Since it began in 2011, American Horror Story has kept fans interested with its anthology format by changing the story and location each season while maintaining the same cast members. While the show has lost some of its charm in the last couple of seasons, fans were nonetheless intrigued by the mysterious season 6 set to air this year. Unlike previous years, the theme or official cast were never announced, instead a number of unrelated teaser trailers were released in order to keep fans guessing what the real theme was. Set photos hinted at a story surrounding the Roanoke Colony which was mentioned in season 1, while a supposed leak hinted that this seasons theme was 'The Mist'. Some fans even speculated that all of the seemingly unrelated trailers meant that this season would take place in a film studio, but last night we finally discovered what the theme was when the first episode of season 6 aired. Well, we kind of did.. I think.
Be Warned, spoilers beyond this point.
The episode opens by informing the audience that the following is based on true events before presenting us with something that is very reminiscent of one of those true crime stories. Cutting between interviews with the 'real victims' (played by Lily Rabe and Andre Holland) and their 'reenactment' counter parts (played by Sarah Paulson and Cuba Gooding Jr.), the episode tells the story of a couple, Shelby and Matt, who begin to experience paranormal phenomenon after moving into their new home. This is an entirely different format from previous seasons as instead of just telling the story, it does so via mock interviews and reenacments. Entitled 'My Roanoke Nightmare', this season does in fact focus on Roanoke, not the lost colony however, but instead Roanoke Island in North Carolina. Honestly I'm quite conflicted over this first episode, it's not at all what I expected and in some ways I do feel a bit disappointed. Having said that, it does have some redeeming qualities and I feel like this season has some excellent potential.
The episode plays out like the first act of your average supernatural horror, couple moves into new house, strange things start to happen etc. Naturally the rednecks are prime suspects in the mysterious phenomena, Shelby being attacked, the dead pig on the doorstep, but when it starts raining teeth it's obvious that something supernatural is happening. I'll have to admit, it did have some pretty scary, or at least jumpy moments, particularly when reenactment Shelby was assaulted. In fact, the episode uses a number of classic horror tropes to shock the audience and while some are effective, after a while the episode begins to suffer from a sense of familiarity. Like previous seasons, this one contains a number of references to horror films, the house itself looks a lot like the one from The Amityville Horror while the wooden figures in the woods are an obvious shoutout to The Blair Witch Project. Once again the show isn't subtle about its influences, but it has enough original content to keep it from being a blatant rip off. The scene where it rains human teeth or the scalped man in the woods were particularly chilling. Something else that caught my attention was when reenactment Shelby and her sister in law Lee (Angela Bassett) watched a mysterious tape in the basement. On the tape a mysterious man (Denis O'Hare) is in the woods where he catches a mysterious Pig Man on camera before falling to the ground. It made me think back to the Piggyman episode of season one, will this have anything to do with that? The show has been connecting its different seasons recently, but I suppose only time will tell.
As per usual, the acting is superb. Once again Sarah Paulson gives a wonderful performance as reenactment Shelby and we really do get behind her in this episode. Other AHS alumni include Lily Rabe who plays the 'real' Shelby and Angela Bassett as her sister in law in the reenactment. I can't help but feel like there's more to Rabe's role this season, she is one of my favourite cast members on the show so limiting her to the odd 'interview' here and there seems a bit strange. As expected, Bassett steals all of her scenes and her character has already been given a solid backstory with a hint of tragedy, I look forward to seeing more of her. There are also a number of newcomers to the show, Andre Holland plays Shelby's husband Matt while Cuba Gooding Jr. plays his reenactment counterpart, both give convincing performances and Gooding Jr. shares a great chemistry with Paulson, it's great to see the shows already talented cast expanding. There are cameos from Denis O'Hare (who looks set to play a larger role in the next episode) who can be seen in the 'found footage', and Kathy Bates who plays an old timey ghost. They don't do much in this episode but they leave many unanswered questions. Still no sign of the likes of Evan Peters or Lady Gaga though and to be honest I was quite disappointed that Peters wasn't there, however it took him a while to come into the previous season so hopefully he'll eventually turn up soon.
My main problem with this episode was the true crime format, we never really fear for the characters in the reenactment because we know they all lived to tell the tale. The episode could have been much more suspenseful if it wasn't cutting to interviews with the 'real victims' every few minutes, assuring us that they are going to be okay in the 'reenactments'. It's also a bit frustrating to see Lily Rabe limited to such a small role, she has played some of the best characters on the show like the demonic Sister Mary Eunice or real life killer Eileen Wurnoss, but here she's just a regular woman talking to the camera. I feel she has been severely underplayed in the last couple of seasons and hoped that she would be given a larger role in this one, it is early days however and anything could happen. For me, the true crime format really doesn't suit the show, it inhibits any real tension from building and just gets a bit repetitive after a while. However, I can't help but feel like this whole format is just a cover for something else, like there's something more behind it, a reason for making it that way in the first place. American Horror Story can be very unpredictable at times so it will be interesting to see where it goes this season. Speaking of which, the episode left many questions unanswered that I'm curious to find out the answers to, who was the Pig Man? Who's Denis O'Hare's character? What's behind the haunting and more importantly, how will this season link to the others?
With such an enigmatic marketing campaign I had hoped that this episode would finally clear things up, but in all honesty I feel more confused after watching it than before. Aside from all of those unanswered questions, I'm still confused over the whole theme of the show, is it all about 'My Roanoke Nightmare'? Or is there something bigger waiting for us later down the line? I'm hoping the latter because so far I am not a fan of the whole true crime format. It has its redeeming qualities however, some of the scares are effective, the acting is superb and I really love the whole southern gothic vibe this season. It left many open ends that had me personally excited for next weeks episode, however the whole interview/reenactment thing is bound to get old soon so I'm curious as to where this season will go. Very different from previous seasons and only adding more intrigue than before, the season 6 opener will leave you very confused and possibly a little disappointed. However, with so many mysteries left to be solved it is bound to leave you hungry for more.
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