American Horror Story returns for a sixth season a month
early. After carefully reviewing the
teasers it’s still nearly impossible to deduce the theme this season. I suppose Ryan Murphy decided the less people
know the more interested people will become. It seems we’ll be stuck with Lady Gaga’s
B-movie acting in addition to the primary (and far more Emmy deserving cast)
from previous seasons. Cuba Gooding Jr.
also will appear to add a speck more diversity to the Horror Story world. Fans of the series will also be looking for
“Easter eggs” which connect all the seasons of the anthology series together.
Ryan Murphy begins the episode with a special message
sponsored by Mercedes. He teases us,
“Have you figured the theme out yet?” The
teasers are replayed and the title is revealed, “My Roanoke Nightmare.” (Using
similar lettering as the upcoming Blair Witch Project movie.) The opening
moment explains, “The story is based on true events.” It appears we’ll be treated to the “based on
true events” horror genre.
First we meet “Shelby” (Lily Rabe) as she gushes about
meeting her lover “Matt”(Andre Holland), a pharmaceutical sales representative,
when he took one of her yoga classes. The
inter-racial pair clicked, moved to L.A. and were expecting their first child. One night, Matt is attacked in an act of
random gang violence. Their story is
“re-enacted” by Sarah Paulsen and Cuba Gooding Jr. as Shelby and Matt
respectively. Shelby explains how even
though Matt awoke to her touch; it was the worse night of their lives because
she suffered a miscarriage. After the
incident the couple no longer felt safe in Los Angles and decide to move to
North Carolina where Matt had relatives.
They describe a day in the woods when they discovered a
beautiful farmhouse, which dated back to 1792. The couple ascends the spiral staircase and
explores the house. They buy it on
auction with ten acres for a ridiculously low price outbidding some toothless
locals. They kiss, thinking they have made
a fresh start. However, Shelby notes she
felt “a danger there” from the very beginning. Matt states he felt at home in the old mansion
from the start. However, he senses his
wife feels differently but attributes it to grief over her miscarriage.
The couple is making love upstairs when Shelby hears a
pig-like groaning noise followed by a loud banging. Matt goes outside, armed with only a
flashlight to investigate and finds a bloody ripped aluminum garbage can. Suddenly, another metal garbage can flies into
the air towards him. He thinks it is
probably the work of the angry hillbillies enraged that an inter-racial couple
is occupying the home.
After an intense yoga session, Shelby sits down for a
healthy breakfast interrupted by a storm. She goes outside and looks at what at first
appears to be hail but on closer inspection looks like human teeth raining down
from the sky. Matt comes home to find
his wife “visibly shaking” after what she witnessed. He tries to comfort her stating it was just a
freak hailstorm. Shelby feels
embarrassed by her mistake. Matt states the Southern weather takes some getting
used to.
Matt has to travel for his work. At first Shelby embraces the time alone. She continues to settle in the home and
practices yoga daily. Dinner for one is
interrupted by a loud bang, but it’s just a loose shutter. Shelby laughs are her nervousness. But after dinner she walks down the hallway,
she sees an apparition of two young women dressed in white. (Reminiscent of the
twins from the Shining.) She calls into
the darkness but there is no answer. The
library nearby appears empty. She walks
outside to the hot tub for a soak with a large glass of wine. Shelby floats blissfully but soon a hand
appears, covering her face and attempting to drown her.
Matt continues the story, stating Shelby had “called him in
a panic.” A sheriff is at the home and explains
that Shelby “alleges someone held her underwater.” She described the attackers as wearing old
costumes and carrying pitchforks. The
sheriff is dismissive, thinking Shelby was probably just drunk. Matt tells the man he fears the redneck
neighbors are behind the attack and the sheriff states the “Polk’s are
reclusive.” It seems unlikely he’ll
investigate any further. Matt rushes
inside to find Shelby crying. Matt
offers his theory about the neighbors being behind the attack. Shelby remains adamant about what she
witnessed, even though the sheriff found no evidence of anyone on the property.
Shelby senses Matt doesn’t believe her
but he promises he does. Shelby admits
she couldn’t tell Matt she didn’t want to live there.
At night, Matt wakes up to hear strange noises. He goes downstairs and finds a dead pig on
their doorstep. Not wishing to further
upset Shelby, he buries the animal quietly the next day. He decides to install security cameras around
the property so he can monitor it while he’s away. Not wanting to leave his wife alone, he
arranges for his sister to come and stay with her.
Lee (Adina Porter, True Blood) was a cop forced into
retirement when her prescription drug abuse was revealed. Angela Basset plays Lee in the re-enactment.
Lee feels Shelby isn’t good enough for her brother and scoffs at her education
and profession as a yoga instructor. Lee’s
drug abuse has resulted in divorce and loss of custody of her daughter. She’s a bitter woman.
The two share the house uneasily with one another. One night cooking, Shelby hears something and
leaves the kitchen. Upon her return, the
knife sticks out menacingly from the cooking meat. Lee enters and the two bicker about Shelby’s
drinking affecting Lee’s fragile sobriety.
Lee reveals she had brought a gun with her. Later that night, Lee wakes
up after an empty bottle is rolled into her bedroom. She goes to find Shelby to confront her. The two continue arguing. Matt, out of town, sees a horrifying scene on
his security camera; men with torches are approaching the house. Being a black man in the South he knows they
are not there to “Welcome them to the neighborhood.” He watches the footage helplessly because the
arguing women won’t answer his phone call.
Finally, Lee hears something and tracks the noise towards
the basement followed by her terrified sister-in-law. Descending the stairs into the basement, Shelby
asks Lee if she has her weapon. Lee
states it’s locked upstairs but grabs a wrench as they move together towards
the sound. An old television plays a strange
shaky home movie, culminating with a man emerging from the woods wearing a pig’s
head. Shelby is confused why someone
would break-in to show them a “home movie.”
Lee hears more noises upstairs and guesses “a lot of some ones” are in
the house. The pair huddles in place for
at least thirty minutes. Matt has called
the police to assist the women but doubtful of their assistance decides to
drive home. The women emerge from the basement
to find a web of twine from which and hang stick-like figures. This web covers the three stories of spiral
staircase ending at the large round skylight. (A bizarre and elaborate threat.)
Matt comes home and tries to comfort his wife. He watches the video repeatedly but is still convinced
it’s the neighbors playing an elaborate hoax on them to force them out. Shelby wants to leave but Matt states he will
not be forced out of his home. Lee urges
her sister-in-law to “Let the cops do their jobs.” Frustrated, Shelby takes the
car and leaves.
On a dark wooded road, Shelby looks down at her phone to
answer a call from Matt and hits a woman. She exits her car, and notices an older woman
in old-fashioned dressed holding a meat cleaver. (Kathy Bates) The woman
disappears into the thick woods and Shelby, concerned for her injuries follows.
For a yoga instructor, Shelby isn’t very
calm. She soon becomes disoriented and
lost. She trips on the ground, the earth
appears to be “breathing.” (This is an actual phenomenon due to gases in the
ground, search for videos on YouTube; it’s really strange but not paranormal.) Looking
up to the trees, she sees the sting men labyrinth similar to what was created
in her home.
Torches form a circle around her as about a dozen people
emerge from the thick woods. The people
all appear to be wearing dress that could be from the seventeenth century. One man is bleeding from his head appearing to
have been scalped. (Evans Peters.) Shelby screams and the episode ends.
It’s a promising first episode. Even though the genre has been saturated in
recent years with Paranormal Activity, The Conjuring, The Amityville Horror,
it’s still an interesting way to tell a story. Sarah Paulsen’s psychic character in Season 1
discussed the “Roanoke” colony mystery. (That’s the first tie-in to another
season 1 noticed.) It will be interesting to see how the story unfolds and if
any of the “teaser themes” will present themselves. It will be an abbreviated
season with only ten episodes without a holiday break. I’m hopeful we are in
for excellent season of horror.
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