It seems like only a year ago that I wrote a review of the television program American Horror Story on this very blog and indeed it has been nearly a year, but American Horror Story is unlike most television series which follows a line of continuity from year to year. Every season of American Horror Story is a self-contained unit, with many of the same actors, but an entirely distinct plot.

This season has the subtitle of The Asylum which at first made me think of the workout program Insanity : The Asylum but is most assuredly nothing like that. The season opened up with a young couple frolicking in a long shutdown insane asylum (hardly a good place to frolic) and have just engaged in a sexual act when they encounter a rather foul creature that is later referred to by the name Bloody Face.

From here we flash back to 1964, where the asylum is up and running and a young man has been put into it for suspicion of being Bloody Face. He has periodic flashbacks to the deaths of his girlfriend that got him there in the first place and when a surgical examination reveals a bizarre mechanical object that springs forth from his neck, we have to wonder what is really going on.

Despite the aspects of utter fiction and fantasy on American Horror Story: Asylum, there is much based on fact. For example, there is a character who has been forced into the asylum because she is an out and happy lesbian who is perfectly happy with her girlfriend. If you were not aware, homosexuality was still in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental disorders even as late as 1980 and was not fully removed until 1986 — something that seems a bit shocking considering that this was in my childhood!

I don’t want to give away too much about the show but I can tell you that it is, to some extent, not as scary as the first season in some ways and far more frightening in others. I think it is possible to catch up with the show at this point and I would strongly recommend viewing it if you want a good dramatic thrill.

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  2. I find both seasons quite different and that the fear in the first season came from the fact that it was a family, that was what made it unsettling. The “Invasion” aspect in terms of the house having unwanted guests/ visitors was also one of those unsettling factors. Season 2, to me is far more twisted and perverse. Even though there is no “family aspect” to it, one immediately finds at least one character they can either relate to, or sympathise with. The only thing that feels a bit out of place (still) are the x-file parts (leaving it as vague as I can so as not to spoil things).

    I am really enjoying season 2, and David W. Boles, I advise you to get a lot of popcorn. 🙂

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