AMERICAN HORROR STORIES
Back To The Old House
UK Disney+, Wednesdays
US FX on Hulu, streaming now
Showrunners Ryan Murphy,
Brad Falchuk
Cast Matt Bomer, Sierra Mccormick, Kevin Mchale, Billie Lourd
American Horror Story has always kind of felt like Halloweeny junk food – a quick, low effort, intensely flavoured sugar-rush of a show, packed with questionable ingredients – but with this spin-off anthology series, producers Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk have managed to create something even more disposable. You probably won’t feel good about it afterwards, but it’s undeniably enjoyable while it lasts.
Four of the seven episodes are standalones, requiring no prior knowledge of the show, or indeed intent to watch any more. That containment keeps them mostly under control, and the season’s best episode, “BA’AL”, demonstrates just how much you can get done in an hour: AHS alumnus Billie Lourd plays a woman so desperate to get pregnant that she accepts a demonic-looking fertility charm from a stranger, with horrifying results. Director Sanaa Hamri adds multiple twists and some properly jaw-dropping moments to a familiar story, crafting a satisfying take on Rosemary’s Baby that feels exactly the right length.
Unfortunately, the others aren’t quite so well-paced. In “Drive In”, a cursed movie turns viewers violent, but the whole premise seems to have been devised as an excuse to stick a middle finger up to Netflix; “The Naughty List” features some brilliantly creative gore and a nasty punchline, but getting to the end is something of an endurance test, because the characters are so vile; and “Feral” is only notable because Cody Fern gets to use his real Australian accent in it. Each episode has at least a moment or two to recommend it, but not much more.
Then there’s the other three: “Rubber (Wo)man Parts One and Two”, and “Game Over”. Aimed squarely at delighting long-term fans, these episodes are all written by Murphy and Falchuk, and all take place in AHS season one’s Murder House. In the two-parter that opens the season, Michael (Matt Bomer) and Troy (Gavin Creel) move in with their teenage daughter Scarlett (Sierra Mccormick), intending to capitalise on the house’s spooky reputation by turning it into a tourist attraction.
Then, as if they just couldn’t help themselves, the final episode goes full meta as the developer of an American Horror Story tie-in computer game moves in. This is a proper end-of-season episode, rattling through self-indulgent references at breakneck speed. Obnoxious, manic, even slightly incoherent, it’s the most on-brand episode of the lot.
While we’re waiting for the next season proper, existing fans will enjoy American Horror Stories as if it’s a packet of crisps Murphy and Fulchuk have just slipped us before dinner. Sarah Dobbs
FX recently greenlit two more Story series from Ryan Murphy’s stable: American Sports Story and American Love Story.
Four of the seven episodes require no prior knowledge