American Horror Story Season 6 Premiere Recap: Was It Scary Good?
Charlie Mason
Editor
After American Horror Story spent months serving up enough red herrings about its Season 6 premise to open a seafood restaurant, the FX anthology series on Wednesday finally revealed all — well, some, at least. Did the gamble pay off? Were you more frightened, having tuned in as blind as Coven’s Cordelia after being splashed with acid? Or would you have been just as terrified if you’d known beforehand the who, what, what-the-hell, why and where of it all? Let’s go over the key thrills and chills first, then you can vote in the poll below and hit the comments with your first impressions.
WELCOME TO ROANOKE | As the episode began, we found ourselves in a documentary feature called My Roanoke Nightmare, in which expectant, modern-day L.A. marrieds Matt (Andre Holland for real, Cuba Gooding Jr. in recreations) and Shelby (Lily Rabe for real, Sarah Paulson in recreations) were attacked on the street by thugs playing the knockout game. In the aftermath of the missus’ resultant miscarriage, they fled from the big, bad city to rural North Carolina. Enjoying a day in the woods, Shelby reported, “we found ourselves in front of the most beautiful old farmhouse,” which they promptly outbid some pissed-off locals to purchase. Unfortunately, “from the very first moment,” Shelby said, “I felt danger there.” (And they hadn’t even gotten the danger discount!) Matt, on the other hand, felt right at home.
THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT | Shortly after moving in, the Millers were making love one evening when they heard noises coming from outside. Investigating, Matt had a garbage can hurled at him and assumed that it was racist hicks. The next day, Shelby was shocked to discover teeth falling on the house like hail (which was exactly what Matt assured her that it had been). When he subsequently left on a business trip, she had scarcely begun savoring her alone time before she saw a pair of (were those) nurses strolling through the hall?!? She couldn’t even chillax with her wine in the hot tub without being nearly drowned by someone she later described as wearing old-timey costumes and carrying pitchforks.
CALLING IN REINFORCEMENTS | After hightailing it home, Matt tried hard to act like he bought Shelby’s story — which was no mean feat, considering that the police found no footprints near the hot tub, much less pitchforks. That night, Matt again heard noises outside and this time discovered a slaughtered pig on their doorstep. Convinced that the local “ZZ Top wannabes” were trying to scare them away, he set up security cameras before his next trip and, to stay with Shelby, called in his sister, Lee (Adina Porter for real, Angela Bassett in recreations). Once upon a flashback, Lee had been a policewoman who lost her job, marriage and pretty much her child due to an addiction to painkillers. Back in the recreations, Shelby was unnerved when the knife with which she was chopping veggies moved — into a piece of meat — while she wasn’t looking. For her part, Lee, trying hard to remain sober, was unnerved by her sister-in-law’s drinking. That evening, at spookytime, a bottle of vino rolled into Lee’s room, and she naturally assumed that Shelby had done it. Just then, a mob of pitchfork-wielding intruders showed up on Matt’s security cameras…
INTO THE WOODS | While Matt watched helplessly, Shelby and Lee were too busy arguing to answer his frantic calls. They finally stopped when Lee heard a door creak open. In the basement, she and Shelby discovered a television playing a home movie featuring the same noises that had so often disturbed the Millers’ sleep as well as a freaky shot of… was that Seinfeld’s legendary pigman?!? Emerging from hiding, Shelby and Lee discovered enough Blair Witch-y stick figures to supply a dozen movie sequels. When Matt returned home, Shelby pleaded with him to leave. Since he wouldn’t, she did by herself. “There’s no shame in getting the hell out of the way,” she reasoned. But she didn’t get far before she — and her car — ran into a woman (Kathy Bates). After following the woman a few feet into the woods, Shelby found herself lost — and surrounded by more stick figures. Also, the ground was moving. And there were the pitchfork-wielders. (Was that Wes Bentley among them?) And… and… that was the end?!?
So, what did you think of “Chapter 1”? Once you’ve stopped shaking enough to type, grade it in the poll below, then hit the comments with your review.
I actually really enjoyed it. It was slowly paced but for the first time in a long time it actually felt like a horror show. It wasn’t just a bunch of weird sex bs and being insanely weird just for the sake of being weird.
I completely agree with you. It had the creepy atmosphere that really good horror movies have. I look forward to seeing if they can keep up the pace and atmosphere this season.
not sure how i feel about the set up, lets just say it was different
agreed. im not buying the “real” one on one interviews. bad acting. doesn’t seem “real”. Lily Rabe did OK, but I think they needed to more of an effort to make the one on one interview aspect seem like a documentary interview that is “real”.
I agree. Stupid
It’s weird to me that Sarah Paulson and Cuba Gooding Jr are much older than Lily Rabe and Andre Holland, and look it, and the older pair are playing the re-enactors of something that happened in the past to the younger pair. Unless maybe there’s a reason for that? Guess we’ll see.
That’s exactly what I thought. The characters should be reversed.
i think – or am hoping – there’s a twist. lily & co. are probably the “actors” while what we are seeing are the actual events. so sarah and cuba might not be safe as we think. they could actually die while lily’s narration is really the hollywood version.
Ohhh.. that’s a good point,tvaddict! It would be interesting if that’s how it turns out.
At least the was no token gay people with no development so far.
Yeah those damn gays!! What the hell is that suppose to mean?
That he is wrestling with his sexuality so gay people make him uncomfortable.
The gay characters on this show usually aren’t very well written.
How could anyone not understand what Tobin meant by that statement? Stop looking to get offended. Q gets it.
Denis O’Hare’s character in Hotel was amazingly well written and my only reason for watching. I can’t tell you how many times his character touched me on such an emotional level
O’Hare’s character was not gay in Hotel, though, he was playing a trans woman. Look back and you’ll see that gay male characters on AHS have poor development or are just killed in really brutal and degrading ways.
Ugh, it was pretty clear what Rainbow meant. They are not saying gays bother them but that the writing for gays is terrible. Which it is and there is usually no character development. Their only purpose to be the token gay which is offensive. It is like how they always write Angela Bassett as an angry black woman as if al she can do is be sassy.
I totally agree with you.. I thought that Angela Bassett’s character in hotel reminded me of a 70s TV show when the black female characters where straight out of stars my and hutch.. Superfly.. but I figured it was intentional but I totally think they have overused the angry black woman. Even so I have loved every season so far but I wasn’t crazy about the intentional bad acting in the season 6 opener and I was disappointed however I trust the creators enough to keep watching.. I hope episode 2 is better.. I really hope that they didn’t jump the shark this season
Oops I meant starsky and hutch.. damn autocorrect
I understand what Tobin is trying to say, but I’m not sue it’s entirely accurate. Denis O’Hare in Hotel played an LGBT character to perfection and was easily one of the most developed and strongest characters that season. Sarah Paulson as Lana in Asylum was also powerful and was given lots of depth. Freakshow, Coven, and Murder House are really the only seasons I can think that didn’t have adequately fleshed out LGBTQIA+ characters, so I’m not sure that argument is entirely valid. Also, this is only the first episode. I’m sure we’ll be given more characters and their backstories as the season continues.
Actually, Freakshow had that one woman with a…You know. She was the one with three boobs. Murder House had the gay couple that lived in the house. I don’t remember anything about Coven though.
The woman with the three breasts didn’t have a penis. It was an enlarged clitoris.
I said this above, but O’Hare was playing a trans woman and Paulson was playing a lesbian. Aside from them, all the gay male characters have weak development and are viciously killed. Murphy has done this on Nip/Tuck as well, which leads me to believe he may have something against good-looking, young, gay men.
Oh there will be . Next episode
I love the documentary style and the reenactments, Quite suspenseful and loved not having any spoilers and just going into this blind. Looks like a fun ride!
agreed. im not buying the “real” one on one interviews. bad acting. doesn’t seem “real”. Lily Rabe did OK, but I think they needed to more of an effort to make the one on one interview aspect seem like a documentary interview that is “real”.
It is terrible. Not interested in watching the rest at all. Also, the interviews portend everyone is still alive and well, which takes any suspense out of it. Really badly done…what happened?
What? Do you work for them? Terrible. Not suspenseful or intriguing at all. I hated it so much I avitally had tp comment here. The acting is so awful, I had to shut it off. Blech.
No, I do not work for FX or Ryan Murphy but I wouldn’t turn down the opportunity. It’s your opinion to turn it off but it is my right to watch and like whatever I want. Cheers!
That was one scary hour of television, so major props for that! I don’t know how to feel about the fact that there’s still no official theme in the title, or that there were no cool credits. The whole season can’t just be these “dramatic reenactments”, right?
The commercial breaks said “My Roanoke Nightmare” so… i don’t know. I don’t feel like I can trust anything right now!
You were scared by this nonsense? Come on man!!
It it shaping up to be the worest series ever.
Agreed. I just started catching up online and I’m confused by what I just watched. This wasn’t the edgy AHS I’ve come to love. This was some campy Blair Witch Project or Paranormal Activity esq nonsense that was not scary in the least. It felt more like an eighties or nineties horror attempts then the contemporary horror drama AHS has been so far. I’m going to try a couple more episodes but if they keep going with this documentary style story telling I don’t think I’ll make it through the season.
I’m hoping not.. they have to be going somewhere with it
I can’t sit through much more of the purposefully bad acting and a fake documentary.. I guess we’ll have to trust the creators and go along for the ride !
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This would have been pretty good – without the documentary angle. I’m not liking that everything we are seeing is a “dramatic reenactment”. As of right now I’m not really feeling it. And are they going to keep this same story the entire season like this, or switch to different “documentaries”? Ugh
yup same here. ugh indeed! disappointing. hopefully it will have a purpose later on? and the stick people reminds me A LOT of the stick figures hung in the woods in the Blair Witch Project – so much so that I kept thinking about that movie everytime I saw them. I like how Angela Basset’s character has room to be a bad@ss though!
Yeah the stick figures were so reminiscent of the Blair witch that I was shocked that that wasn’t the movie kings showcased on FX tonight
The stick figures totally reminded me of the Blair witch project also
This premier sucked. I was bored throughout the whole thing. We know that they survive it seems. It just sucked. That house is beautiful though.
Yeah that’s the other thing that bothered me! We know all these people make it.. so where’s the suspense? I was hoping they would wrap up the documentary part in the first episode and switch to actually following them, or something.
I agree!!
And yet you watched the whole thing…
I didn’t like the season opener at all either but I watched the whole thing and I will tune in next week because I trust the creators and I hope that they are going somewhere with this.. but I do agree that it got off to a bad start in my opinion
I want sold on the documentary setup, but I enjoyed it otherwise. I jumped twice and gasped more than that. It was genuinely scary, which was good. There were a lot of similarities to Murder House. I’m ready for some Evan Peters though!
*wasn’t
American Horror Story’ Season 6 Episode 1
The scariest this show has been in seasons. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. They’ve thrown the campiness of the past out and the window and have embraced silent terror. I’d give it an A.
The only thing that was odd was that the document is telling story but then Cuba & Sarah are older and they’re playing the characters. So what’s up with that?
What I meant is the characters doing the action are older than the ones being “interviewed.” Cuba, Sarah are older. Then the cop Angela Bassett plays is younger version in her story while the actress (was on True Blood) is the older version in her “interview.” Any ideas?
Anyone notice what I did and what’s that about?
I don’t think there’s a specific reason for why the ages are different, except just to show that reenactments don’t always cast/show everything true to real life.
I think that’s more of a meta thing. You watch enough of these shows with dramatic reenactments and you realize that they don’t pay that much attention to the physical traits of the person that they need portrayed.
But it’s probably more likely that Ryan just matched up his regulars that were close enough in appearance.
Valid point, but why not cast them the other way around?
Yes, I watch way too much true crime on Investigation Discovery, and one of the hilarious things is that the actors in the reenactments rarely look like the real people.
The show was awful. Who really cares which way they cast them it’s not gonna make the show any better.
Disagree. They should throw the show out the window. Very predictable. Give it an “F”.
Rubbersoul.
Oh man….Rubbersoul has spoken…..very predictable isn’t exactly the best critique I’ve seen on here. If you hate the show THAT much, at least explain why
I agree. Terrible. So terrible. Plus, if they are giving “interviews ” you know they survived so how stupid is that? No suspense. Geez
Love the stylistic “ghost encounter” manner. I can’t wait to see how they tie in the mystery of the Roanoke colony. A true American mystery.
Now I know why they built it up so much. Only weird thing I noticed is the younger versions of 2 stars of show are played by older versions. I am VERY let down by the premiere. Here’s hoping that it starts to be interesting next week. Kathy Bates’ arrival will surely help. It’s something about Croatoan-word carved tree of the missing members of the coastal NC island. Maybe time travel? So far I’d give it a 2.5 out of 10.
What does age have to do with reanactments? The dramatizations on tv RARELY match the actors with the actual people being interviewed. A lot of the time they don’t even look alike. They don’t need to be the same age. If anything, it’s true to a real tv dramatization. Sucks that you were let down. But plenty of people weren’t.
I’m thinking the reason for the younger and older actor situation may be to play on how poorly these documentary’s are usually done like they did with the purposefully bad acting.. that’s just a guess but it’s possible.. I agree with your rating.. this was not a great start
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I agree, it was a horrible season premiere! I’ve watched every season so far & literally couldn’t wait till every single episode would come out but AHS is known for their “shock factor” as their first episode. This almost reminds me of a combination of the Blair Witch & season 1. And they really need to get rid of the pigs…enough of the pigs. I really hope it gets better or I might have to sit this season out.
I thought it was very different. I’m not sure if I liked it or not though. The documentary angle was weird and I feel like a waste of Lily Rabe. I think we needed more than an hour to get a feel for what this is going to be. I agree this felt the most traditionally horror than its been in years.
I agree about Rabe. She deserves so much better as an actress! I was so blown away by her performance in Asylum, I want her to be a huge part every single season!
I agree, don’t forget Jessica Lange & the rest of the cast of Asylum. By far the best AHS
to date. Rubbersoul.
I get Turn of the screw meets the strangers meets conjuring meets insudious meets real life horror of both alcohol and opioid addiction and maybe a dash of scary found footage monster movie meets Japanese horror. I feel like AHS common thread is a decade by decade refresh of the horror tropes of the time combined with real horrors like rape incest addiction slavery etc… woven into each season.
WTF; Snooooooze! I hope it picks up cuz it was boring and that’s not like AHS.
Agree 100%. Very disapointed.
Definitely much different from the past 5 episodes, which I found superb. Season 6 premier caught me by surprise with its delivery system of a reality show, adding the episode was fragmented and I felt award for the actors, poor flow.
Meant past five seasons. The first episode of season 6 was horrible. I actually get excited when they announce the forthcoming date for the new season. This was a disappointment in many ways.
I liked all of the other seasons but this was just terrible. At no point was it the least bit scary. With the documentary format it is not likely to improve. So far the whole point seems to be forcing liberalism and sjw talking points down everyone’s throat.
Agree. So far this is the worst of all the shows. I think they ran out of ideas after the first
2 shows. If you think screaming and loud noises is scary then continue watching season 6.
Rubbersoul.
It feels like a brand new show. I quite enjoyed it.
I’m really disappointed. I was a huge fan of the first three seasons, but didn’t get in to 4 or 5. I was hoping to get into season 6. But it was really a let down–so slow and boring. I’m not a fan of the documentary style show. It seems unnecessary. It also seems like they are borrowing a lot of ideas from other seasons and other shows. It felt like there was nothing original happening. I’ll try again next week, but am really underwhelmed so far.
You are absolutelyl right! AHS has been going down hill since Asylum. Rubbersoul
I’m not gonna dismiss this season over the first episode. It was okay. It was different and while I wasn’t a fan of the interview format, I’m still intrigued. Felt a little like The Conjuring at times. I want to see how the other actors fit in to the season.
same here. im going to stick with it. they might have intended to have a slow start to draw us in. I can see things getting interesting. I was probably just too excited and expected too much out of the first episode. it wasn’t horrible. just ok given my high, and likely unreasonable, expectations
Agreed. I think I hyped it up way too much for myself. I was just so damn excited and the fact that it was coming back a month earlier than it usually would have made me even more excited.
There’s something about this show. Probably the anthology format. I still look forward to it each and every season regardless of how I ended up feeling about the previous season.
I love all the other AHS seasons. This was ok. I do hope it gets better as the series unfolds! I will definately keep watching and hope to see some good stuff!
You people have no imagination. I thought it was fantastic! Really kept me wanting more. I really liked the documentary angle because that adds its own suspense. Honestly, just wait for the next episode before you start saying this is the worst season ever. There’s still season 4 after all.
Really like we need another Blair witch project or a failed attempt to pump up a remake
exactly! what is up with them taking the stick people props from the old Blair Witch movie and using them this season? sorry it’s just too similar.
Come on now they were playing the oj chase scene while Cuba was in the hotel watching the house get broke into by the Blair witch
Stupid, derivative, silly, predictable, and just plain dumb. Anyone with any sense would have left 5 minutes after someone attempted to drown them in a hot tub much less after seeing ten thousand Witch statues in their home. Who the heck gets out of their car and follows a crazy woman into the woods after leaving their witch statue filled home? This show had one good season – Coven – and the rest have sucked remarkably.
If you think coven was better than seasons one and two, your opinion can be easily ignored
I completely agree with you about season 6 but disagree with Coven being the best. That
would have to go to Asylum. Rubbersoul.