8 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A family of three move from Boston to Los Angeles as a means of reconciling their past anguish. They move to a restored mansion, unaware that the home is haunted.
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 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH, French, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Three-disc set (3 BDs)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Horror on television is no new phenomenon, but series that do the genre justice—see The Twilight Zone, The X-
Files, Twin Peaks—are unfortunately few and far between. Recently, though, scary TV has seemingly made a
lurching comeback, with AMC's The Walking Dead bringing zombie decapitations to basic cable and the FX network's
American Horror Story—an infidelity drama set in a haunted house—provocatively offering up sex and death in equal
measure. Both shows push the boundaries of television norms in their own ways, but American Horror Story is by far
the more unsettling of the two, a grim and claustrophobic family tragedy that resurrects several old horror tropes and uses
them in clever, terrifying new ways.
The show is the dark handiwork of co-creators Brad Falchuk and Ryan Murphy, who get to exorcise an entirely different set of
demons here than they do on their other show, Fox's Glee, a bubbly pop musical sensation that lies on the polar
opposite end of the TV genre spectrum. Where Glee is all high school anxiety and puppy love and be-yourself self-
esteem boosting, American Horror Story is startlingly more mature, dissecting an unhappy marriage and exhuming
the primal, subconscious urges that drive us all.
The Rubber Man
One of the increasingly few television shows to be shot on film—the Super 35 system, in particular—American Horror Story has a visual aesthetic that's grittier than comparatively glossy, digitally-shot TV series. This works well with the show's tone and setting—particularly during flashbacks to the house's previous inhabitants—but be aware that the film stock is quite grainy, especially during the darker scenes. Thankfully, though, there's been no attempt to smear away any of this in post, which would be much worse. On Blu-ray, each episode has been given a 1080p/AVC encode, and the results—as you'd expect—are a hair better than cable broadcast quality, with fewer compression concerns and motion artifacts. If you're standing right next to your screen you may still spot some noise mixed amid the chunky grain, but never from a normal viewing distance. There's definitely no noticeable banding or macroblocking. Clarity is constrained somewhat by the nature of the spherical Super 35 format—along with the lenses and film stocks used—but the high definition presentation does yield far more fine detail than available on DVD. If a little soft around the edges, the image at least looks faithful to source. Color-wise, the picture is plenty dense, with strong saturation in the occasional vivid hues—blood reds, say—and tight contrast. If shadows are a bit oppressive, it's by intent. This show is all about the oppressiveness of the dark.
Things go bump in the night—and often during the day as well—with American Horror Story's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound presentation. You shouldn't expect theatrical horror movie levels of immersion and engagement, but for a television series, the show certainly builds up some creeping aural dread when necessary. While the front channels get the most play during typical domestic scenes, the more overt "scare" sequences bring the entire soundfield to life with cackling laughs or jittering movements or any number of other spooky sounds. What really makes it, though, is the show's fantastic use of music. Of course, there's the terrifying opening theme song—with its slowed-down chainsaw samples, water drips, and swelling bass—but the uneasy minor-key orchestral cues that drift in and out of each episode are effectively mood altering as well. And then there's the song "Tonight You Belong To Me," by 1950s sister duo Patience and Prudence, which is subverted into something dark and sinister within the context of the show. The music, the effects, the dialogue—everything sounds as clean and clear and well-balanced as required. The discs include optional English SDH, Spanish, and French subtitles, which appear in easy-to-read white lettering.
American Horror Story wrapped me up in its dense, dark world and smothered me to asphyxiated bliss. The is one of the edgiest new shows on television—all sex and death, tied up with a ribbon of camp—and like The Walking Dead, it proves once and for all that horror does indeed have a place on basic cable. I can't wait for season two, which will feature many of the same actors in entirely different roles—Jessica Lange as a sadistic nun!—plus a new asylum setting. If you've yet to see the first season, you've got just enough time to get caught up before the October 17th premiere. So, snap up this Blu- ray set, turn off the lights, and settle in. Just know that the show will never let you get too comfortable. Highly recommended!
Includes Bonus DVD
2011
2012-2013
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