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American Horror Story Season 1 Episode 1

Pilot

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8.4

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AIRED: 10/5/11

A family recovering from a mother's miscarriage, and a father's infidelities make the decision to move into a creepy home with a complicated history. The family is introduced to a handful of eccentric characters including a psychopathic teen patient of the father, a mysterious housekeeper who isn't what she seems, a former resident of the home who murdered his family, and a southern actress with a disturbed daughter.

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FAN RECAP

Fan Episode Reviews (8)

love it

8.0

By OscarFlammabl, Sep 20, 2012

How can I watch the first season online? Let me know please I seen a few shows I'm hook I wanna know the hold story line
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Pilot

8.0

By AJLane-TCP, Mar 31, 2012

The story is intriguing and does not call to mind anything else on television. However, the series may lose footing if the story tries to go in too many different directions. Plenty of background information is relayed in the pilot: a man with burns obscuring his face killed his family when he lived in the house; Ben cheated on Vivien with a student, so they moved to Los Angeles with Violet; Violet is a cutter, drawing her to an equally disturbed young boy, Tate. Some of the characters are fascinating in their mystery, but if too much is revealed, this element will vanish. The editing is one of the most interesting aspects of the episode - jump cuts that zoom in and out are used especially well to increase edge. There doesn't seem to be a theme that the show means to address. "American Horror Story" would indicate that the show addresses fears that concern the average American, but already so many of them are set up. Perhaps all the resources will be exhausted before the show really has a chance to develop.

The Good:

-"Do you ever get tired of cleaning up other people's messes?" "We're women. It's what we do."

-The fight between Vivien and Ben is raw and realistic. It is easily the most gripping acting display of this first episode.

The Bad:

-Dylan McDermott. While handsome, he doesn't seem to have the chops to play on the same level with his female costars.moreless
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Look, I think they were trying. I really do.

6.0

By noelveiga, Feb 24, 2012

I think the show is legitimately trying to be creepy and compelling and disturbing and a horror story in serialized form, as opposed to a thriller in serialized form. That is an ambitious goal and I like it.

American Horror Story, though... it just doesn't pull it off. At least not in the pilot.

See, here's how horror works. You get normal and you twist it. You present the notion that something is off, not what it seems. AHS doesn't do that. It just throws everything it has at us hoping that something will be scary or disturbing. It doesn't really seem to matter what it is, from plot points to characters and imagery. If it's ever scared anyone, they'll do it. Some of it has to work at some point, right?

And it's a shame, because any one of the concepts in the show could have carried a horror story. The maid that looks different to different people? Yeah, ok, that's pretty cool. Let's do that. But nope, we have to go do the deformed guy. Ok, so let's do that, then. But wait, no, there's the creepy neighbours. But wait, wait, here's a couple of ghosts, too. Oh, hey, wait, how about some body horror. Psycho teenagers? No? Come on!

Ultimately, this scare-ADD thing the show has going on makes it boring and exhausting but not really scary. At some point the family at the centre of it all stops being a conduit for us to immerse ourselves in the horror and it becomes another puppet in the theatre of the absurd mess the show is running.

Now, normally, this would be fixable. Normally, the show could calm the heck down and let its concepts breathe once it moves past pilot mode. But here... how do you actually do that when you've already introduced a decade's worth of Halloween Simpson specials? Do you phase some stuff out and bring it back again later? Do you pretend it didn't happen? Probably not.

So, at the end of this thing I was left not awaiting another episode, but an aspirin and some soothing music. It's a shame, too. The way to do this right is actually in there, somewhere. It's just buried under a ton of other ways to do this right. Oh, well, maybe next time.moreless
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Nothing to like about this soulless mess.

2.0

By elviswife, Dec 03, 2011

I couldn't have been more disappointed by this show. I'm a fan of horror, through and through. From slasher to psychological to supernatural, I love a good scare. But the best scares come from a gripping story with characters you truly care about.

This show couldn't care less about any of that. Instead, it cares about being edgy, bold, brash, fearless, current, twisted, sexy, blah blah blah. Like other viewers, I too felt assaulted by the constant reminders of all we can get away with on FX.

Further, it was completely uninspired and thoroughly cliche. Creepy twins? Check. Strange neighbors? Check. Crazy Christian? Check. Angry daughter? Check. Telegraphed jump scares? Check. Cryptic warnings? Check

This "paint-by-the-numbers" approach coupled with a determination to push the envelope simply for the sake of doing so, results in a completely uninteresting journey that one endures, hoping for some payoff in the end, only to find out that there is none.

For Pete's sake, people. Go back and watch The Exorcist. Go back and watch Psycho. Go back and watch Halloween. Heck, to some extent, watch Paranormal Activity. Keep it SIMPLE. Be CREATIVE. Give us characters we care about and feel protective of, so our heart breaks and our pulse races at the thought of malevolent forces attacking them.

Meanwhile, aspiring horror writers and directors should view American Horror Story as the perfect model of what NOT to do.

The danger here is that folks may be drawn in by the shock value of this mess, and may continue to watch out of morbid curiosity, resulting in favorable ratings. If that happens, then unfortunately, in an industry more and more driven by "the bottom line", we can expect to see more offerings of this sort.

So here's hoping that folks will be offended that Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk think so little of them, as to shamelessly tap into their basest instincts and expect them to put their better judgment aside, and allow themselves to be drawn into their lifeless, unoriginal, sick world that is American Horror Story.moreless
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Haunted house. Broken family. Creepy people and ghosts. Scary events. You know the deal. In Ryan Murphy's new horror-mystery series, American Horror Story, we venture into a world full of disturbed concepts and shattering psychological realities.moreless

10

By sibowittz, Dec 03, 2011

A horror venture from the mind and creators of Glee should be full of ridiculous crap, but it wasn't. At least not fully. Were there obvious flaws? Of course, but that doesn't mean it wasn't thoroughly entertaining and very intriguing. You'll find it pretty darkly spectacular as well, especially if you enjoyed the S&M ridden ads. One thing is for sure: This series premiere was creepy!

Beginning with an old, yet extravagant home in California, the Harmon family moves on in with some of their own demons; however, they're nothing compared to whatever mysteries lie ahead for them to discover. After finding her husband cheating on her, Vivien Harmon (Connie Britton) and her family head off to said home with some repairing in mind. After this move from Boston to California, the family seems to think it is simply okay to purchase a home that was the scene of a murder-suicide and God knows what else. Still, that is the least of their problems...for now. The couple can't even remain intimate, and their daughter Violet (Taissa Farmiga) is far from a bottle of sunshine, as a secret cutter neglected teen who quickly bonds with her father's (Ben Harmon, portrayed by Dylan McDermott) first California psycho patient, Tate Langdon (Evan Peters), who is, so far, my favorite character next to Vivien.

More intriguing characters come in the form of a young woman afflicted with Down-Syndrome (Adelaide) portrayed by Jamie Brewer, Frances Conroy playing an older version of housekeeper (Moira), as well as a younger sexier version of said housekeeper portrayed by Alexandra Breckenridge, the great Jessica Lange portraying the nosy, creepy, passive-aggressive neighbor, Constance, and True Blood's very own Denis O'Hare as the creepy burn victim, Larry Harvey whom we meet briefly. All of which play a huge part in the ongoing tensions between the family.

As for how the story plays out in the premiere itself, I was particularly surprised. A great deal of things happen in the premiere alone. It is refreshing to see a horror-mystery series on television that is not afraid to push some boundaries and sometimes makes you think about yourself and certain situations. The series is more of a play on one's psychological state. And no one in this series has any semblance of stability. What emotions and general human activities give us a good look into one's psychological being? Sex, love, anger, rage, self-affliction, masochism, violence, greed, desire and the big one: FEAR. Our three main characters give us a peek into their minds, telling us all of what we need to know for now. Even the viewer, may find him or herself questioning whether or not what they see in the series is real. What is just in their minds? And why would they stay in that house? The question is easily answered if you pay close attention. Each character makes a small statement of being sort of awkwardly comforted to the house in a strange sense. There's a reason Moira insisted the house has a personality. It's sadistically charming, isn't it?

Within the first half of the premiere, everything is exquisitely established. However the second half, things begin to deteriorate a bit becoming a blur, and not particularly for the better. More so built on a few not so subtle horror clichés, but nothing is perfect. Other than that, a pretty abrupt ending (with a little twist), and a few moments of choppy editing, I found the premiere spectacularly entertaining, nearly perfect. Dare I say that I loved it? I would. Even after viewing it twice, it stays with you. Playing on your worst fears. The show is definitely one of the more exciting premieres of the fall season.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Connie Britton	Vivien Harmon
Dylan McDermott	Benjamin "Ben" Harmon
Taissa Farmiga	Violet Harmon
Evan Peters	Tate Langdon
Denis O'Hare	Larry Harvey
Jessica Lange	Constance

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Shelby Young	Leah	Guest Star
Andy Umberger	Gynecologist	Guest Star
Bianca Lawson	Abby	Guest Star
Frances Conroy	Moira O'Hara	Recurring Role
Alex Breckenridge	Young Moira O'Hara	Recurring Role
Jamie Brewer	Adelaide	Recurring Role

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (0)
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QUOTES (6)
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- Ben: Peeking in people's windows is still a crime, even in L.A.
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- Gynecologist: So are your periods regular again?
  Vivien: Every other month. Not that I'm really complaining. After all that blood. Ben hates blood.
  Gynecologist: You having issues with arousal?
  Vivien: Not when I'm by myself.
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- Vivien: The light is different out here. it's softer.
  Violet: It's called smog.
  Ben: You should be excited, Vi. You can stop sneaking cigarettes and just start taking deep breaths.
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- Constance: Adelaide, I put on Dora the Explorer for you, so you would sit and watch it.
  Adelaide: It was Go, Diego, Go! I don't like it.
  Constance: Oh, brown cartoon characters--you can't tell the difference.
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- Vivien: Can I ask you a personal question? Do you ever get tired of cleaning up other peoples' messes?
  Old Moira: We're women--it's what we do. I just get paid for it.
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- Ben: You taking your medications?
  Tate: Yes.
  Ben: Any side effects?
  Tate: I was taking them at night, but they kept me up.
  Ben: And what did you do?
  Tate: Started taking them in the morning.
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NOTES (2)
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- Music: Tonight You Belong to Me (Patience and Prudence), Special Death (Mirah), Twisted Nerve (Bernard Herrmann), Blood Gets Thin (Pete and the Pirates), Flickers (Son Lux), Baby, You Ain't Looking Right (Powersolo)
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- International Airdates:
  Canada: October 24, 2011 on Citytv
  Australia: November 1, 2011 on 11
  UK: November 7, 2011 on FX/FX HD
  Portugal: November 13, 2011 on FOX
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ALLUSIONS (1)
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- Violet: Great. So we're the Addams Family now.
  Referencing the creepy clan later known as the Addams Family. They began with a 1938 New Yorker cartoon, whose characters frequently reappeared (and evolved) over the next several decades. In 1964, the cartoon was made into a live-action TV series. Cancelled in 1966, the series went into syndication. It was later remade (twice) as a TV cartoon series and was the subject of two theatrical movies and one direct-to-video release.
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