Genre: Horror | Drama | Mystery Thriller

Created by: Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk

Discs: 3

Running Time: Approx. 534 minutes

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

Summary:

American Horror Story revolves around The Harmons, a family of three who moved from Boston to Los Angeles as a means to reconcile past anguish. The all-star cast features Dylan McDermott (Dark Blue, The Practice) as Ben Harmon, a psychiatrist; Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights) as Vivien Harmon, Ben’s wife; newcomer Taissa Farmiga as Violet, the Harmons’ teenage daughter; Jessica Lange (Grey Gardens, Big Fish) in her Emmy- and Golden Globe Award-winning first-ever regular series TV role as Constance, the Harmons’ neighbor; Evan Peters (Kick-Ass, Invasion) plays Tate Langdon, one of Ben’s patients; and Denis O’Hare (J. Edgar, True Blood) as Larry Harvey. Guest stars for the series include Frances Conroy (Six Feet Under, Happy Town) as the Harmons’ housekeeper; Alexandra Breckenridge (True Blood, Ticket Out) as the Harmons’ housekeeper; and newcomer Jamie Brewer as Constance’s daughter.

This series was not only my favorite new show of 2011, it is one of my favorite shows ever. If you’re looking for a visceral, scary show that does not include drug deals or motorcycle gangs, if you love The Walking Dead or if you want something even scarier and faster-moving, if you love old houses or classic horror movies or if you are looking for acting, writing, or directing that will absolutely knock you off your feet, this is the show for you. As long as you’re okay with a healthy dose of sex in a roller coaster on a crazytown track along with it.

The wonderful people at FX provided me with screeners to every episode except one ahead of air time last year, so reviews of all episodes are here on SciFiMafia.com. To cut to the chase, however, six of the twelve episodes received a Five Stars (out of five) rating; four received Four Stars, and one, the only one I didn’t care for, received Three Stars. Those that received Four Stars did so only in comparison to their own Five Star episodes, and the Three Star was still better than the best of most other series, and it was in fact the favorite of those who thought most other episodes were “too crazy.”

If you didn’t see the series last year, you should be warned that there is one intense scene about  a teen mass murder that may be newly disturbing beyond its original intent, to those viewers acutely affected by the theater shooting in Aurora earlier this year. There is of course no direct correlation, but when I saw the scene again during my preview of this set, I did find it freshly horrifying.

If you did see the series last year and loved it as I did, you will take new delight in a rewatch, now that you know… what you know. Honestly, it is so much fun. Seeing the clues here and there, thinking of what’s to come, but especially, reveling in the excellence that is this series.

I’m so glad this series is finally available on Blu-ray and DVD, so that you can see it the way I was lucky enough to see it on screeners: commercial-free with no fast-forwarding required. The pacing of this show is such that any kind of hindrance can’t help but detract from the rocket car ride you’re given. But be careful as you’re zooming through these addictive episodes; it might start getting dark outside without you noticing, until suddenly you look around and… it’s dark and… you’re alone… Some people didn’t ever want to watch this show alone at night. I never had to, so I can’t say. But again, you’ve been warned.

Bonus Features

All twelve episodes are of course included in this set, along with some special features that are really really good. Do not watch ANY of the special features, including the commentary, unless you have already seen the entire season. Every special feature includes information from the entire season, including the finale. If you haven’t seen the entire season, go do that first, and don’t even read the description below. Skip down to the rating at the bottom, and order this set when you finish.

• Okay, for the rest of you, here’s the rundown on the special features: There’s only one commentary; it’s co-creator Ryan Murphy, by himself, commenting throughout the pilot. If you’re a big fan of the show, it’s honestly worth the cost of the set all by itself. I was a little concerned about how well it would go with only one person talking; it’s the first time I can recall seeing a solo commentary. It. Is. Wonderful. I think I’ve read every interview the man has given about the first season and I still learned new things in this very full commentary.
• But what of co-creator Brad Falchuk? He figures prominently in the “Behind the Fright: The Making of American Horror Story” featurette, where Murphy barely appears, so it seems like they split the duties. The production designers, set decorators, costume designer, and special effects supervisor are amongst the production people who appear, along with almost every member of the cast. I expected that the special features on this Blu-ray set would be a collection of the featurettes that were released online throughout the broadcast season, but that is apparently, surprisingly, wonderfully, not the case. Although there are bits in this “making of” featurette that are familiar from those earlier featurettes, they are expanded and include scenes from throughout the season. It’s edited together beautifully and is 24 minutes of really fun, informative, interesting behind the scenes info plus some excellent character insights. It’s terrific.
• “The Murder House Presented by Eternal Darkness Tours of Hollywood” is a fun featurette that expands upon the tour that we see a couple of times on the series. This time the tour guide takes the group (and us) inside the house and recaps all of the murders that took place in the house, intercut with scenes from the show. If you saw the series when it was broadcast, this could be a fun thing to watch before diving into the episodes again, to remind you of what’s to come.
• I know from an interview with Ryan Murphy that title sequences are extremely important to him, and that is clearly the case with this series. The amount of work that went into the AHS titles is explored in the “Overture to Horror: Creating the Title Sequence” featurette. Just like the sequence itself, parts of the featurette are disturbing and probably not something you want to watch during dinner. Trust me. But it includes a lot of interesting tales about the images, music, and even the actual titles, through clips and interviews with producer Alexis Martin Woodall, Main Title Designer Kyle Cooper, and Main Title Composers Césár Davila-Irizarry and Charlie Clouser.
• And finally, every actor who played a ghost other than Zachary Quinto and – well, I won’t say, in case there are newbie wandering eyes – gets a chance to have their say about their characters, how they died, and the “house rules” in the “Out of the Shadows: Meet the House Guests” featurette. I love it; it’s another one that is a fun watch for veterans before diving into the episodes.

Packaging:

The packaging for the Blu-ray set is a standard keep case inside a slipcover, with one swing-tray inside that holds two of the three discs, with the third affixed to the inside back cover. Disc One contains episodes 1-5, Disc Two contains episodes 6-10, and Disc Three contains episodes 11-12 and the bonus features, which, again, must be avoided until after one has seen the episodes. The labels on each disc only state the disc and episode numbers, and a reference to “commentary on pilot” on Disc One and “Special Features” on Disc Three.

This packaging has an interesting way of indexing the episodes. Although the titles aren’t printed on the individual discs, and aren’t printed on the cover, they are printed on the back side of the front cover label, which shows through the tinted-blue cover. Kind of hard to describe, but it works. No episode synopses, but the special features are listed individually.

The Lowdown

The second, the very second that I saw that this set would become available, I signed up for it, and I have not been disappointed. American Horror Story is a peach, a gem, a treasure, a work of art. It was tied for the best, and arguably was solely the best, that series TV had to offer in 2011. The featurettes in this package are more than worth the cost of the entire set, even if you do still have the episodes saved on your DVR. Get. This. Set. If you don’t, it’s quite possible that The House will know…

I give American Horror Story, The Complete First Season Five Out of Five Stars.

 

 

American Horror Story: The Complete First Season is available to order now! Here’s the link:

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