American Horror Story: A Creepy Unraveling

  • Thread starter Thread starter Evo
  • Start date Start date
Click For Summary
The discussion centers on the unsettling nature of "American Horror Story," highlighting its lack of a typical "normal" character among the cast, which includes a neurotic wife, a possessed husband, and a psychopathic son. Viewers appreciate the show's psychological depth and its ability to create a disturbing atmosphere reminiscent of works by Stephen King and David Lynch. The characters are described as deeply flawed and unpleasant, contributing to the overall horror that emerges from their collective dysfunction. Some viewers express discomfort with the explicit content, while others feel it enhances the show's eerie tone. Overall, the series is praised for its unique approach to horror, blending supernatural elements with psychological drama.
  • #31
phoenix:\\ said:
I was also thinking the same thing. The burned guy always comes around when the Dad is conflicted and angry, hence when he is running, etc... Good analysis!
No other character in the show has ever seen the burned man, and the Dad has never told anyone about him either. I think there's a chance we'll find out he's not real at all. Not a ghost, but maybe a kind of multiple personality disorder alter-ego.

I actually like the family for their imperfection and for the fact they all are identifiable characters to some degree.
Yeah, they are realistically imperfect. In fact, I'd have to say that most of the people I know in real life are more messed up than this family.

The daughter is depressed and is looking for something to connect to in my opinion and her mother and father aren't exactly helping her in that regard. Cliche rebellion, yeah, but it is still grounded in reality and I think it fits her character. From what I gathered, she was alone back in her old life and was still alone in her new life, the high school incident put that into perspective pretty well, ostracized the moment she stepped foot onto the school yard. She then clings to the boy because of her loneliness in my opinion and that is primarily fostered from the emotional attachment she has with the house that the boy is apart of. I feel sad for the daughter, the mother, and the father which is kind of a good thing because I usually get that from books rather than television shows.
She and psycho boy are both outcasts from their peers. She's got a good relationship with the mother, though, and that's probably what's keeping her from being a lot worse. Psycho boy is still a mystery. What's his relationship to the neighbor and the maid?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
  • #32
Evo said:
In was so creepy. Usually horror shows will have one normal person, this one doesn't. The wife is neurotic, the husband is possesed, the daughter is mentally unstable, the teenage boy is a psychopath, the next door neighbor (mother) seems to be behind all of the sinister activities, her downs syndrome daughter seems psychically attuned to the house, or may have a more sinister role, the house keeper is dead (killed by the neighbor)and appears old to the mother and daughter but young to the sex obsessed dad.

zoobyshoe said:
I'm really not sure what the problem is you're having with the family. The family is realistically imperfect. I would find the show unbelievable if they were completely well adjusted, and totally innocent. I actually think the wife is a good, strong character, and doing really well under the circumstances. The husband is always wishing he was a better man, but is ultimately weak. The daughter's main flaw as a character is that she's not more interesting; a run-of-the-mill rebellious teen so far.

What's generating all the horror is the miscarriage and the affair. A good horror story is grounded in that kind of real life tragedy and crime, the apparently supernatural elements being surreal expressions of the un-facable, dark emotions such incidents provoke. Things like that destabilize everything. Everything is now tainted for this family. On the surface they relocated to start over, but deep down they don't believe that's possible, which is why they went with a house that they felt fit them: one that had lost 3/4's of its value due to a bad history. They're damaged and now vulnerable to getting sucked into the collective nightmare of all the damaged, angry people they come in contact with, particularly the neighbor (though, as a psychiatrist, the father is flypaper for crazies).

I thought tonight's episode was good. Here again, the real life incident of the girlfriend suddenly showing up and turning out to be pretty psycho generates the surreal aftershock of the burned guy killing her and burying her. Now the Dad is in way over his head.

Who is the burned guy, and why does he stalk the Dad and try to be his bud? The burned guy IS the Dad. He burned his family up just like the Dad burned his family up when he had the affair. He represents the Dad's inner wild man. This is why the Dad is repulsed by him. The Dad hates the burned man because he identifies with him, going around trying with grotesque optimism to get a new carreer started, while the scars of his guilt are impossible to ignore. And his identification with him is why he happens to show up out of nowhere at the opportune time to kill the psycho girlfriend. It's very Jungian.

phoenix:\\ said:
I was also thinking the same thing. The burned guy always comes around when the Dad is conflicted and angry, hence when he is running, etc... Good analysis! I actually like the family for their imperfection and for the fact they all are identifiable characters to some degree.

The daughter is depressed and is looking for something to connect to in my opinion and her mother and father aren't exactly helping her in that regard. Cliche rebellion, yeah, but it is still grounded in reality and I think it fits her character. From what I gathered, she was alone back in her old life and was still alone in her new life, the high school incident put that into perspective pretty well, ostracized the moment she stepped foot onto the school yard. She then clings to the boy because of her loneliness in my opinion and that is primarily fostered from the emotional attachment she has with the house that the boy is apart of. I feel sad for the daughter, the mother, and the father which is kind of a good thing because I usually get that from books rather than television shows.

Oh good... now I don't have to watch it! <grumble grumble>

Spoiler alert?
 
  • #33
FlexGunship said:
Oh good... now I don't have to watch it! <grumble grumble>

Spoiler alert?
None of what's been said gets to the important heart of the show, which is the scene in episode three where the hot maid is shown from behind, down on her hands and knees, in her French Maid costume, scrubbing the floor.
 
  • #34
Part one of a 2 part. I don't get it, it's a serial, so the story continues each week, how can they have a 2 part story within a serial?

Sounds like a whole lot is going to happen.

Three people will die. So every episode thus far has begun with a murder — the Halloween killings don't all take place in the past. Death will even claim a pretty major character (who has been in every episode so far) in a pretty gruesome way. In a twist, it will be pretty sad as well...
WHO?? Tell me now! Is it the dog? Is the dog still alive? I haven't seen it since the downs syndrome woman/child said it was going to die.

I'm making ranch oyster crackers for the event.

http://www.tvguide.com/News/American-Horror-Story-Halloween-Spoilers-1039003.aspx
 
Last edited:
  • #35
Evo said:
Part one of a 2 part. I don't get it, it's a serial, so the story continues each week, how can they have a 2 part story within a serial?
They're probably going to make one particular issue the focus and then drag the resolution of that issue out over two episodes.
WHO?? Tell me now! Is it the dog? Is the dog still alive? I haven't seen it since the downs syndrome woman/child said it was going to die.
It can't be the dog or the Down's girl, since they haven't been in every episode. The maid's already dead. That leaves: the family members, the neighbor, psycho boy, the burned man. I can't think of anyone else whose been in every episode.
 
  • #36
zoobyshoe said:
They're probably going to make one particular issue the focus and then drag the resolution of that issue out over two episodes.

It can't be the dog or the Down's girl, since they haven't been in every episode. The maid's already dead. That leaves: the family members, the neighbor, psycho boy, the burned man. I can't think of anyone else whose been in every episode.
I don't remember the burned man being in the first episode.
 
  • #37
Evo said:
I don't remember the burned man being in the first episode.
He first showed up peeping through the laundry hanging on the line right after the naked Father walked in on the maid.

Tonight's episode:

The clue TVGuide gave about the major character dying turned out to be flawed.

Now I'm curious about who's been walking around in the rubber suit impregnating people and killing gays. The way the nurse fainted when she saw the sonogram intrigued me.
 
  • #38
zoobyshoe said:
He first showed up peeping through the laundry hanging on the line right after the naked Father walked in on the maid.

Tonight's episode:

The clue TVGuide gave about the major character dying turned out to be flawed.

Now I'm curious about who's been walking around in the rubber suit impregnating people and killing gays. The way the nurse fainted when she saw the sonogram intrigued me.
SPOILER ALERT

Since the down girl was dragged onto the mother's land as she died, she'll be back, is my guess.

So the baby creature is the evil ghost of the dismembered child of the first homeowners that the father "frankensteined"? I assume it's dead.

Psycho boy must be the neighbor's son. Did you see last week where he was inside the "murder" house standing in a window and she was walking by and she smiled and waved at him and he walked away? Also he was with the neighbor and the maid to do the cleanup on the dead people in the basement, they all knew each other. Is he dead? He's always inside the house, except for All hallow's Eve, when they said the dead can walk among the living, and he agreed to meet the father on that day outside the house.

The dead trollop is just as crazy dead as when she was alive, I wonder what she's going to do?
 
  • #39
Ok, things to watch for tonight.

I knew it, psycho boy is the neighbor's (probably dead) son.
 
  • #40
Evo said:
Ok, things to watch for tonight.

I knew it, psycho boy is the neighbor's (probably dead) son.

Yes, apparently he killed a bunch of schoolmates and then died himself, but has amnesia about it.

It's very difficult to know who's alive or dead on this show. They even got you to think the dog was a ghost for a few minutes.
 
  • #41
I forgot to post yesterday's pre-show interview, here it is.

http://www.tvguide.com/News/American-Horror-Story-Spoilers-1039300.aspx?rss=breakingnews

Here's the after show review.

http://www.tvguide.com/News/American-Horror-Story-Spoilers-1039300.aspx?rss=breakingnews
 
  • #42
Last week was pretty good. Lots of interesting things revealed.

Tonight the identity of rubber man will be revealed.
 
  • #43
Evo said:
Last week was pretty good. Lots of interesting things revealed.

Tonight the identity of rubber man will be revealed.
My TV is old and I can't up the brightness. Who did psycho boy shoot in the last scene?
 
  • #44
zoobyshoe said:
My TV is old and I can't up the brightness. Who did psycho boy shoot in the last scene?
He killed the gay couple.
 
  • #45
Ooooh, I really liked the Elizabeth Short angle in tonight's episode. I knew who it was the instant she appeared: the actress looked remarkably like the real Elizabeth Short.

And the husband was "finally starting to see things as they are".
 
  • #46
zoobyshoe said:
Ooooh, I really liked the Elizabeth Short angle in tonight's episode. I knew who it was the instant she appeared: the actress looked remarkably like the real Elizabeth Short.

And the husband was "finally starting to see things as they are".
He's a creep, but i love that he got a glimpse of the maid.

Also, he KNOWS that ugly girl he had an affair with is dead, yet he seems to have forgotten that, or just thinks it's normal that she's returned from the dead, but still doesn't believe in ghosts.
 
  • #47
Evo said:
He's a creep, but i love that he got a glimpse of the maid.

Also, he KNOWS that ugly girl he had an affair with is dead, yet he seems to have forgotten that, or just thinks it's normal that she's returned from the dead, but still doesn't believe in ghosts.
He thinks the burned man and the girl got together and hoaxed her murder and burial. He confronted the burned man about it after she showed back up and the burned man didn't exactly deny it was a hoax. The husband's not aware anyone around there is dead. Not yet, anyway.

They've really rewritten the book on ghosts. Ghosts can do nearly everything the living can do, and also show up anywhere they want any time they want. I can't exactly figure out the disadvantage of being dead on this show.
 
  • #48
zoobyshoe said:
He thinks the burned man and the girl got together and hoaxed her murder and burial. He confronted the burned man about it after she showed back up and the burned man didn't exactly deny it was a hoax. The husband's not aware anyone around there is dead. Not yet, anyway.

They've really rewritten the book on ghosts. Ghosts can do nearly everything the living can do, and also show up anywhere they want any time they want. I can't exactly figure out the disadvantage of being dead on this show.
Ghosts definitely have a better sex life than I do.

Why do none of the other ghosts age, just the maid?
 
  • #49
Evo said:
Ghosts definitely have a better sex life than I do.

Why do none of the other ghosts age, just the maid?
Another weird mystery. No explanation has been put forward for that. Maybe they all do age but all prefer to manifest only in their youngest version?
 
  • #50
Wow, I didn't see that coming.

Waiting for zooby to watch.
 
Last edited:
  • #51
Evo said:
Wow, I didn't see that coming.

Waiting for zooby to watch.
I saw! I didn't think they'd do that.
 
  • #52
zoobyshoe said:
I saw! I didn't think they'd do that.
How are the parents going to explain not knowing about their daughter's disappearance?
 
  • #53
Evo said:
How are the parents going to explain not knowing about their daughter's disappearance?
They think she's alive and won't know any different unless the corpse gets found. Tate prevented that once tonight. Thing is, now Dad knows he's Mr. Rubber. They're going to call the cops anytime he shows up again. Someone's also bound to come looking for the exterminator.

I'm guessing Tate and Violet are going to run away. She'll leave a note or something and the Dad will call the cops and report her missing. On the other hand, maybe Tate will just lay low and they'll arrange to have Violet home schooled.

I wonder if the burned man is now leaving the series. He lied about how he got burned, so he must have also lied about being institutionalized all those years. Where was he and what was he up to?
 
  • #54
zoobyshoe said:
I'm guessing Tate and Violet are going to run away.
They can't leave the house except on halloween according to the show.

On the other hand, maybe Tate will just lay low and they'll arrange to have Violet home schooled.
That might be it.

I wonder if the burned man is now leaving the series. He lied about how he got burned, so he must have also lied about being institutionalized all those years. Where was he and what was he up to?
They previously debunked him being institutionalized. At least crazy husband mentioned it.

Think Larry got the neighbor off the hook? Or are they still after her?

Glad that crazy daughter is dead. She's still too pathetic though.
 
  • #55
Evo said:
They can't leave the house except on halloween according to the show.

They previously debunked him being institutionalized. At least crazy husband mentioned it.
I missed one episode a couple weeks back. This info might have been in that episode.

Think Larry got the neighbor off the hook? Or are they still after her?
They dislike her very much, so I wouldn't be surprised if they visit her again.

Glad that crazy daughter is dead. She's still too pathetic though.
That's the thing: her being dead is not much different than her being alive on this show.
 
  • #56
Tonight was so disappointing. It was actully boring. Next week is the finale and at this point I don't plan to watch. How disappointing. Everyone's dead. YAWN.
 
  • #57
I haven't even looked at this yet but I just reserved it at Netflix

Some very good series just fail at the end.
 
  • #58
Ivan Seeking said:
I haven't even looked at this yet but I just reserved it at Netflix

Some very good series just fail at the end.
It's not good. Prepare to be disappointed. I kept thinking "it has to get better". Nope.
 
Last edited:
  • #59
Ivan Seeking said:
I haven't even looked at this yet but I just reserved it at Netflix

Some very good series just fail at the end.
The first episode was dynamite. It went downhill from there simply because it didn't go uphill: they never managed to surprise you again they way they did with the first episode.

There was a great series on HBO called Six feet Under, also based on an odd premise, that did a consistently brilliant job of surprising you week after week for 5 seasons. It can be done, therefore, but these producers don't have the knack.
 
  • #60
zoobyshoe said:
The first episode was dynamite. It went downhill from there simply because it didn't go uphill: they never managed to surprise you again they way they did with the first episode.

There was a great series on HBO called Six feet Under, also based on an odd premise, that did a consistently brilliant job of surprising you week after week for 5 seasons. It can be done, therefore, but these producers don't have the knack.

I tried six feet under but it didn't keep my attention. All the dead stuff was a turnoff, which is strange because I really enjoyed Dead Like Me.