Spooky season is officially upon us, and so is the release of the highly anticipated eleventh season of American Horror Story on Oct. 19. The FX original has taken the world by storm, uniquely incorporating different themes for each season while featuring the same recurring cast members. The hit show by Ryan Murphy has been renewed yet again, and this year’s theme takes place in none other than New York City. Many American Horror Story fans have expressed that they miss the content of the older seasons, and I may have to agree. Here are the ten American Horror Story seasons ranked from best to worst.
- Asylum
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Number one, American Horror Story: Asylum. Words cannot describe this season. It is scary, thought-provoking, and just genius. This season tackles topics such as LGBTQ+ rights, interracial marriage rights, the mistreatment of those in past asylums, and so much more. This season truly keeps you on the edge of your seat waiting to see what will happen next as you root for all the characters within the storyline. There are so many shocking twists and terrifying turns, which I believe make up a good horror television show. Asylum is the best American Horror Story season because it covers real-life issues while keeping the show as shockingly terrifying as it is meant to be.
- Murder House
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American Horror Story: Murder House is one of the best opening seasons of a series I have ever seen. A family moves across the country to get away from their issues on the East Coast. They get a good deal on the home, but unfortunately, the events of what had happened in the home prior were not disclosed. The family is followed by weird visions and peculiar events. The house is the birthplace of all things dark and it traps those who die there inside forever. The family ends up so tangled within the darkness of the home that they all eventually end up dead and living together in their afterlives. This season had so many twists and turns, and even a bit of romance, thus making it number two on my list.
- Coven
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American Horror Story: Coven takes place in New Orleans, Louisiana, at a coven consisting of Salem descendants. This season incorporates true historical events and shows how times have changed since. In New Orleans, the city is separated by a witchcraft coven and a voodoo coven throughout the show, viewers see the two join together after years of battling and breaking truces. This season has its fair share of bloody, gory, hard-to-watch, horrifying scenes, which is why most people tune into Ryan Murphy’s hit series. This season is magical, it’s scary, and Stevie Nicks is featured, need I say more? American Horror Story: Coven is a hard one to top.
- Hotel
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American Horror Story: Hotel is one to remember. Ryan Murphy cast Lady Gaga as the “Countess,” and she did not disappoint. This season has many plots that build into one seamlessly. First, there are the seven sin murders, the missing child, forever youthful vampires, and ghosts haunting the hallways. Each plot gets a beginning and an end. This season drew inspiration from the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles, as well as the “Murder Castle” in Chicago. The true events that happened at these places in real life are chilling, and Ryan Murphy lets us know that in this season. The happenings in the hotel are unheard of and grotesque. I believe this season to be one of the best, maybe it’s because I go crazy for Gaga, but American Horror Story: Hotel did not upset me.
- Roanoke
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American Horror Story: Roanoke was terrifying in the greatest way possible. In this season, a couple gets interviewed for a documentary film called My Roanoke Nightmare. The couple describes the terrors they faced in an old abandoned home they purchased in Roanoke, North Carolina. The interviews are followed by dramatic reenactments of what occurred while the couple stayed in the home. The events are violent and disturbing. The second half of the season is filmed as a reality television show where the actors and the couple being interviewed are forced to stay at the house again. The events are chilling and horrifying. The series is called American Horror Story for a reason, and for that, I don’t think Roanoke disappoints.
- Freak Show
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American Horror Story: Freak Show was one to remember. It takes place at one of the last remaining freak shows in the United States in 1952 in Jupiter, Florida. This season takes viewers on a journey behind the struggle the freak show has to stay afloat while being terrorized by Twisty, the murderous clown, and Dandy Mott, the boy who gets whatever he wants. However, some parts of this season just don’t make sense such as the storylines some filler characters get such as Chester Creb and Edward Mordrake. This season was a bit messy and used too many stories to fill the plot, which made no sense and didn’t add to the final story.
- Apocalypse
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American Horror Story: Apocalypse faces the end of the world where only the physically fit and rich get a second chance at survival. The end of the world was revealed to be at the hands of the antichrist, Michael Langdon. Langdon has extraordinary powers and is the ruler of the new post-apocalyptic world. The witches in the coven, seen in American Horror Story: Coven, come to aid the remaining humans left and restore the world to its pre-apocalyptic state. This season I was completely engaged, the merge of Coven, Murder House, and the season itself kept me on my toes. While I believed this season to be good, it wasn’t amazing, and I see where people can critique it. Apocalypse for me, lacked in the horror department because it was covered by the nostalgia from better seasons.
- Cult
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American Horror Story: Cult took a hit on everyone’s deepest fears and phobias. Following the win of Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, the town of Brookfield Heights, Michigan, cannot seem to catch a break from a new cult in town. The cult terrorizes the community of Brookfield with strings of murders making news reports. This season included crazy visual effects, clowns, and even sparked questions about politics and the state of the country. There is not much to say about this season other than there may be a few slow episodes before the real action. But, other than that it is utterly thought-provoking and is laid out in a very strategic manner.
- 1984
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American Horror Story: 1984 was good, but nothing particularly stood out. 1984 takes place in Los Angeles, California. A group of friends comes together to work as camp counselors for the summer at the reopened Camp Redwood. At the camp, they are told the story of Mr. Jingles, who supposedly committed a massacre at Camp Redwood in 1970. As murders at the camp occur, it is revealed that if you die at Camp Redwood you remain there as a ghost, which is something viewers recognized from Murder House. This season has its fair amount of ups and downs, but in my opinion, it felt like something I had already seen before. The plot was boring and not super coherent.
- Double Feature
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American Horror Story: Double Feature was a tease at the normal American Horror Story seasons fans love so much. Double Feature is the tenth season of the show. This season was split into two parts, entitled “Red Sea” and “Death Valley.” The two parts contained two different storylines, one part being by the sea and the other by the sand. “Red Sea” had a lot of potential, the storyline was great, and I would have loved to see where it went if the plot had more time to develop. The second part of this season is exactly why Double Feature is at number ten. The storytelling just wasn’t there, and “Death Valley” felt rushed.