American Horror Stories TV Review

July 15th 2021, 2:15pm

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

PLOT: American Horror Stories is a spin-off of Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s award-winning hit anthology series American Horror Story. American Horror Stories is a weekly anthology series that will feature a different horror story each episode.

REVIEW: It is hard to believe that the first season of American Horror Story debuted ten years ago. The first entry in the anthology series, retroactively subtitled Murder House, was a blend of dark horror with Brad Falchuk and Ryan Murphy's trademark style. With the first of multiple iconic performances by Jessica Lange and the ensemble repertoire cast, it kicked off the franchise that would change genres and themes year after year. While the original series is still going strong, it has lost some of its luster as the tone has gotten pulpier and less scary with each subsequent volume. Part of that may be due to sustaining a narrative over a full season and losing steam. Now, Murphy and Falchuk are taking a different approach with spin-off American Horror Stories. Promising stories told over self-contained episodes rather than full seasons, American Horror Stories is a familiar return to the roots of the series that may reinvigorate the franchise as a whole.

The first two episodes of the series are actually one story. I know, that already defeats the standalone promise that American Horror Stories has been advertising, but the two chapters of "Rubber(wo)Man" work almost on their own. Set in the Murder House from the first season, the story focuses on Scarlett (Sierra McCormick) who moves into the haunted mansion with her fathers (Matt Bomer and Gavin Creel) who plan to turn it into a bed and breakfast. Scarlett is gay and experimenting with BDSM porn which makes her the perfect suitor for the Rubber Man spirit. She also has a crush on Maya (Paris Jackson), a mean girl at school. When a prank turns into worse, Scarlett takes control and all hell breaks loose. With a glimpse of the demonic Infantata from the first season, the premiere episode is bloody and dark with only a hint of Murphy and Falchuk's snarky dialogue.

The second episode continues Scarlett's story but also introduces Ruby McDaniel (Kaia Gerber). The two girls begin a murderous and romantic relationship that leaves a trail of bodies in their wake. While the second episode is "Part Two" to the premiere episode, the focus shifts from Scarlett's acceptance of her sexual proclivities into a larger tale of what death means in the Murder House and how the spirits who dwell there survive. While references are made to Dylan McDermott's character from the first season, there are no other callbacks aside from the rules of the house itself and that they are allowed to venture free of the grounds on Halloween night. It is noticeable that the we never see the hundreds of other ghosts that haunt the house, but the quick pace of these two episodes makes that something of a moot point.

While Matt Bomer is a veteran of two previous seasons of American Horror Story, the rest of the cast are brand new. Sierra McCormick makes a solid lead and flips the arc of season one's Taissa Farmiga in a different direction, but the standouts are Paris Jackson and Kaia Gerber. Both are the children of famous stars (Jackson is daughter of Michael Jackson and Gerber's mother is Cindy Crawford) and they bring some rookie starpower to the series. Jackson is the far more natural actress while some of Gerber's dialogue comes across as wooden. Still, both actresses round out this cast nicely along with Merrin Dungey as Scarlett's therapist and Aaron Tveit as a contractor. Everyone here keeps the cheesiness subdued which allows this first entry in the series to be far more horror than pulp.

After watching these two episodes, I appreciate that Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk have seen the limitations of their storytelling. Murder House offered a perfect setting for telling horror stories and by revisiting it here, audiences get a chance to hear another tale using the same plot devices without being saddled with a whole season of filler material. That being said, this story could have been kept as a single episode rather than spreading it over two. There is still some filler here that could have been cut to tell a tighter story, especially since the ending feels incongruous to the two hours that came before it. One episode revels in cool moments like using Bernard Hermann's "Twisted Nerve" while another replicates moments from the premiere season of American Horror Story. It is simultaneously derivative and new.

It is hard to judge the entire series based on these two episodes since the trailers tease subsequent tales will venture further away from the established stories from the parent series. But, even if the entire anthology was new tales set in the first nine seasons of American Horror Story, it would be an intriguing show to watch. I trust that this premiere was selected to ease viewers into this new format and it works overall. It is a safe episode that doesn't change much from the tried and true format that has worked for a decade. A couple of hours is far less of a commitment than a whole season, so give these episodes a shot and stay tuned to see just how far this show can go.

American Horror Stories airs Thursdays on FX on Hulu.