I enjoyed the first episode of the show that FX sent to
me. There was only one episode. Usually they send 2 or 3. I
was worried that it would be too gross for me, but it was
actually very good and not to bad. So far!
Each season, the ensemble cast plays different characters
in one location that is haunted or has other supernatural
characters. The first year it was a haunted house. Then it
was an insane asylum. Then it was a witches coven in New
Orleans. Last year it was a freak show in a circus. After
this many times, we sort of know what to expect, which is
nothing is as it seems. There will be plenty of blood,
creepy people, gleeful killing and dead bodies that don't
stay dead.
I always try to watch the show but either fall behind or
just get too grossed out to keep watching (or both). The
first episode was not too gross for me. There was very
little torture or blood. It was, though, very scary and
creepy. The usual cast is in this one, except instead of
Jessica Lange, we have Lady Gaga. She does a good job.
Kathy Bates plays Iris, who seems to be the desk clerk in
this elaborate, gorgeous old hotel (I didn't catch which
city the hotel resides in, but it's not NYC because they
mention that as being somewhere else--my guess would be
Chicago). Lady Gaga is The Countess, one of the residents at
the hotel who likes to kill people and drink their blood.
Matt Bomer is back, as the ex-junkie (son of Iris) that is
also The Countess' plaything and buddy (he also kills people
and drinks their blood). I don't know if they're
actual vampires or if they're just freaky human killers.
There are definitely some supernatural things going on,
though.
As usual, there's a large cast, including Denis O'Hare,
Angela Bassett, Evan Peters, Chloë Sevigny, Sarah Paulson
and more, as well as great guest stars.
We don't see Bassett or Peters in the first episode.
The hotel has all sorts of weird residents, including things
that crawl out of the wood work, or the bed (see photo
above), etc. People who stay in the hotel for the night seem
to be the victims. We see 2 Swedish girls in the first
episode, and also a young guy. Wes Bentley plays a cop
who investigates a serial killer murder that may or may not
be linked to the hotel. There are a couple of good twists in
the first episode having to do with him that I won't spoil
for you!
The hotel reminds me a bit of the one in "The Shining" as
well as the one in "666 Park Avenue." Also, some bits of it
reminded me of the first AHS season. Just like in that one,
two of the residents are linked together in the hotel for
eternity, since one killed the other.
Besides the gore, one of the things that I don't like
about this show is that the motto seems to be "abandon all
hope, ye who enter." The bad guys seem to always win
in these shows. I mean, no one's really a completely good or
bad, just like in real life, and everyone loses, more or
less. I prefer to have a little more optimism in my shows. I
enjoyed the first season of AHS but I was very disappointed
when just about everyone died at the end.
Give it a try if you don't mind TV shows that are very
violent, sexual and kind of depressing. You don't need
to have seen the other previous AHS seasons to enjoy this
one. It's an anthology series, so each season is different
from the others in terms of the characters and plot.
Those who loved "Hannibal" should enjoy this, especially
this season. The photography, sets, costumes etc. are just
superb. They've done a great job with it. It's not as slow
as "Hannibal" was, thankfully, but I think it's just as
pretty (not to mention bloody).
MORE INFORMATION:
Videos Clips and more on our Forum!
The Emmy® and Golden Globe® Winning American Horror Story
Franchise Returns To FX With Its Fifth Installment American
Horror Story: Hotel on October 7th at 10 PM E/P
American Horror Story: Hotel
The 13-episode fifth installment of the Emmy and Golden
Globe winning franchise, American Horror
Story: Hotel, premieres on FX on October 7th.
American Horror Story: Hotel
features an all-star cast of Lady Gaga, Sarah Paulson, Kathy
Bates, Angela Bassett, Wes Bentley, Matt Bomer, Chloë
Sevigny, Denis O’Hare, Cheyenne Jackson, Evan Peters and
Finn Wittrock.
Ryan Murphy serves as Co-Creator, Showrunner, Executive
Producer, Writer and Director of American Horror Story:
Hotel and Brad Falchuk is Co-Creator, Executive Producer
and Writer. Tim Minear, Brad Buecker, Jennifer Salt, James
Wong and Alexis Martin Woodall also serve as Executive
Producers. The American Horror Story franchise is
produced by Twentieth Century Fox Television.
The most recent installment, American Horror Story: Freak
Show, has been nominated for a franchise-record 19 Emmy
Awards, including Outstanding Limited Series. Over its first
four installments, the American Horror Story
franchise has received a total of 70 Emmy Award nominations,
with the first three installments earning a total of eight
Emmy awards.
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