Warning: There are spoilers ahead!
Diehard fans of Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s “American Horror Story” were no doubt teeming with excitement by season six’s air date.
Yet what met viewers on the premiere Sept. 14 was far from what they may have expected. This year, AHS traded in its usual grandiose scenes of blood, gore and sex for something much different. The first scene of the series was Lily Rabe, hair and makeup done, staring into the camera with a soft smile on her face. The name “Shelby” lit up in the corner, beginning the season’s documentary-style format.
What followed for the next five episodes were alternating scenes of interviews and dramatic reenactments containing both familiar AHS faces and newcomers.
This new season of AHS outlines the story of three major characters’ experiences on a property in North Carolina. This property, which they later discover belongs to the “lost” colony of Roanoke, barely lets them out alive. The documentary of the series, “My Roanoke Nightmare,” ends after episode five.
Episode six brings viewers back to the real world, where the creator of the documentary decides to bring the actors playing Matt, Lee and Shelby back together under one roof for a second installment of the show, “Return to Roanoke: Three Days in Hell.” Chaos ensues, and with three episodes yet to air, the fate of many of the characters still hangs in the balance.
The risk that the AHS creators took in creating a season like this was massive, but it paid off tremendously. The storyline is admittedly hard to follow, especially when the dynamic of “Roanoke” completely shifts in episode six. However, paying careful attention to each scene reveals character development unlike anything television has ever seen before.
This is most evident in The Butcher, played by the fictitious Agnes Winstead (played by real-life actress Kathy Bates). As revealed in the series, The Butcher sold her soul to a witch after the Roanoke colony left her for dead. She returned, murdered the men who left her (with a meat cleaver, no less) and resumed control of the Roanoke colony. Her spirit remains on the property. She is a cold, resolute and ruthless character, and the pressure of playing her wears on Winstead.
Episodes six and seven explore how The Butcher slowly but surely takes over Winstead’s life, a process that consumes her. This is reminiscent of real-life actors and their characters such as Heath Ledger and The Joker.
Beyond that, the overall theme of “Roanoke” is different from anything AHS has attempted to do in the past. Long gone are the scenes of deformed circus performers dancing onstage or naked vampires bathing in blood-soaked beds. This season falls back to a more reserved take on horror: Ghosts, creaky doors and things that go bump in the night are the most common.
This less-is-more approach is scarier because it hits much closer to home than Nazi doctors or Voodoo witches do. “Roanoke” is the type of season that makes you check under your bed and leave a nightlight on before you go to sleep. This season is downright terrifying, and it’s the best installment of “American Horror Story” yet.
