What Is American Horror Story And Why Is It So Disturbing?

The first episode of American Horror Story aired October 5, 2011. The eighth season, Apocalypse, is still as scary and disturbing as when it first aired.

The first season of AHS (American Horror Story) was Murder House, a home where the people who lived in it and died in it, continue to haunt it as normal-looking people to try and kill more people.

The second season of AHS was Asylum. It aired from October 17th, 2012, to January 23, 2013. Asylum is about a news journalist who trespasses into Briarcliff Manor to try and unravel the dark mistreatment of its patients but instead gets mistaken as a patient herself and gets committed into the Asylum.

The third season of AHS is Coven. It aired from October 9th, 2013, to January 29th, 2014. It’s about a Coven of teenage Salem witches who fight for their survival against voodoo witches. Season 3 is the first season that introduces Kathy Bates, who plays as a 19th-century slave killer Delphine LaLaurie. This season is only good because of her presence.

The fourth season of AHS is Freak Show. Freak Show is by far one of the best seasons of AHS. It aired from October 8th, 2014, through January 21st, 2015. Freak Show is about a bunch of “Freaks” at a circus and how the police get involved with the circus because a scary killer clown who killed two teens.

The fifth season of AHS is Hotel. A lot of people don’t like Hotel, but I think with Freak Show it’s one of the best seasons. Hotel is about many ghosts and demons who haunt the hotel. The main one being James Patrick March (Evan Peters) who plays as the founder of the Hotel and a serial killer who disposed of his bodies at the hotel. Detective John Lowe (Wes Bentley) checks into the hotel to unravel a serial killer who kills people who disobey the 10 commandments.

The sixth season is Roanoke. It aired on September 14, 2016. This is the first time ever that the series has aired on September instead of October. Many people think this is the worst season and I agree. Roanoke is a TV show about the ghosts of Roanoke, the lost colony, and how they haunt a house. The TV show works out really well so the producer tries to get all the actors together again to create “Return To Roanoke” which is a second season to the show. This time things actually do start going wrong but no one cares about it because it’s on a live feed and they just think it’s a part of the show.

The seventh season of AHS is Cult. It’s about a . . . Cult. The Cult is ran by Kai Anderson (Evan Peters) who is a young, charismatic, leader who is trying to run for city council. Kai and his cult, which is full of other people who agree with his political views, dress up as clowns and kill other people who are trying to run for the city council seat so that Kai will be the only one left alive for the seat.

The newest season of AHS is Apocalypse. Apocalypse is about a nuclear blast going off in the future and a bunch of people with good genetics get together and survive in a shelter. Apocalypse is also said to be one of the worst seasons of AHS.

Now that we’ve gone over the different seasons of AHS, we get to the question why is so disturbing?

The first factor that goes into the scare and fear of AHS is the intro of each episode. In each episode we get new background information about the last episode so that if we missed it we’re not that far behind, but the real scary part is the theme song.

The theme song of AHS has been the same since season one but each season the video that plays with it changes to what the season is about. Here is a link to the theme song of season one, but be aware that the video and the song are somewhat disturbing and may be scary to watch.

Another creep factor that is in AHS is that every season features the same cast but they play different characters in different scenarios, so we get the same actors that we’ve been afraid of before but as even creepier people. Actors who have played in a lot of the seasons are Evan Peters, Taissa Farmiga, Sarah Paulson, and Jessica Lange.

Evan Peters has played in all eight seasons of AHS. He’s played as Tate Langdon, Kit Walker, Kyle Spencer, Jimmy Darling, James Patrick March, Edward Philippe Mott,and Rory Monahan. In season seven he played seven different roles Kai Anderson, Andy Warhol, Marshall Applewhite, David Koresh, Jim Jones, Jesus, and Charles Manson, He played James Patrick March, Tate Langdon, and Mr. Gallant again in Season eight.

Taissa  Farmiga has played in four seasons, Murder House, Coven, Roanoke, and Apocalypse. She played as Violet Harmon in Murder House, Zoe Benson in Coven, and Sophie Green in Roanoke. Then for season eight she went back to play as Violet and Zoe.

Sarah Paulson has played in all of the seasons. She’s played as Billie Dean Howard, Lana Winters, Cordelia Foxx, Hypodermic Sally, Dot Tattler, Bette Tattler, and Shelby Miller. Sarah Paulson is a vital role in AHS because she’s been in every season and her role of Billie Dean Howard a medium is connected in a lot of the seasons.

Jessica Lange played Constance Langdon in season one, Murder House. In season two, Asylum, she played as Sister Jude, one of the creepiest characters in AHS. In Coven she played Fiona Goode, then in Freak Show, she played Elsa Mars. Since Season four she has only come back once and that’s in the newest season, season 8. She comes back as Constance Langdon.

The next reason on why AHS is so creepy is because of the people who have helped write and produce it. Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk are two of the main writers of AHS, before they worked on the successful show “Glee”. James Wong and Jennifer Salt have also helped produce AHS. James Wong produced “Final Destination” one and three. While Jennifer Salt produced many 1970’s horror movies like “Terror Among Us.”

Although the producers, music, and actors, play a very big part of the horror in AHS. The biggest role is just the plot of each season and each episode and the fear that comes with every second of the show. In every season we meet new people and new lives, everything changes, but somehow in this anthology, Murphy and the other writers always bring a new plate of fear to the table, from ghosts, to demons, to serial killers. “American Horror Story” offers all of it.