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Culture > Entertainment

Ranking all of American Horror Story seasons from worst to best

Sarah Rothfleisch
Bailey McBride
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at PSU chapter.

The new season of American Horror Story is upon us, but this time the horror phenomenon is blessing us with a campy throwback to true slasher film titled “1984”. Now, I have high hopes for this season, but without Jessica Lange chain smoking cigarettes and being her general boss self, Sarah Paulson screaming bloody murder every two minutes, and Evan Peters being his usual beautiful self, I don’t know what to expect. However, based on previous seasons that range from pure art to terrible trash; it’s anyone’s guess. These seasons are diverse in their storytelling, and below is my ranking of all American Horror Story seasons ranked from best to worst.

AHS: Freakshow 

This one is pretty obvious – despite some good moments, and some great acting on Kathy Bates’ and Jessica Lange’s parts, it was a dud in my opinion. Sorry!

 

AHS: Cult

Honestly, this season didn’t pack the same punch that previous seasons did. I get the fairly obvious comparisons they were making in the storyline to our current political climate, but I was only truly scared when it triggered my tryptophobia.

AHS: Apocalypse

This was a hard choice to put this season so close to the bottom, solely because I think I’m in love with Cody Fern and his beautiful face and serious acting skills were the highlight for me. I adored the callback to Coven and the return of Constance Langdon, but overall it didn’t do much else for me. 

AHS: Roanoke

I actually enjoyed this season a lot. It had a lot of intricacies, a good amount of historical callback, and I LOVE Lady Gaga (who killed her role, BTW.) I also loved the fresh way they approached the season, using the reality tv show angle and then setting it up for the big finale. 

AHS: Coven

Listen, this one might not be as ‘scary’ as other seasons, but it was full of really cool storylines and I thoroughly enjoyed saying “Bet you thought you’d seen the last of me” to all my friends for months after this season ended. 

AHS: Asylum

This is tied with Murder House, in my opinion. There were so many elements to this season – serial killers, aliens, the devil, and monster-people. It literally checked all my boxes. 

AHS: Murder House

Some people may dislike that I didn’t give this season the top spot in my list, but don’t get me wrong – this was a great season. Just like Asylum, it had everything it needed to be amazing – ghosts, murderers, the AntiChrist – I just 
 *chef’s kiss*

AHS: Hotel 

Before you disagree, let me make my argument for why this is the best season in the whole show’s history. Not only do you have amazing actors like Lady Gaga, Chloe Sevigny, and, again, THE Kathy Bates, all of their storylines intertwined so well and the general plotline was the most cohesive of all of them. You had horror, romance, suspense, – all of it, which wrapped up neatly at the end of the season. Plus, did I mention Lady Gaga? She’s a queen, literally. 

I am a Public Relations major at the Pennsylvania State University. When I'm not writing for Her Campus, I enjoy watching the Office and volunteering at my local animal shelters.
Bailey McBride is a Senior at Penn State University pursuing a Broadcast Journalism degree with minors in Political Science and Digital Media Trends & Analytics. She is a sister of Delta Gamma. She enjoys making hyper-organizational lists and looking at future pups to adopt. Her dream job is to be Press Secretary of the White House.