"American Horror Story" Season 5 - "Hotel" Stars Lady Gaga Oct. 2015

I haven't watched this season yet but it sounds pretty ugly from accounts. I think the second season was probably best dramatically but damn was it bleak.

 

More Saw or Hostel than The Shining, right?

In general, I thought the show was hard to watch from a production standpoint. Can't describe it completely, but the whole thing was fatiguing.

 

If I want to see beautiful stylistic murders on tv , I want better writing and acting. Hannibal succeeded ten fold more than this.

 

Vanity Fair review:

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/10/american-horror-story-hotel-isnt-trash-its-garbage

 

Can't deny that I kept thinking of The Shining film, esp. with the kids and the endless hallways.
I DO like the set/Hotel though, I think it looks great.

I think I'm tired of the "Vampire" fad that's been going on ever since Ann Rice got popular - never did warm to the genre myself. Add Zombies to that overworked, tired genre as well!

 

I watched the first ten minutes or so and bailed (for the first time with this show). I think I'll skip this season.

 

Pretty insane first episode. I'll stick with it.

 

I've only watched the first three seasons and I think I'm done with the show. The teenage witch theme was beyond silly and the Stevie Nicks stuff was embarrassing. I'm a horror movie geek and I should love AHS, but I don't. It's like they throw everything including the kitchen sink into every episode. There are things I like about it and there are some really good actors of course; I love Jessica Lange even if she essentially plays the same part each season. But I like a little subtlety once in a while, even in horror stories. It doesn't sound like the fourth or fifth season are going to be my thing either.

 

That is exactly what I was thinking watching the first episode. The show seems to have taken a turn into another direction. I am in a wait and see mode with this season, but that is nothing new with me.

 

I like this better than Freakshow so far.

 

I've stuck with this show on the strength of the first season. Its been a struggle with the seasons since. I saw nothing I liked in the this first episode so I'm done with it.

 

Kinda new to the show...started with Freakshow and understand it wasn't the pinnacle of the show's run but it definitely had it's moments. The acting was outstanding and of course many style points. The first time I watched it my first opinion was "Is David Lynch getting a cut of this" mainly for the surface of normality being usurped by the evil lurking below. However I love that so I was looking forward to the new season despite the presence of Miss GaGa (you can call me Lady).

The show started extreme and never let up. Like the posters above I understand their hesitancy to the new season: gratuitous, too much style, no subtlety, ugly, etc. I respectively disagree: this is an all-out nightmare world that dares you to check in but beware you can never leave (or something like that.) I always hated that song but it works for this show. Loved the other 'goth' music: Bauhaus (of course 'Bela Lugosi's Dead' cliched but it's so perfect) and Sister Of Mercy. Nothing else makes sense but I'm sticking with it all the way. The main figure is a detective a "normal" cop whose life is unraveling in front of us and leads him to the Hotel Cortez where his kidnapped son may be living. A concierge drag queen mentions him being"stuck in time": a clue to the season?

The season could go anywhere and maybe that's where the hostility towards it lies. Nothing is explained, nothing makes sense, people arrive, people disappear. Yes, the violence and sex is gratuitous, you can accept it or deny it by saying it's too over the top or ugly. To me Blue Velvet is a masterpiece but to some it's misogynist and pornographic so what do I know? What I know is I enjoyed the hour and an half joyride. I dislike films like Hostel where it really is just ugliness. In AHS:Hotel the ugliness is trumped by the style, the acting, sincerity, and the humor (in the blackest sense of the word.) The actors get it and relish in it which is so fun to witness and experience. Miss GaGa may be the exception to this but I'll reserve judgment. She was good in a physical sense but once she started talking well, as I said I'll wait. It's going to be a wild ride. Who else is ready?

 

I enjoyed it as well. I watched the first two seasons. I enjoyed the most of the first season but hated the Beetlejuice ending. The second season was very good, in my opinion. I watched the first episode of season 3 and gave up. As someone posted above, the teenage witch story line was just silly, in my opinion. I'm in the minority on this one, but the only reason I tuned into the first episode of Hotel was because Gaga was in it. I'm a casual fan, and I was very curious as to how she would do. I think the jury is out on her performance. We've only seen one episode, and she isn't a professional actress. I'll cut her some slack and see how she fares over the course of the season.

 

This season is total tripe. The dooky that even dooky turns its nose up at. But it's still better than season 3. Hehehe.

I'll still watch it, because I must, with the wife, but *yawn* at very little plot and all sight gags.

Only 7 episodes this time around?

 

Hey, I had that avatar for a while, too!

 

I quite liked season 3.

 

I think Season Three was the best season. It began with the most horrific beginning in the series (aside from a Season Two amputation). Very nicely done voodoo. Very dark. Great period piece characters. Very original and felt fresh. Witches. Loved 'em. Beautiful witches all. Hey, I want that on my tombstone.

 

2 & 3 were my favourites. I gave up on Freak Show in the first 15 minutes. I just knew I wasn't going to like it. I'll probably watch 5 in about 6 months if there's nothing else to watch.

 

You need to rewatch season one. Now that you know the cast and the crazy directions the shows takes, it will be more palatable. I like season one more than season two after rewatching One. Three is my favorite. Re Freak Show: I watched two-three episodes and they failed to create a likeable character. With no one to like, you usually don't like the show. What a blunder. I'm going try to give it another go.

 

IMDB shows thirteen.

S4 had one of the more emotionally poignant episodes, imo. I don't remember the number, but it was the one that told Pepper's story and tied in directly with S2. Looking at the episode descriptions, I think its #10 titled "Orphans".

 

Season 3 was the witches, right? HATED that season! It's funny how people see things differently. I really liked season 4, "Freakshow" a lot. I'd rate the seasons like this, in order of preference :

Season 1
Season 4
Season 2
Season 3

Season 5 - undecided, but looks to be tied for the bottom with season 3.

 

It's way too early to put a grade on this season. Two episodes have aired. Out of thirteen. The show has always been up and down. Even though S3 is my least favorite, it still had some very good moments and I'm glad I watched it. I've enjoyed something about every season so far, so I'm staying with this.

 

Ranking them for me it would be seasons:

2
1
4
5
3

As of right now.

Every time season 4 seemed like it would get off track, it jumped right back on. It was good stuff.

The only bad mark I would give for season 1 was the last 10 minutes or so with the Christmas time for ghosts. I would like for them to revisit the house in another season...but I'm much more up for season 6:

American Horror Story: Funeral Home

 

Manimal and Supertrain might be better than this.