Genre: Sci-Fi | Horror | Drama

Creators: Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk

Number of Discs: 3

Number of Episodes: 13

Run Time: 572 minutes

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Original Broadcast Network: FX

Release Date: October 8, 2013

Synopsis:

Set in 1964, American Horror Story: Asylum takes us into a Church-run haven for the criminally insane, ruled with an iron fist by Sister Jude (Jessica Lange), a nun with a troubled past.  Inside this locked down facility, danger lurks around every corner.  From Nazis and serial killers, to mutants and aliens, no one is safe inside these walls. Starring Jessica Lange as “Sister Jude”, Sarah Paulson as “Lana Winters”, James Cromwell as “Dr. Arthur Arden,” Evan Peters as “Kit Walker,” Lily Rabe as “Sister Mary Eunice,” Lizzie Brocheré as “Grace,” Zachary Quinto as “Dr. Oliver Thredson,” and Joseph Fiennes as “Monsignor Timothy Howard.” Guest stars for the miniseries will included Frances Conroy, Chloe Sevigny, Adam Levine and Mark Consuelos.

American Horror Story, the first one, the “Murder House” one – do we call it American Horror Story Prime? – was my favorite new show of the year in 2011. It was in fact tied with Fringe as my favorite show of the year overall. That was a hard act to follow. But followed it was and is, by American Horror Story: Asylum.

Some aspects of the second Story are the same as the first, though of course it has an entirely different premise, location, and set of characters. Many of the writers returned, many people from production, many actors. Many intangibles return as well. It is scary. The kind of scary that keeps you from watching at home alone at night. It continues to salute classic horror movies in staging, in storyline, in aesthetics.

But arguably most important of all, it retains the sense that everyone involved in the production is gifted at their work. The acting? The best. The directing? The best. The sets, costumes, editing, cinematography, sound, light, probably even the craft services? Simply the best. You know, when you are watching American Horror Story: Asylum, that you are watching the best. Even if you don’t appreciate or perhaps can’t even bear to watch some scenes.

And that is one of the biggest differences between American Horror Story and American Horror Story: Asylum. The first had an overlying theme of desire, in its many forms and with its many consequences. Asylum has an overlying theme of torture, in its many forms and with its many consequences. Viewers will differ in their preferences as always, but the consequences of torture in and out of the asylum are fairly grotesque, and there were a few scenes, and a few makeup and effects treatments, that are just too horrible for me to ever want to see more than once. We also aren’t given much of a rest from the onslaught, as there is much less humor (outside of one priceless, timeless scene that I won’t spoil) in this season of Horror.

The rest of the show, however, I am happy to watch more than once, with particularly heavy rotation for the finale. It is a masterwork. I was lucky enough to watch it the first time in a small theater on a big screen with co-showrunner Ryan Murphy in the room, along with a lot of other reporters and critics. That was for me the optimum viewing experience. But watching it on Blu-ray is a solid second. When a production is made with this level of care, Blu-ray is the best way to honor that. The best picture, no commercials, no break to fast-forward.

This particular Blu-ray set even has a Season Mode feature that allows you to watch every episode of the season without interruption and will remember your place if you need to leave. Season Mode is in fact the default mode of play. It’s very cool. If you opt out of that mode, however, and want to choose the episode to watch, each episode has an onscreen written synopsis to help you decide. Although I love it when they include those on the case, so you don’t have to play the disc to see it, having it available at any point before you actually hit “play” is a nice benefit.

Which leads me to the bonus features. They are absolutely excellent. But there are far too few. Here’s the breakdown:

Deleted Scenes – We’re given two mesmerizing, informative, fully realized deleted scenes each on two of the discs, so four scenes all together. That’s not the problem, though if there were more available like that, they would be welcome.

Featurettes – We are given four never-before-seen featurettes that are also absolutely excellent, and like most bonus featurettes, are chock full o’ spoilers and shouldn’t be watched if you’re new to the series. “The Orderly” is a wonderful “tour” of the highlights of the season, given by one of the guards as he takes the viewer to go see Bloody Face in his cell. “What is American Horror Story: Asylum?” is a long look at the characters and storylines. “Welcome to Briarcliff Manor” is a great behind-the-scenes look at the sets, and “The Creatures” is a similarly great behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the special effects makeup.

They’re all terrific, and almost entirely new, though bits and pieces have been shown in the featurettes that were posted by FX during the broadcast season. It feels, though, that we’re missing some of what we were given during the broadcast season, since we were treated to all sorts of featurettes at that time. It’s possible that those were just snippets of what we’re given here, but hmmm… Anyway, that’s not my main problem with the bonus features. My main problem is…

Commentaries – There are no commentaries. None. We were only given one with the Season 1 set, but it was by co-showrunner Ryan Murphy, and it was absolutely exceptional. There is in fact a complete lack of Ryan Murphy anywhere in any of the Asylum bonus features. He has often served as the face of the show, the guru of all that goes on in American Horror Story. Where are the commentaries? And where is Ryan Murphy?

While the lack of commentaries and Ryan Murphy in this season’s Blu-ray set compared to Season 1’s, and the paucity humor in this season of the show compared to Season 1, are the reasons for one less star in the rating, I nevertheless wholeheartedly recommend this set to everyone ready for a scare, and everyone who appreciates the very best in television series.

I give American Horror Story: Asylum [Blu-ray] Four Out of Five Stars.

 

 

[AMAZONPRODUCT=B00ADQPA38]