The “American Horror Story” season six premiere left audiences disturbed and on edge once again.
The show has a very different vibe this season. The first episode opened with a couple (played by Lily Rabe and Andre Holland) describing the horror of living in Roanoke, North Carolina. The opening of the episode was documentary-like, which is a real change of pace for longtime “AHS” fans.
The couple looks as if they are on a TV show discussing their “Roanoke Nightmare.” As they are telling their story other actors display their roles.
It was a little different from a regular “American Horror Story” episode, but in a good way.
Cuba Gooding Jr. (Matt) is one of the newbies on the show. He and Shelby (Sarah Paulson) play the actors and the interracial couple who have just moved into a new, creepy home in a conservative, colonial part of North Carolina.
The couple begins experiencing odd things at their new home (hello, “Murder House”). At night weird, shrieking creature-like noises happen. Shelby is left home alone one day and thinks it is hailing. When she walks outside, human teeth are falling from the sky. Someone tries to drown Shelby while she is in the hot tub. A dead pig is left on the couple’s porch, and so on.
Matt decides to bring in his ex-cop sister Lee (portrayed by Adina Porter in the present and Angela Bassett in the show-within-a-show) to protect Shelby while he travels for work. His sister was addicted to prescription pills so she was kicked out of the police force.
While Lee is staying with Shelby, games continue to be played on both women. A wine bottle rolls into Lee’s bedroom one night. Creaking noises seem to indicate that someone has broken into the home, but the only evidence Lee and Shelby find is a home movie playing in the basement. The two become confused as to why someone would break in to play a creepy movie. They walk back upstairs to find wrapped string all over the house; the string connects hanging figures that resemble voodoo dolls. (We see the “Coven” reference, Ryan Murphy.)
In the last few minutes of the opening episode, Shelby is driving home. She hits an old woman dressed in colonial attire (Kathy Bates), jumps out of the car and tries to help her but the woman says nothing and keeps walking. Shelby follows her into the woods and loses her, eventually becoming lost herself. She briefly panics but continues walking.
She walks up to a group of people with fire torches; a man who has been scalped screams at her and the old woman glares. The episode ends with Shelby screaming.
It was slightly difficult to tell where this season is going but I know it will be phenomenal as always – no matter how disturbing, overdone and uncomfortable each episode may be to the audience.
image via viralpiranha.com, video via youtube.com
