The fifth installment of Ryan Murphy's horrifically popular American Horror Story series premieres Wednesday, and you might be wondering how it stacks up in "scare factor" to the last seasons. Fair enough. Depending on what gets your heart pumping — for me, it's the cheap scare of someone jumping out at me (oh, and anything to do with possession) — you might not have found certain seasons of the anthology series that scary. So is American Horror Story: Hotel scary, you ask? The short answer: you betcha. Cheyenne Jackson, who plays Will Drake on AHS: Hotel says, "“It’s gorier than, I think, any of them so far, and it’s scarier to me because it’s more psychological and not just like, blood and guts,” It’s the stuff that effed up in your head.” So... that's comforting. Right?
I don't care if you swear by the fact that you "had something in your eye" during that one scene in AHS: Asylum when Lana visits Briarcliff for the first time... I know you were crying. Or maybe I was crying. I blacked out from fear. Either way, American Horror Story is perfect for the Halloween season, since it can prep you for cheap thrills and haunting nightmares. And AHS: Hotel is no different. Compared to past seasons, Hotel looks like it is on par with, if not even more scary than past seasons.
Here's how AHS: Hotel stacks up to the previous four seasons of American Horror Story.
The Opener
I didn't think the AHS: Freak Show opening credits were very scary. I don't know if Ryan Murphy heard that thought, or not, because he and co-creator Brad Falchuk came in hot with the opening sequence for Hotel. There's blood. The Ten Commandments. Hands and people coming out of bedding. Even a flash of a kid in a gas mask. Pair all of that with the signature "music" AHS uses for the credits, and good luck sleeping tonight.
The Theme
AHS: Hotel combines the concentrated nature of AHS: Murder Housewith horror classics like The Shinning, creating a recipe for absolute terror. While every theme for American Horror Story seasons are usually scary to even think about, a hotel doesn't immediately evoke the sense of fear.
The Characters
There are drug addicts (Sarah Paulson), over-protective mothers (Kathy Bates), and blood-drinking hotel "countesses," (Lady Gaga)... Does that sound like a walk in the park? What's even more terrifying about the characters on American Horror Story, is that they always get a little bit scarier in each episode.
The Addiction Demon
Taking a book out of American Horror Story: Asylum and Murder House, AHS: Hotel features a killer creature who uses a dildo as a murder weapon. That should scare you, in some way or another.
Images: Suzanne Tenner/FX
