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American Horror Stories 1.03 "Drive In"
Last week, we saw the release of Episode 3 "Drive In". At the time, it was an episode that I fell in love with. It's always great when we see cursed tapes. Yeah, it's a bit of a trope by now. But Ryan Murphy's crew did a wonderful spin on it.
(It also reminded me of the John Carpenter Masters of Horror episode "Cigarette Burns" with Norman Reedus. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. )
The story was simple. Guy likes girl. Guy gets girl to watch Bob Ross in the hopes of reaching the next step in the relationship. Girl says No. Guy talks to his friends and comes off a bit douchey. Friends suggest going to the Drive In to see a lost film called Rabbit Rabbit. They go and then hell breaks loose.
It's a bit simplostic. But it worked so well. Especially with the fantastic performances of Rheney Feliz, Madison Bailey, Ben J. Pierce, Leonardo Cecchi and Kyle Red Silverstein. Everyone did a great job of making their performances memorable in the first few moments we see each of them on screen. We also get Adrienne Barbeau running the Drive In. She always does a fantastic job. And then we have two alums (John Carroll Lynch and Naomi Grossman) - these two deliver amazing performances. It's these two along with Feliz and Bailey that are even absolutely essential to this entire episode. The places that John Carroll Lynch goes to in this episode are dark and deep. Yet, he is able to do so in just a few moments. That is absolutely incredible.
And yeah, there's gore. Quite a bit of it. But nothing too over the top. It feels like this takes the cursed film trope and mashes it into a zombie film.
The only thing that I have to say that's bad about this episode is that it left me wanting more. The pacing was perfect. And Eduardo Sánchez delivered a great episode. But it just felt like the ending was only the beginning. And I know others that wouldn't be disappointed if we saw a Part 2 to this.
Rating: 5 out of 5.
(If you enjoyed this episode and looking for another similar idea, check out Midnight Movie from the great Tobe Hooper)
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American Horror Stories 1.04 "The Naughty List"
This week's episode was brought to us by Max Winkler.
One of the coolest things of this series has been seeing the different title sequences. This one had a nice return of the theme music from 1984. A nice fit that highlighted the tone of the episode.
This episode was slightly a rough one for me. I have a good idea of why. It may involve Bro House.
The setup is A group of influencers face a reckoning after posting a problematic video online. Quickly it's established that we are not supposed to be rooting for the members of the Bro House. We are supposed to be cheering for their demise. As they encapsulate all that is wrong with Social Media influencers perfectly. The perfect examples of douchebags.
Bro House consists of Zinn (Nico Greetham), James (Dyllon Burnside), Wyatt (Charles Melton) and Barry (Kevin McHale). Each of them have let their fame status go to their heads. They think they can do no wrong. That they are untouchable. Well except for Barry. Barry seems to have finally realized he's had enough.
This is more true after their latest excursion - witnessing a tragic event. Do they stop filming? No, Zinn is first to say Keep running because it'll do well for their views. However they are shown what disgusting humans they have turned into. After losing subscribers, they believe their next idea will work. No matter how morally wrong it is. Their last attempt to try and rekindle things leads them to harassing the elves of the Mall Santa. Quickly the Santa tells them they will get what they deserve.
The pacing on this episode felt off. The focus was mostly on establishing how much of a douchebag these influencers are. Whereas, I would have had the final act be like a wraparound story - the Mall Santa (wonderful Danny Trejo) picking them off one by one. We would have small highlights of the 'douchebag diaries' that led them to these events. This would have strengthened the story. Instead, it just feels like a quick one and done conclusion.
The actors all do a great job with their performances. They literally make it so we wish to see these characters meet their ends. I wish Barry could have gone on and learned from this event. But that's to the strength of Kevin McHale's wonderful performance. Danny Trejo does a great job being intimidating and menacing.
Overall, this was an okay episode. With all that we have seen so far, we were bound to come across a meh episode. I say it's Meh. However, it could have been a lot worse.
Rating: 3 out of 5.
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