This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Emerson chapter.
I have always been a fan of American Horror Story, whether it was the amazing plot of season one or the incredible cast in season three. This season, American Horror Story: Hotel ends this four or five year relationship. After all the hype of the theme and cast for this new season, I expected an equally incredible story behind it all. I was wrong. Here are a few issues I had with the first episode of this “electrifying chapter of American Horror Story.”
1. The gore
This is not a new trait of AHS by any means, yet this season and more recent seasons have brought gore to a whole new level. In the first half-hour of this season’s premiere, the story turns to a gruesome murder in a hotel where a man has his eyes and tongue pulled out on an ashtray. The scene continues for a minute or so while the man screams for help because he is still alive. This is relying heavily on shock value that is a result of very shallow writing, which was not the case in seasons one and two.
2. Showing and not implying
AHS is well known for iconic openings that can make anyone cringe and hide under the covers. This season’s opening is a great example of the show’s downfall in general. The beauty of the first season’s opening sequence was the music and lack of being able to distinguish anything flashed on the screens. It gave audiences a sense of uneasiness because it implied a lot about the house without revealing plot points. This cannot be said about season five’s opening. There are so many shots of blood, which the audience learns is important to the story in the first episode. Even in the episode itself, everything was showed, not implied. In the scene with Matt Boomer and Lady Gaga killing the couple while having sex with them, they show the couple crying and slowly dying. This is horrifying, but not smart, clever or even merited.
3. Blatant copying of other horror films
There are obvious similarities in setting between AHS and The Shining, an iconic horror film. There are several reasons the writers probably chose this carpet and replica set that verge on the feeling of nostalgia, but there are other similarities that are not justified.
Children appearing at the end of the hall; really, Ryan Murphy? This is one of the most iconic parts of The Shining and this seems to be a blatant rip-off of the horror of monotone children who don’t smile. Although there is more behind the children, it just seems a little too similar.
4. Ripping themselves off
I understand the inspiration that movies like The Shining can give to writers such as Ryan Murphy, especially a season entitled “Hotel”, but there are several points in this plot that prove that perhaps there is nothing original in this story. For example, the idea of not being able to leave a place due to death is from season one. The junkie character Sally who seems to be a death-like figure is much like the death- like maid figure from season one as well. Kathy Bates’ quest to purify and righteous view of herself is eerily similar to her treatment of slaves in season three. And lets not forget the cop who knows that something is wrong with the hotel and is somehow pulled into it with an unexplainable force. Does that sound familiar? It should; every “good” person, or doom of any AHS situation, is inevitably drawn in and will soon be corrupted or killed. Since the plot has already been written and aired, why continue watching?
5. The rape
This was almost too horrible to continue watching. Rape and sexual assault are not new topics in AHS, but it has escalated to the point of disturbing, not scary. In season one, the rape scene was not only crafted so well that it was consensual rape, it was not filmed and showed to audiences for a long period of time. In these past few seasons, rapes are becoming graphic, long in length, and unbearable to watch. What happened to the writers who scared audiences with the masked man who raped the wife, but did it in a humane way? The entire show seems to be over-sexualized in general. The scene of Lady Gaga and Matt Boomer humping dying people was not only hard to watch, but also incredibly overly sexualized. It’s getting hard to watch, let alone comprehend.
This leads me to my biggest overall critique of this one episode of American Horror Story: Ryan Murphy has lost touch with what really scares people and what repulses them. A character being raped to death doesn’t keep people up at night—it makes them sick to their stomach. Writing is the issue here and only with better writing can any of these jarring issues with the season be fixed.
It wasn’t all bad, however. There is one redeeming factor in this whole mess of a season: Lady Gaga and Matt Boomer being crazy compelling characters.