Happy Halloween! I suppose I’ve been using American Horror Story as a litmus test, to get myself more comfortable with horror. I’m a scaredy cat at heart – empathetic and active thinking does not make for good horror watching, and it’s been my cross to bear. My completion of American Horror Story: Season 8 has practically lined up perfectly with the spookiest of holidays, and what better time to talk about it!
American Horror Story is an anthology series that weaves together a new spectacular narrative each season, around mainstream horror themes AND real-life American events. The show goes from haunted houses, to witches, to cults, with a historic lookback on similar groups of sufferings (Cool-Aid, anyone?). It’s a mix of horror and melodrama that keeps a wide audience invested. As for gore and scares, I’d say if you can get passed the opening credits, you can almost get through anything – they’re disgusting. The show is also able to showcase a collection of unbelievable talent and some of the best guest stars in the biz – Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Angela Bassett, just to name a few – and a highlight of each new season is seeing how our performers will come together this time around; in one season they might be lovers, and in the next, mortal enemies with different accents.
I’m fully aware that there is a ninth season of America Horror Story, and more on the way, but anyone who has seen the show knows that the end of Season 8 is a good time to take pause, and sum up the show, as it is, so far. I’ve looked ahead too, and so many of the familiar cast members are absent for Season 9, (☹) which will certainly be an unpredictable change when I get around to watching it. And when I do, I hope to review the season on its own.
So, with no further ado, I’m going to rank American Horror Story, Seasons 1 to 8!
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Ranking American Horror Story – Seasons 1-8
8 – Season 3: Coven
I know, I know, shame on me, boo! A lot of people love Coven, and I won’t say it’s not without its charm, but the fact that nearly every character could die and not stay dead really dampened the stakes for me. The vane Supreme, portrayed by Jessica Lange, isn’t a shadow of the light and dark force that was Sister June in the previous season; Asylum. Poor Evan Peters is underutilised, as a braindead sex machine in a plot that goes nowhere, and I did not care for a single thing concerning Sarah Paulson’s witch, including her blindness. Yes, Coven also produced some of the best characters; Queenie (Gabourey Sidibe), Madison Montgomery (Emma Roberts), Marie Laveau (Angela Bassett) and Delphine LaLaurie (Kathy Bates), but there’s less horror in Coven – it’s more a punky long-form reimagining of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Not for me. I hazard a guess that it’s the female audience that latched onto this season more strongly than men, since it is nearly completely filled with female leads and feminine power. To them I say, I never watched Charmed, but I hear that’s good too.
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7 – Season 7: Cult
No, it’s not the politics that turned me away – I actually think this season does a pretty good job of highlighting the foibles and angst on both extremes of the political spectrum – but it’s the fact that every character becomes unlikeable at one stage or another. Despite starting strong, the second half of Cult meanders around, throwing a few cliff-hangers at the wall, but failing to resolve them, or pick up where they left off in the next episode, in an effective manner. Francis Conroy’s role, and relationship with Kai Anderson (Evan Peters) could have proven an interesting powerplay, if not forgotten about until the final episode. I feel bad ranking Cult above Coven, but I did enjoy the setup here; the Clowns attacking Ally (Sarah Paulson) and seeing how Kai and his disciples put it all together – it’s only when the organisation expands, and the season dares to explore what makes a cult, whilst linking it to current political hysteria, that the wheels fall off.
P.S. I really feel that Joker may have taken inspiration from Billy Eichner’s costume when figuring out how Joaquin Phoenix would appear.
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6 – Season 4: Freak Show
When I deciding to take on American Horror Story, it was Freak Show that I anticipated most; seeing glimpses of it on TV ads, it seemed so scary, and a perfect setting for something spooky. But with the experience of the three previous seasons behind it, I thought it would have been great if this chapter had shockingly killed off Elsa Mars (Jessica Lange) mid-season, and let Kathy Bates’ bearded lady take over the show. I felt we’d seen the best of what Lange could give, and I thought Bates was truly remarkable in this season, along with Sarah Paulson, as the conjoined twins with their own personalities. Alas, the show went the other way, and was verging on being stale, even though Jessica Lange is probably at her second-best. The spirits that came on Halloween night were lame, and each threat to the Freak Show never held out long enough to be memorable, but at least we got Twisty the Clown (John Carroll Lynch) for a little while; gotta love Twisty. The inclusion of Pepper (Naomi Grossman) was a prominent delight, and an early indication that these stories were all connected in a big way.
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5 – Season 1: Murder House
Obviously, by not watching American Horror Story on release, I already knew that the series was an anthology, which perhaps took away some of the shock elements from this season. That being said, I was not as enthralled by Murder House like I’ve seen on other rankings, where many people place Murder House at the tippy-top. I’m prepared to accept that the show was still finding its feet, and figuring out how the juggle the scares with telling a really compelling story. My biggest beef is that just as I was getting familiar with one past event in the house, there would be a new murder introduced in the next episode; piling on more and more characters and weakening the whole. The reveal unto what had happened to Violet (Taissa Farmiga) is the most shocking moment of the season, and watching Tate enact his blood-curdling rampage is hard to watch, but he had to get the demons attention somehow. Connie Britton, Dylan McDermott and Farmiga are fantastic as the tortured Langdon family, and nobody can say they weren’t tense when the Gimp showed up. Jessica Lange won the Emmy and Golden Globe for her supporting role but, if you ask me, better performances were yet to come.
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4 – Season 5: Hotel
I am shocked; looking over other lists, Hotel is often so low. But do you know what I love about Hotel the most – conversely to Murder House, Hotel was the first season to lay all its craziness on the table in the first couple episodes, and work its way forward to piecing it all together. Of course, it didn’t get to everything – the Addict Demon? The Countess’s offspring? But it had vampires, serial killers, murder mysteries, ghosts, a witch cameo, and a downtrodden Hotel clerk who finds her strength in bloodlust, through Kathy Bates. Lady Gaga is fantastic as well, and very sexy. Denis O’Hare probably plays the greatest character of the series so far, as the transgender clerk keeping all the crazy contained. And Evan Peters has a smashing time as James Patrick March, the rich killing extraordinaire. I thought Hotel found a great balance of seriousness and silliness.
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3 – Season 8: Apocalypse
The best thing about Apocalypse is easily the surprise of returning actors and characters we thought were long gone, and the newest members of the cast (Billie Lourd, Adina Porter and Leslie Grossman), getting a place comingling with Horror Story royalty. As much as I love Kathy Bates as an actress, and in this series, the sight of Jessica Lange is so joyous again, as she is ultimately the original beating heart of the show. But the story lets it down; Michael Langdon (Cody Fern) is not as much the foreboding Antichrist as a troubled young man. The two tech whizzes grind my gears (although I think they’re supposed to), played by Evan Peters and Billy Eichner. But I did enjoy the fun the writers were having, riffing on their characters, like the jabs at Myrtle Snow (Francis Conroy) red hair and the motivations of Cult, even if it’s disguised as a stab at The Omen III. Although I didn’t adore Coven, I do have fun with these characters coming out to play again. I literally had goosepimples in the final episode, seeing how wonderfully warm this season ends; magical.
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2 – Season 2: Asylum
Yes, Asylum is a fantastic season; for sure! It’s the emotionally gripping ending (or two, or three), that ties this caper about aliens, serial killers, Nazi’s and the Devil together. Friends become enemies and enemies become friends, but not in a cheesy way. It’s also the pure location of a dingy claustrophobic home for the insane that is enough to give you the creeps. Jessica Lange as Sister June is absolutely commendable. Lily Rabe is also wicked as the devil incarnate, whilst Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters shine for their heroines, and probably cemented themselves as necessary staples of the show right here. I’ve probably watched Sister Jude’s psychotic trip, singing ‘The Name Game’, on YouTube about ten times; what an unexpected moment. Asylum is American Horror Story at the height of its powers.
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1 – Season 6: Roanoke
It’s the bloody scariest of the seasons so far, but this little scaredy cat got by thanks to my familiarity with the cast. Roanoke is a daring season, punishing the concept of reality television and ghost stories, and I do like my meta! It is an excellent idea, and a chance to return to a spooky house, now that the format of the show has been practiced and honed. But shame on them; poor Adina Porter is recognised only as a supporting cast member when she does the season’s most heavy-lifting, while Denis O’Hare, Cheyenne Jackson and Evan Peters get full credits despite only featuring in a couple episodes each. I loved Lily Rabe taking the lead, or at least sharing it with Sarah Paulson. Initially, Roanoke feels like a re-tread of Murder House without so much melodrama, but Roanoke is its own thing, exploring the mystery of the real-life 1500s disappearance of America’s Roanoke Colony, along with ritual and pure evil.
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American Horror Story’s Most Noted Stars
This show would be nothing without the flexibility and notoriety of its excellent cast. For extra credit, I’ve also ranked the actors for who I believe to be the most influential faces behind the show’s success. It’s quite common for these actors to even command more than one character at a time, and some have helmed unforgettable main characters along with joyful guest appearances, through the years. I may rank characters one day, but that’ll be at a later date. American Horror Story’s most noted stars – take it away!
01. Jessica Lange
02. Sarah Paulson
03. Evan Peters
04. Kathy Bates
05. Lily Rabe
06. Angela Bassett
07. Denis O’Hare
08. Frances Conroy
09. Adina Porter
10. Billie Lourd
11. Emma Roberts
12. Jamie Brewer
13. Taissa Farmiga
14. Wes Bentley
15. Gabourey Sidibe
16. Cheyenne Jackson
17. Leslie Grossman
18. Lady Gaga
19. Mare Winningham
20. Finn Wittrock
Special mention to Naomi Grossman, Billy Eichner, Dylan McDermott and Leslie Jordan.
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I may have to update this ranking when I get familiar with later seasons. What’s your favourite season of American Horror Story? Who is your favourite face or character? Let me know in the reply box below!
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