The Cutprice Guignol

When American Horror Story debuted in 2011, the shape of mainstream horror was very, very different to what it is now.

Much-maligned (sometimes unfairly) remakes of iconic classics had dominated the mainstream, along with franchises like Saw that had received widespread critical panning. While there were a small handful of horror movies breaking the mainstream, such as Insidious, that earned a little more respect from the critics, for the most part, horror was still viewed as a genre that had yet to prove itself in terms of critical prestige (which is not to say there weren’t excellent horror films coming out during this era – just that few of them actually received the love they deserved).

Which is what made the very conception of American Horror Story a bit of an aberration. It’s not that there were not horror shows that had found success (most notably Supernatural), but they were few and far between and had not had a significant amount of attention paid to them by critical or awards’ bodies, if they survived past a season or two at all. American Horror Story was created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk after the unexpected mega-success (both critically and commercially) of the bane of my existence musical-comedy-drama Glee, and it makes some kind of sense that they would turn their hand to another much-maligned genre to bring it into the mainstream. If they could sell musical theatre to the masses, why not horror, too?

And sell it they did. Much as I might have issues with the show (and I’ll get to that), you can’t deny just how striking and engaging the promo for the first few seasons was – from the fetishistic posters of Rubber Man from Murder House to the surreal wander through the hallways of Hotel, American Horror Story’s distinct stylistic choices gave the show a flavour from day one. It was not trying to sell itself as a primetime horror-adjacent romp, but something seriously, genuinely, and inescapably nasty.

Perhaps the thing that most differentiated American Horror Story from other genre shows of the time was the sheer prestige of the cast and crew they attracted – Emmy-winning producer Dante Di Loreto was on board from season one, and well-respected directors like Michael Uppendahl and Miguel Arteta helmed episodes from the jump. Perhaps most importantly, though, was the highly-respected actors they attracted in their first few seasons – Jessica Lange and Kathy Bates brought two Oscars to the table between them while Angela Bassett had another two nominations, and iconic stars like Francis Conroy (fresh off a highly-acclaimed performance in Six Feet Under) and James Cromwell filled out supporting roles. Actors who’d achieved genuine success in the mainstream, like Connie Britton in Friday Night Lights, were suddenly aligning themselves with the genre that was basically poison to all major awards’ bodies, and made it impossible for them to ignore.

And win awards it did. Now, to be very clear, I don’t think that awards are the metric by which the success of a piece of art should be measured, but they serve as a pretty strong indication that the industry is interested in uplifting and celebrating a certain work – or, in this case, a certain genre. And I really think that a lot of horror’s current success, commercially but especially critically, can be traced back to the path American Horror Story hacked (pun intended) out to prove there was an appetite for these stories in the mainstream. Before AHS hit screens, only six horror films had ever been nominated for Best Picture Oscars; in the years since, several have been nominated and one actually took the prize.

Beyond that, AHS attracted sizeable audiences for a show of its kind, comfortably passing a million for every episode in season one and steadily increasing for the following four seasons. The show became a social media hit, too, with Murder House’s Tate and Violet earning their place amongst iconic Tumblr couples of the early 2010s. Capturing the much-vaunted mix of lofty prestige and genuine fandom, AHS carved out a place for horror in pop culture that had never, to my mind, existed in the same way before.

Horror TV has blossomed in the mainstream – with some of the biggest shows of the last decade coming in the form of horror and speculative fiction – from Stranger Things to Squid Game to The Haunting of Hill House, people have been seeking out on-screen horror non-stop and it doesn’t look like that’s going to change anytime soon. Similarly, it hasn’t gone unnoticed by critics, as shows like Black Mirror and Lovecraft County broke out of genre-specific awards to scoop Emmy and Golden Globe nominations and wins.

But, like so many things that kick-start a trend, American Horror Story is decidedly far from the best example of the genre it helped buoy so much. I have a lot of time for the show, especially the early seasons, but I don’t think there’s a single series of AHS that is entirely good. There are a few (Asylum, Murder House, and Roanoke, for me) where the good certainly outweighs the bad, but there is no story run that isn’t plagued by problems, whether they’re dreadful depictions of real-life crime or storytelling that cannibalizes great plot points they had once established. For such a thunderingly huge part of the genre (and one that’s still ongoing, the better part of a decade and a half later), it has been outdone pretty consistently since it first landed. Great anthology horror has graced our small screens since (Channel Zero, Creepshow, and my beloved Slasher, for example), much of it taking and improving on aspects and ideas from AHS in the process, while American Horror Story massacres the shark in the meantime.

American Horror Story, for all its faults, is a show that I will always have great affection for, because it ushered in an era where studios and creatives alike seemed willing to put their financial and creative efforts into a genre I love so much. I know it’s a show with a range of fans, haters, and somewhere-in-the-middlers alike, so I’d really like to hear your take on it in the comments below!

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(header image via Wikipedia)