Every season of American Horror Story (so far), ranked from worst to best
By Lacy Baugher
American Horror Story: Roanoke
Truly, the strangest of all the American Horror Story installments, Roanoke really tries to do something new and interesting with the series format. Unfortunately, it mostly fails at it, and the season is ultimately too confusing, weird, and messy to be truly enjoyable.
On the plus side, Roanoke that is truly dark and gory at times, and likely serves as a welcome return to more straightforward horror for many fans after the markedly less scary installments of Hotel and Freak Show. The idea of solving the mystery of what happened to the famously lost Roanoke colony is a fantastic idea, even if the show ultimately moves away from it to more modern-day concerns.
Don’t’ get me wrong, the “show within a show” reality premise is certainly ambitious, but the season’s second half is far weaker than its first, and the fact that the twists kept fans guessing isn’t the same thing as having a satisfying overall narrative.
Plus, even though given the chance to reinvent some of the “characters” in the season’s second half, none of them – other than Kathy Bates entertaining dual role as both the homicidal Butcher and the actress who plays her – are particularly memorable. But, there are cannibals, if you’re into that sort of thing.