8 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Set in 1964, American Horror Story: Asylum takes us into a Church-run haven for the criminally insane, ruled with an iron fist by Sister Jude (Jessica Lange), a nun with a troubled past. Inside this locked down facility, danger lurks around every corner. From Nazis and serial killers, to mutants and aliens, no one is safe inside these walls.
Starring: Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, Denis O'Hare, Jessica Lange, Frances ConroyHorror | 100% |
Mystery | 26% |
Psychological thriller | 20% |
Erotic | 18% |
Period | Insignificant |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, French, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Three-disc set (3 BDs)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Scary movies typically don’t frighten me. Oh, sure, I’ll have the same startle response as anyone if there’s a sudden jump cut accompanied by a booming low frequency effect on the soundtrack, something that I feel is more akin to an involuntary reflex than due to any true feeling of trepidation, but scenes that send my wife diving under the covers or (even better) huddling nervously into my shoulder rarely tend to raise my blood pressure or perspiration levels even one iota. And yet it is without an ounce of shame that I admit that the first season of American Horror Story creeped me out in a very major way, especially when it became obvious that (spoiler alert) no one was going to make it out alive. While there have certainly been anthology series before this one, even ones with repertory companies like this one exploits, there has frankly never been a show quite like American Horror Story. The first season explored the deteriorating relationships in an already dysfunctional family, all within the framework of a more or less traditional haunted house story. The “house” in this second season is the imposing Briarcliff Mental Institution in Massachusetts, and the “family” turns out to be a large and unruly aggregation of patients and those who ostensibly “care” for them. The second season of American Horror Story has an unabashed Grand Guignol quality much of the time, something distinctly at odds with the decidedly more quietly sinister ambience of the first season, and for that reason, fans of the first season may find a few adjustments are in order, including jettisoning some expectations that this season will feel and play much like the first. While American Horror Story: Asylum is a good deal more frenetic, even hyperbolic, than the first year of the series, it’s also rather unexpectedly more hopeful—if, that is, you can make it all the way to the end of what turns out to be a rather tortuous journey.
American Horror Story: Asylum is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an
AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is an even more stylized season than last year in term's of filming styles and
fairly aggressive tweaking in post, so typical criteria like accurate color, consistent contrast and sharpness of image don't
really apply here as they might in other less variegated series. Let's look at each of these categories separately. Color
grading is all over the map here, from a pushed, slightly artificial look in the contemporary moments, to an often drained,
nearly monochromatic (and in some instances, actually black and white) ambience. Contrast has also been toyed with
rather dramatically. Like the color, it's pushed in the contemporary sequences, adding a kind of lurid glowing effect. This
technique is not relegated to
merely the contemporary sequences, however (see
screenshot 6 of the Corvair—the Corvair!—entering the asylum grounds). Many scenes set in 1964 feature whites
that don't just bloom—they
virtually explode, obliterating large areas of the frame. On the other hand, contrast is at other times dialed down to a
point where, for instance, Fiennes' Monsignor Howard, dressed in his clerical black, can look like a disembodied head
bobbing
like an isolated balloon as he emerges from the shadows of Briarcliff. Similarly, the series' directors and DPs regularly play
with
perspective and focus in unusual ways. Often individual items will be left in sharp focus while the bulk of the frame is a
blurry mess (look at screenshot 16 of Sister Jude indulging in a little drink for a good example).
So with all of this said, how does this high definition presentation actually look? In a word: excellent, if it's
understood going in that this is by design not a pristine, impeccably sharp appearing series. The series is not just
figuratively dark, it's literally so, with huge swaths of the show taking place in near darkness or at the very least in less
than adequately lit conditions, and occasionally noise will spike just slightly in the darkest scenes (a good example is
during the movie screening in the storm episode). But fine detail is quite remarkable in the series' many close-ups,
offering both disturbing visions (Lana's temple burn marks after her forced electroshock treatments) and really
disturbing (the horrifying effects of Arden's experiments on Shelley).
American Horror Story: Asylum's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is a major boon to the series' spooky, claustrophobic atmospherics. Immersion is extremely well handled, with, for example, inmate screams of terror suddenly popping out of one of the surround channels, or the scurrying feet of Bloody Face panning nicely as he tracks down his next victim. This season also utilized a couple of great source cues, including everything from "Dominique" to "The Name Game", which sound great, albeit appropriately vintage, with that good old analog needle to vinyl quality. Dialogue is clean and clear, boosted by the same excellent fidelity that pervades the entire track. Dynamic range is as hyperbolic as the rest of this season.
Disc One
The fact that American Horror Story: Asylum manages to weave together elements as disparate as alien abductions to electroconvulsive shock therapy to a winking reference to Tod Browning's Freaks is some indication of just how diverse this season is. That also means there's less of the intensely focused dread that suffused the first season, with this season's tone at times all over the map, but there are chills galore scattered throughout this season, including some rather graphic and disturbing imagery. Once again, the show features some absolutely amazing performances, capped here by a simply unforgettable turn by Jessica Lange as a nun whose vicious proclivities may not be all that they initially seem. My own personal reaction to American Horror Story: Asylum is overwhelmingly positive, while still recognizing that on a fundamental level, the show wasn't quite as subliminally unsettling this year as last. Still, it's a phenomenally original enterprise, and I for one am looking forward—with bated breath—to American Horror Story: Coven. Highly recommended.
2011
Includes Bonus DVD
2011
2013-2014
Includes Bonus DVD
2013-2014
2014-2015
2015-2016
2016
2017
2019
Extended Director's Cut
2018
The Secret of Marrowbone
2017
2018
2001
2013-2017
2018
2012
1963
1959
Special Edition | Includes The Little Shop of Horrors
1963
Limited Edition to 3000 - SOLD OUT
1972
2019
2011
2001
2005
Collector's Edition
1963
2007
2016
1966-1971
2012