Review

The Harmon family are moving to Los Angeles to start afresh after issues in their past. Vivien Harmon had a violent miscarriage a year before she caught her husband Ben having an affair with one of his students, Ben is a psychiatrist. Daughter Violet could have had a run at being Bella Swan, but I guess they wanted Vanilla as she pouts better or something. Violet has a tendency to cut herself though which could off been interesting in the whole Twilight context. Naturally the Harmon's have decided on purchasing "Murder House", because that's not going to prey on their dysfunctional demeanour right? Ben wants the house cause it's selling for one fourth of its value, do white Americans never watch horror movies? - Violet is attracted to the house because the last owners were murdered in it, and Vivien just seems to go along with the whole deal.

Naturally the house comes with a few attachments, and we're not just talking the thing in the basement or various ghosts. Next door neighbours Constance and Adelaide Langdon drop in unannounced and don't bother knocking, house keeper Moira O'Hara is pretty much a fixture, and Ben's new patient Tate has a thing for Violet and seemingly roams the house after his sessions. Oh and this isn't to mention the strange burnt dude who simply shows up in the backyard Michael Myers style. Anyone else thinking the gang is all here from Amityville?

Okay first up someone is taking the piss here. Yes we enjoy receiving the stuff you want reviewed, but honestly American Horror Story! Firstly we're a Downunder horror site, dedicated to getting the word out on our region's dark genre outings, and this television series is pretty much saying its Americana centric. Secondly the title is pretty grandiose; the show has clearly got big shoes to fill. And thirdly there are a couple of other seasons we need to be getting on with this year. However since a reader sent the discs in, wasn't aware this one was being released in Oz, I'll head into the house and find out what's down in the cellar.

It's like a sitcom, except with ghosts, sex, demons, sex, and the occasion sex scene

Director Ryan Murphy doesn't muck around in getting Pilot underway, hitting a prolong piece set back in 1978. A ginger twin pairing are heading into a pretty derelict looking house armed with baseball bats. Outside a young girl, with Down's syndrome, warns them not to go inside as they will be sorry. Naturally our carrot tops don't heed the advice and set about systematically vandalising everything they can hit inside the house. Ominously they find a rat that has been decapitated, and of course head down into the basement where they discover a bunch of stuff, including human foetuses jarred in I guess some sort of preservative. I would have been out of there as soon as I ran across the rat; naturally one of the twins lingers in the basement which leads to the bloody demise of both of the twins. We later learn the young girl outside the house is Adelaide Langdon, and she has a fixation with the gloomy manse.

We next flick to the present and meet the Harmons, who are arriving with more baggage than their suitcases can hold. The house we were introduced to in the prologue has been renovated and naturally since it's a fourth of the market value they buy it. Strangely they don't investigate why the house is going cheap, come on could it be rooted foundations, termite infestation, demonic tenants! Anyways they move on in and discover among other things a leather outfit in the attic, Vivien demands the full body costume goes out in the trash and Ben obliges as he's getting cranky over the lack of sex, due to various past indiscretions.

Things start to get interesting when we discover the house is frocking ghost central, the twins for example make an appearance, apparently only Adelaide can see them. We also get to meet Moira, the housekeeper, who appears middle aged to everyone but Ben who sees her as a hot young thing just bursting out of her maid's outfit. Got to love a chick in stockings and suspenders, okay too much information there, moving along. Ben catches Moira masturbating, I kid you not, and has to immediately rush off and do that thing your local Minister called "abusing yourself". Later Moira confronts Ben in his office and asks if he went down the self gratification path, while she unclips a stocking and almost gets one of the girls out. Violet catches Moira on top of Ben, who it must be said is fighting off her advances. Ben is still seeing a hot young thing, Violet sees a middle aged woman, the gross meter is up and running for Violet.

Later Ben and Vivian get into an argument about the lack of sex between them, which leads to pretty violent adult horizontal dancing. Later Violet is alone in the bedroom when someone wearing the leather outfit she demanded be exorcised from the house, arrives looking for more than the evening paper. Vivian thinks its Ben after a repeat performance, the audience knows better, and the zip comes down. Vivian is getting more orgasms than Johnny Holmes' partners on a good night.

While the parental units are heavily into bonk-a-rama Violet is attending the local high school where she comes onto the radar of the resident bully Leah. Eventually the two get involved in a school yard scuffle, otherwise known as a cat fight, and Violet knows she has to do something about the situation. Tate, in one of his house walkabouts, hatches a plan where Violet will entice Leah to the house basement via the promise of drugs, and they'll scare Leah off. Naturally things get out of hand and Leah runs screaming from the house total traumatised.

Clearly the house is using the Harmons' various weaknesses against them as the family sink further into the clutches of the evil that would appear to dwell there. I was rocking out with this episode and wasn't quite sure what was being thrown my way. We're talking some nasty scares, decent tension and atmosphere, and the whole package being tied up in a sex me up high way. Not sure if they can keep this level of grind going through all twelve episodes of the season but for sure I'm renting out a room in Murder House and seeing what they throw me next. Highly recommended show, all the characters have flaws, and you just never know what you might find lurking in the darkened hallways of the house late at night.

The pilot episode debut in the U.S on October 5, 2011 garnering 3.2 million viewers. That's a pretty good opening though I would expect the show to increase audience numbers through the course of season one. Though come to think about it Seppos can be pretty moralistic when it comes to the horizontal action, clearly the show isn't going to do so well through the "bible belt".

Seems American Horror Story is widely available throughout the civilised world, go grab a copy of the first season as it rocks. In future episode reviews I'll break it down a bit more for you, the title sequence alone needs a few paragraphs of praise.