American Horror Story: The Complete First Season

From Glee creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, this dark, disturbing FX channel original is a creepy (at times gruesome) and increasingly compelling horror story told over the course of a season. Set in a gloomy haunted house in Los Angeles, the series stars Dylan McDermott and Connie Britton as Ben and Vivien Harmon, a married couple trying to start again in the wake of infidelity and a miscarriage, with Taissa Farmiga as their angry teenage daughter, Violet. Jessica Lange, who won Emmy and Golden Globe awards for her flamboyant performance, is Sister Jude, the displaced Southern belle next door. Most of the other “neighbors,” however, turn up in the Harmons' home—trapped in an afterlife that forces them to replay their terrible stories for every new living resident. The show is filled with voyeuristic and ominous shots (watching from on high, behind doors, down the stairs), a kinky sexual aura, and a hyper-weird atmosphere. The first half of the season seems like all perverse spectacle, but eventually a story (of sorts) emerges. Benefiting from a superb cast that also includes Frances Conroy, Evan Peters, Denis O'Hare, and Mena Suvari, American Horror Story is a mature series with large dollops of sex, violence, brutality, betrayal, and sadism. Compiling all 12 episodes from 2011, extras include an audio commentary on the pilot episode, and behind-the-scenes featurettes. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)