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‘American Horror Story: Cult’: The Horror News Network Review

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Last season, after watching the last few episodes of American Horror Story: Roanoke, I vowed that I was done with the series after too many instances of incoherent story-telling, on-the-fly shifts in focus, and over-the-top performances.  What could bring me back to this consistently infuriating mess?

More than anything, American Horror Story has always had problems with pacing and the aforementioned abrupt shifts in focus, narrative, and style. How could I even get through one episode after the terror-inducing choices made by Ryan Murphy last season?  Well, I took some advice from fellow HNN staffer John Evans.  He suggested that I took a segment-by-segment approach to this review (akin to ingesting Miralax in small gulps) so I could make it to the end of the episode and track my reactions.   Here are the fruits of my labors, divided into small, bite-sized, stream-of-consciousness segments: read more

Ryan Murphy Reveals Details on the Characters of ‘American Horror Story: Cult’

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American Horror Story: Cult is right around the corner. As with every new season of the anthology series, fans are chomping at the bit to learn what kind of mysterious and unusual roles their favorite series-regulars will be taking on this time around. The production of this season has been much less secretive than during previous seasons, but we still have many more questions about the show and its cast than answers. Variety reports that Ryan Murphy shared a few key details a recent screening about some characters we will soon know all too well when the show begins to air on September 5th. Here’s what we learned about the following performers’ roles on Season 7: read more

Trailer for American Horror Story: Cult Delivers Blistering Social Commentary

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Buckle up American Horror Story fans because the official trailer for season 7 just dropped and it presents what could be quite a fiery season.  As creator Ryan Murphy has promised, this season will be tied into last year’s US presidential election.  This first look begins on election night with Sarah Paulson’s character gasping in fear and Evan Peter’s character cheering wildly.  This divide is an obvious nod to the disparity revealed from the US election last November.

With American Horror Story: Cult, Murphy has a real opportunity to provide a horror show with substance.  Knowing that real life can be scarier than fiction, he looks to be intertwining political and social chaos into this season.  In the trailer, we see Peter’s character utter the words, “If you get people scared enough they will set the world on fire.”  Judging by this initial peak, fans can expect an intense and sinister social commentary. read more

‘American Horror Story’ Executive Producer Alexis Martin Woodall Reveals Information about ‘AHS: Cult’

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According to Deadline, American Horror Story Executive Producer Alexis Martin Woodall recently revealed some information about the upcoming  AHS: Cult at the summer TCA Press Tour.

Most notably, Woodall reiterated that the seventh season will not specifically be about the Trump administration. Woodall said that “When Ryan had to make the announcement originally that the season was going to deal with Trump.  I think it’s more about what’s going on in our world around us.”

Woodall went on to say that “It’s not what you think it is — and I’m not trying to be cagey. It’s just with all good horror and suspense not knowing is going to be good for you” (and if anything can be said about connecting all of the American Horror Story seasons up to this point, “not knowing” certainly sums up the greatest commonality among all of the previous installments). read more

Female Directors Discuss the Positive Impact of Ryan Murphy’s Half Foundation

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2017 has been an incredible year for female directors. Patty Jenkin’s Wonder Woman is the highest grossing domestic superhero movie of the year and one of the highest-reviewed superhero movies of all time. Sofia Coppola became the second woman ever to win “Best Director” at Cannes Film Festival for her work on The Beguiled. And Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit is already generating Oscar buzz. The unfortunate side of these recent achievements is that it didn’t happen much sooner; women have traditionally not been offered the same opportunities as men when it comes to directing major Hollywood projects. While the successes of Jenkins, Coopola and Bigelow are promising, it is clear that more needs to be done to provide equal opportunities for women in filmmaking. read more

Universal Orlando Announces ‘Ash vs Evil Dead’ House for Halloween Horror Nights 2017

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Universal Orlando announced today that Starz series Ash vs Evil Dead would get the Halloween Horror Nights treatment as a featured house for the 2017 event.

According to the official press release, it appears that the creators of the house have a good understanding of what makes the series popular as “The house will feature various locations from the first two seasons of Ash vs Evil Dead and lots of blood. And for those “in the know,” the answer is yes…We’ll be going back to the cabin; with a few other surprises along the way.  This is our blood-soaked, milk-eyed, crass, rock n’ roll amped, chainsaw-wielding felt puppet, love-letter to everyone and everything connected to Ash vs Evil Dead. ” read more

Sarah Paulson Joins Ensemble Cast of M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Glass’

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Writer/director M. Night Shyamalan broke some exciting news this morning for horror fans who are looking forward to Glass, his upcoming follow-up movie to Split and Unbreakable. A new horror favorite has joined the cast, which already includes Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, James McAvoy, and Anya Taylor-Joy. Just like his original announcement about the project, Shyamalan took to Twitter to break the news. Here it is, directly from the horse’s mouth:

Incredibly fortunate to round out our iconic cast of actors on #Glass… @MsSarahPaulson will be joining us. #powerhouse read more

Official Title and Website Released for ‘American Horror Story’ Season 7

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Great news… everyone can finally stop referring to the next season of American Horror Story as “the election-themed season!” The official title for Season Seven was revealed late last night at an event for San Diego Comic Con. The season shall now be known as: American Horror Story: Cult.

Given showrunner Ryan Murphy’s extremely secretive nature surrounding the roll-out of last season, the fact that even just the title was announced at this point in time may be surprising to some fans. But the grand reveal didn’t stop there… FX has also dropped an official website with more content and clues about the upcoming season! read more

Ryan Murphy Teases Twisty the Clown’s Return in ‘American Horror Story’ Season Seven

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Evil clowns are certainly all the rage these days, and it looks like a recent entry into the pantheon will be making a mysterious return to American Horror Story according to creator Ryan Murphy.

Murphy took to Instagram today and posted the following image of AHS: Season Five’s Twisty the Clown with the message “He’s  Baaaaaack”.

How Twisty fits into the new election story line in a different time period and setting remains to be seen, but the homage to classic EC Horror Comics is sure to get fans excited. read more

Denis O’Hare Explains Why ‘American Horror Story’ Is a “Harder Work Day” Than ‘True Blood’

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Denis O’Hare is arguably one of the best parts of both American Horror Story and True Blood. Now that True Blood has concluded, fans can still look forward to a new cutting-edge performance from O’Hare with each new season of AHS. While this constant reinvention is an utter delight for fans, he recently revealed that it’s certainly a “harder work day” than playing Russell Edgington in True Blood.

CinemaBlend recently interviewed O’Hare at Portland’s Heroes and Villains Fest, where he provided a surprisingly candid response to a question about the differences between working on both shows. Here’s what he had to say: read more