Ghosts, Aliens and Witches.. Oh My!

In today’s world, the amount of people drawn to horror films is massive. In fact, according to The Nash Information Services, horror movies were the 7^th most popular genre between 1995 and 2012, bringing in a total gross of $9,093,205,812. So, why is it then, that scary television shows seem to be so rare to come by? You would think that such a growing, enthralling genre would translate to television in the same way that romantic-comedy, action and thriller so commonly does. Looking through IMDb’s Highest Rated Horror Television Series list it is easy to see the pathetic show for horror on today’s television. Of course the list names some shows that are obviously the exception of the rule, such as Twilight Zone, The Walking Dead, Supernatural, Hannibal, etc. On the other side, some of the names of the list are shameful to the name of horror such as Courage the Cowardly Dog coming in as #9, a 1999 Cartoon Network cartoon for children, and The Vampire Diaries coming in as #15, a teen drama about a teenage girl deciding which vampire she should date. Number 8, however, has given me hope to the recent portrayal of this genre on television. American Horror Story has introduced a horrifying storyline that is both beautifully filmed as well as absolutely entertaining.

American Horror Story is a horror series introduced in 2011 on the FX network produced by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. One of the aspects that keeps this show interesting is that each season has it’s own separate storyline, each having a definite ending. I believe that it is always reassuring when you know that the 13 episode season you are watching is not going to leave you with a cliffhanger that will be dragged on for six or eight more seasons. Instead, the show has now completed two stories and on October 2, the show’s third season began.

The first season followed the story of a family that moves into a home haunted by the many families who had occupied it in the past. The story revolves around the theme of infidelity and follows the lives of psychiatrist Ben (Dylan McDermott), his wife Vivien (Connie Britton) their teenage daughter Violet (Taissa Farminga) and their peculiar neighbors as they try to understand and deal with those who had died on their property. The second season, American Horror Story: Asylum, follows the religious yet secretive patients and doctors who inhabit and administrate the Braircliff Mental Insitution. The season includes character's internal battles with sin and supernatural events such as alien abductions. The third season takes place in present day with the introduction of the seemingly ordinary teen Zoe (Taissa Farmiga) who is surprise to discover she is from a line of witches who had successfully escaped the Salem Witch trials 300 years ago. Before you can even make a cheesy Men In Black reference, men in black suits barge in to Zoe’s bedroom and take her away to an undercover school for young witches. The other witches, one including famous female actress Emma Roberts, are battling their internal desire to show off their magical talent and the authoritative command to suppress these powers in attempt to hide from society.

American Horror Story has received immense praise from numerous critics. The show’s first season was proclaimed as the biggest new cable series of 2011. Specifically, the show’s actors had received countless praise and even awards for being relatable in such complicated, out of this world situations. In recent news, many audience members were pleasantly surprised by actress Taissa Farmiga’s return to the third season as an entirely new character. In an interview with Chicago Tribune the actress states, “It’s nice to be back with the crew and cast and just to be on this crazy show. I love it. It feels nice.” She goes on to describe her new character, “The character is very different. The tone of this season is very different. For me, I'm a little older, a little more mature, I play a character who is in a different stage of her life than Violet was, it's just different hurdles.”

By researching this show in detail I have discovered familiar names on the show that I would have never expected. For instance, the shows producers are the same creators of the teen-based, musical, somewhat-cheesy, Glee. Although I enjoy the thought that a producer is not secluded to a single genre, I found myself wondering, how did the creators of a show based on singing about stereotypical teenage problems create a gory, disturbing horror show? The more I thought about it though, the more it made sense. The characters in Glee are known for being relatable and realistic, despite the fact that they sing in the hallways and dance in the cafeteria. This is an aspect given to the characters of American Horror Story that has clearly transferred over. Despite the fact that we cannot relate to being a witch and going to a secret school unless you are a character straight from Harry Potter, these characters deal with raw issues relating to sexuality, greed, school, infidelity and sin that makes each character seemingly real. Another familiar name was Kyle Cooper, the individual who created the show’s famous opening title sequence. Kyle Cooper is also known for creating the also popular sequences for The Walking Dead, and the 1995 film Seven. I was surprised to hear that the same individual who created the sequence we studied in class created the sequence for this show as well. However, looking at it in detail, I wasn’t too surprised seeing as it is so extremely symbolic and entertaining. The first season’s sequence takes place in the basement of the haunted house. Images including spooky shots of young children, fetuses in jars, skulls and a figure holding a pair of bloody hedge clippers, etc. flash across the screen in a creepy manner. It is no wonder that this sequence has been classified as it’s own “mini-mystery”. Furthermore, Producer Murphy stated that "By the time you see the ninth episode of this season, every image in that title sequence will be explained". The third season’s sequence includes images of the Ku Klux Klan, dead goats, the symbolic image of the Minotaur, witches hanging, African tribesman, voodoo dolls and the final shot of witches twirling around a bonfire. Of course, Kyle Cooper was not alone in creating these enthralling openings. The repeating theme music was composed by sound designer Cesar Davila-Irzarry with the help of musician Charlie Clouser, the editing was done by Gabriel J. Diaz and the cinematography done by Juan Ruiz Anchia. 

Another staple aspect of this series is the amazing camera angles. The camera angles are artistic, unique and unexpected, fitting in so well to the show’s unanticipated motif that sometimes I have to pull myself away from the storyline just to notice them. The third season offers viable proof of this. The opening scene of the first episode of the third season uses a Dutch angle, a type of tilted angle, followed by a sideways crane shot. The combination of these shots has become a staple for the show, while other shows daring to combine angles in this way will only do it once in awhile. Also, there are extremely disturbing scenes in just the first season, such as a scene of an old woman inflicting abuse on others to achieve youth as well as a scene where one of the young teenage characters is taken advantage of at a frat party. Both scenes have been exemplified with carefully selected filters and fast-paced camera angles. There are also many scenes in the first episode that use a fisheye lens without coming off as cheesy or overused. These angles take use of Euro-cinematography in order to introduce something we are not used to seeing to correspond with the gory events taking place. Moreover, the editing uses sudden jumps to show the changes of time. In fact, the show’s second season was known for these jumps and they were well-executed by cinematographer, Michael Goi, who took use of 35mm Kodak film stock. He states, “I really wanted to separate the present from 1964 in a major way….We shoot 1964 scenes on Kodak 5219 and desaturated it slightly with pull-processing…there are elements we need to see, like blood or detached limbs, that might get swallowed up in the reversal. In those cases, we’ve saturated the color, deepened the blacks and jacked up the contrast to bring the 5219 more in line with the reversal footage” Goi has clearly mastered these tools which has been a large contribution to the show’s overall success (NoFilmSchool, Kendrickin).

In the end, American Horror Story has truly overcome many obstacles that horror television series often face. For one, the show has never come off as cheesy. Despite the use of aliens, witches, voodoo and immense gore, the show has never come off as a stereotypical scare, the way most horror films today do. Also, the show has seemed to attract the majority of avid television viewers, no matter if they enjoy horror or not. It’s reputation for its actors and cinematography has caused audience members to sacrifice the fear of being scared to sit down to watch. Overall, the show has become a worthy representation of horror on television and I hope to soon see other shows quickly follow in its footprints.