Go Back   Horror.com Forums - Talk about horror. > Horror, But Not Movies > TV Shows
Register FAQ Community Calendar

Reply
 
Thread Tools
  #1  
Old 05-27-2014, 10:08 AM
ChronoGrl's Avatar
ChronoGrl ChronoGrl is offline
HDC Idol

 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Waltham, MA
Posts: 8,566
American Horror Story: Murder House vs. Asylum vs. Coven

I want to hear how you guys rank the American Horror Story seasons... This topic has come up on and off as we watched Seasons 2 and 3 but with Season 4 approaching, I wanted to bring it up again... SO - What do you think...

How would you rank them for pure enjoyment? How would you rank them for overall content? What do you love/hate about them? Favorite moments? Least favorite moments?


American Horror Story: Murder House





vs.


American Horror Story: Asylum




vs.


American Horror Story: Coven

__________________


Join my Facebook Horror Group!
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 05-27-2014, 10:15 AM
hammerfan's Avatar
hammerfan hammerfan is offline
HDC's old chick

 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: In my rocking chair
Posts: 14,568
1. Season 2 - Asylum
2. Season 1 - Murder House
3. Season 3 - Coven

Season 2 was so dark and creepy, I loved it. There wasn't anything I didn't like. Favorite moments.....hmm, I'd have to say (like neverending) "The Name Game". Yes, I know, not dark and creepy, more like a music video, but I thought it was great. That, and the exorcism. As for season 1, I can't think of any moments I loved or hated. Season 3, was ok.....you're right, Chrono, I think the cast was too big to care about any one character. No favorite moments and nothing I hated.
__________________
<a href=http://s169.photobucket.com/user/margie1959/media/Christopher%20Lee_zpsdbzag3w5.jpg.html target=_blank><img src=http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u230/margie1959/Christopher%20Lee_zpsdbzag3w5.jpg border=0 alt= /></a>
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 05-27-2014, 10:33 AM
ChronoGrl's Avatar
ChronoGrl ChronoGrl is offline
HDC Idol

 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Waltham, MA
Posts: 8,566
Yeah, I totally agree with you - For me, in terms of personal preference, I would rank:

1. Asylum
2. Murder House
3. Coven


I really loved Asylum - I went into it expecting a good, solid creepy asylum haunting but was pleasantly surprised that it celebrated so many horror sub-genres - In fact, if I recall, while there is the possession/Satanic theme, there wasn't a ghost/supernatural theme... That caught me off-guard but in a good way - I thought it was infinitely clever how the creators decided to completely deviate from the supernatural themes of the first show and pack in so many other horror themes - Satanic possession, medical experimentation, Nazi horror, aliens, and of course the Human Monster (Bloody Face, racism, torture/sadism) -

High points for me:
  • The brilliant mix of sub-genres, as mentioned above
  • The incredible cast, especially Jessica Lange as Sister Jude - She was able to capture both a believable threat and also garner sympathy. James Cromwell as Dr. Arthur Arden was a fantastic Monster and I loved his threads with both Chloë Sevigny and Lily Rabe. Oh, and of course Zachary Quinto. I grinned with every scene he was in.
  • I LOVED "The Name Game" - Oh how fantastic
  • Lana Winters' entire storyline from her entering the asylum, her lover, imprisonment, and her later life as an author.

The lowest point may have been what seemed to be a very fast, expository ending - At the time I wasn't a huge fan but, then again, it did wrap up everything neatly. Sister Jude's departing was oddly touching.

Coven was a bit disorganized for me, tbh - I do think there were too many characters in it to get a real grip on any of them - I liked them all at surface value. Queenie, for example, I thought was under-served and made some questionable decisions in my mind. Emma Roberts was definitely a high point for me, though. There were a lot of elements that I liked about the series, but it didn't always come together. Kathy Bates was great, for example, but I didn't think she was given enough to do. I loved Francis Conroy but her demise seemed odd and unnecessary.

Not a bad season, per se, just really uneven and definitely not as good as I thought the first two seasons were.
__________________


Join my Facebook Horror Group!
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 05-27-2014, 05:26 PM
The Villain's Avatar
The Villain The Villain is offline
Evil is Better

 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Your Nightmares
Posts: 6,693
I enjoyed Murder House the best but Asylum is the better season by far. Much better story, atmosphere, characters and ending.

I was bored out of my mind during Coven.
__________________


Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 05-27-2014, 06:13 PM
Kandarian Demon's Avatar
Kandarian Demon Kandarian Demon is offline
Evil Dead
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Denmark
Posts: 545
As I'm in Denmark, I've only had access to the first two seasons so far, and out of those two, I liked the second season much more than the first one. It's killing me that it will be years before I catch up with the rest of you
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 05-27-2014, 08:44 PM
neverending's Avatar
neverending neverending is offline
Cranky

 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 12,416
I'm pretty much in line with everyone else. Asylum touched on so many things that were going on or still deeply felt by people when I was growing up- UFOs, Nazi experiments, demonic possession, and... damn... what was that one plot line that I can't recall now... it dealt with an unsolved mystery in history...

Still love Murder House even though Asylum was more off the wall and hyper-everything... but Murder House really took everyone by surprise. There had never been anything quite like it before. And Jessica Lange was a revelation.

Coven tried too hard to do too much, though I love that it used some of my favorite actresses like Mare Winningham, Patty LuPone and Kathy Bates, even though they didn't get enough to do.

I hope that Brad Falchuk and company will listen to criticisms of the 3rd season and come back with all barrels blazing for FREAK SHOW.
__________________
Lee Widener, Author Website

Cartoon Artwork, Underground Art, Other Weird Stuff
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 05-29-2014, 08:22 AM
newb's Avatar
newb newb is offline
Banned

 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: R.I.
Posts: 19,090
Quote:
Originally Posted by neverending View Post
I'm pretty much in line with everyone else. Asylum touched on so many things that were going on or still deeply felt by people when I was growing up- UFOs, Nazi experiments, demonic possession, and... damn... what was that one plot line that I can't recall now... it dealt with an unsolved mystery in history...

Still love Murder House even though Asylum was more off the wall and hyper-everything... but Murder House really took everyone by surprise. There had never been anything quite like it before. And Jessica Lange was a revelation.

Coven tried too hard to do too much, though I love that it used some of my favorite actresses like Mare Winningham, Patty LuPone and Kathy Bates, even though they didn't get enough to do.

I hope that Brad Falchuk and company will listen to criticisms of the 3rd season and come back with all barrels blazing for FREAK SHOW.
totally agree with this whole statement. My only problem with Murder House was the Beetlejuice type ending.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 05-29-2014, 09:23 AM
ChronoGrl's Avatar
ChronoGrl ChronoGrl is offline
HDC Idol

 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Waltham, MA
Posts: 8,566
I actually liked the ending of Murder House - I thought that it wrapped things up well with a good little Tales from the Crypt-esque "cliffhanger" (not sure what else you'd call it).

This is interesting to hear - I always thought that the second season was fantastic (and favorited) but what prompted this thread was a Friend posting on Facebook about how "everyone" HATED the second season - Turns out, she had polled her other Facebook friends and the consensus there was that they hated Asylum.

Which made me wonder - Maybe Asylum was just too much for the casual TV viewer - Too disturbing, too absurd, too many horror sub-genres - Whereas horror fans (us) loved it.

What do you guys think? I wonder if the second season was designed more for horror fans than casual TV viewers and the casual viewer didn't like or get it... Maybe that's how we ended up with Coven; something a bit more tame, neutered, and scattered...
__________________


Join my Facebook Horror Group!
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 05-29-2014, 09:42 AM
hammerfan's Avatar
hammerfan hammerfan is offline
HDC's old chick

 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: In my rocking chair
Posts: 14,568
I believe Asylum catered to the horror fan, and not the average Joe TV watcher.
__________________
<a href=http://s169.photobucket.com/user/margie1959/media/Christopher%20Lee_zpsdbzag3w5.jpg.html target=_blank><img src=http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u230/margie1959/Christopher%20Lee_zpsdbzag3w5.jpg border=0 alt= /></a>
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 10-12-2014, 07:31 PM
tfantasy's Avatar
tfantasy tfantasy is offline
Evil Dead
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Michigan
Posts: 1,454
Now that I finally have seen the Coven, I will post my order of liking:

1 - Coven
2 - Asylum
3 - Murder House

I think it improves with each season.
__________________
Let's just say that if all the corpses were to stand up at once, we'd have one hell of a population problem

Reply With Quote
Reply


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 02:57 AM.