American Horror Story is a show that has been talked about by fans for years, so I went into this show with modest expectations. Unfortunately, this episode did not deliver for me. I don't know whether this show gets better as it goes along, but this is a very weak start for the most part.
For a show named American Horror Story, there is way too little scary moments. The opening scene was meant to be creepy, but I was just bored because it lasted too long. There is some good imagery in this film, but that isn't enough to actually make the show scary.
If all of the characters in the show suddenly died, I honestly would not care, which says a lot about how the show sets up the characters. The main couple (Connie Britton and Dylan McDermott) is so annoying that I honestly just wanted to punch both of them.
There is one scene in particular where Britton and McDermott are giving their all into these performances, but because the writing is so terrible it is laughably bad.
However, not every scene is that bad, and there are actually some really good performances. Jessica Lange is amazing as the weird neighbor and Evan Peters is very good as a mentally off teenager. Peters delivers the only even remotely scary sequence in the episode.
These performances are not enough to bring the show up, however. It just doesn't deliver on any level of horror, and can be so terribly written that I started to wonder if I was watching a 90's soap opera.
I give American Horror Story--Pilot a C-.
For a show named American Horror Story, there is way too little scary moments. The opening scene was meant to be creepy, but I was just bored because it lasted too long. There is some good imagery in this film, but that isn't enough to actually make the show scary.
If all of the characters in the show suddenly died, I honestly would not care, which says a lot about how the show sets up the characters. The main couple (Connie Britton and Dylan McDermott) is so annoying that I honestly just wanted to punch both of them.
There is one scene in particular where Britton and McDermott are giving their all into these performances, but because the writing is so terrible it is laughably bad.
However, not every scene is that bad, and there are actually some really good performances. Jessica Lange is amazing as the weird neighbor and Evan Peters is very good as a mentally off teenager. Peters delivers the only even remotely scary sequence in the episode.
These performances are not enough to bring the show up, however. It just doesn't deliver on any level of horror, and can be so terribly written that I started to wonder if I was watching a 90's soap opera.
I give American Horror Story--Pilot a C-.