Story! I'm more than obsessed with it! This post will have some spoilers, but it's more regarding the history of the Murder House.

Season 1, the Murder House! First five minutes are perfect for grabbing the viewers attention, extremely creepy. The house holds a lot of secrets and anyone who dies in the house is stuck in the house forever, so there are a lot of ghosts haunting it. The house remains on the market, despite the deaths that take place in it. This means that a lot of unsuspecting families end up purchasing the house and becoming victims of the house.

The newest family to move in is the Harmon family. Ben Harmon found the house and decided to move his family there after he basically ruins it. Vivien Harmon, his wife, had suffered through giving birth to a stillborn baby and Ben had an affair with one of his students named Hayden. Their teenage daughter, Violet, is not thrilled to be moving, but she loves the house when they see it because it's so strange and creepy.

The haunting of the ghosts in the house begins almost immediately. However, the Harmons do not realize this until later in the season, mostly because they refuse to believe that what they are seeing is a haunting. It's not an easy thing to accept. Some of the ghosts in the house are friendly, but unfortunately, others are very malevolent. There are ties to Rosemary's Baby (1968), Psycho (1960), Gaslight (1944), The Shining (1980), the Black Dahlia murder case, Sal Mineo's murder, and even The Changeling (1980) in this show. So good!

There are scenes that show the history of the house and previous owners, dating all the way back to the original owners from 1922. The Montgomery family built the house. The husband, Charles, was a doctor who becomes a drug addict, obsessed with anatomy and creating mutants in the house's basement. His wife, Nora, found him to be impossible to deal with once they move into the house. She also finds their baby son to be a nuisance. They were wealthy socialites from Philadelphia, however, they started losing money once they moved into the house. So, Nora thinks of a way for them to start making some extra money and her solution was to have her husband perform illegal abortions for girls in the area, in his 'lab' in the basement.

Things backfire on them though, once 1926 comes around. One of the girls who went under Dr. Montgomery's knife did so without the consent of her boyfriend. It is an understatement to say that the boyfriend was upset because it caused him to do something unimaginable. He kidnapped the Montgomery's child and murdered him, sending pieces of him back to the family. You'd think that'd be the worst part, but no, the worst part is that Dr. Montgomery decided to sew the child back together and the child comes back as a bloodthirsty Infantata. Distraught by her husband's horrific creation, Nora decided to murder her husband and then she committed suicide. That's how the curse of the Murder House begins.

Season two is amazing as well, it takes place in an asylum and has similarities to The Exorcist (1973). A nun becomes possessed by a demon and starts wreaking havoc on the asylum. A nasty nun, with a not so holy past, commits a journalist to the asylum, even though she is mentally stable. Then, later, she is wrongfully committed to the asylum after she tries to fix some of the bad things that have been going on there. A sadistic scientist is performing heinous experiments to supposedly 'correct' some of the criminally insane. Then, there's Bloody Face, one of the creepiest serial killers in history, who may be in the asylum or on the loose. I think that this season is definitely darker than the first one, but I love both of them for some creepy viewing.

Season three, Coven, just started on Wednesday. It started out with a bang! Jessica Lange and a whole bunch of actors from past seasons are back, with a few new faces. Kathy Bates and Angela Bassett are already killing with their scenes. I cannot wait for next Wednesday already! Wish the season premiere could have been two hours instead of one! This show is not for those who cannot handle scary or hard to watch situations, but if you can, then do yourself a favor and check this show out!