If there is one of the new shows that came out that stands out it’s this one, my god did it grab me from the beginning and didn’t let go. This amazing piece of TV is from the awesome Ryan Murphy who gave me one of my all-time fav drama’s Nip/tuck and my fav comedy drama Glee. Yes this is a writer director of mixed tastes and has been able to appeal to both sides of mine. I love a dark and disturbing drama, full of violence, sexuality, menace and controversy but I also love a big bright camp spectacle and Murphy has given me both those. So when I found out he was doing a new show going back to his dark ideas and twisted worlds I was very excited. Also horror is one of my fav genres in fact horror is my fav genre and there aren’t enough shows that really get to grips with its true potential. Were lucky we are in an era of great horror TV such as Dexter, Walking Dead and True Blood an era that isn’t afraid to make TV shows for adults that really expose the darkness inside of us, not supernatural drama’s for teens but true horror. The dark desires and wishes of humanity, shows that push the boundaries and expose us to controversial sights and sounds that takes thing we all think about but because of our sense of morals and ethic know are wrong and therefore enjoy watching others get exposed to and cross the lines we can never. Horrors that take our insecurities and play on them, making a terrifying life events like a family death even more horrifying by bringing in a supernatural element. I digress American horror story is a modern embodiment of our dark desires run amok, out onto screen for us to witness and revel in while exposing our fears and appetites for the macabre. The plot for AHS follows the Harmon family: Ben (Dylan McDermott), Vivien (Connie Britton) and Violet (Taissa Farmiga), who move from Boston to Los Angeles after Vivien gives birth to a stillborn baby and Ben has an affair with Hayden (Kate Mara), one of his students. The family moves to a restored mansion, unaware that the house is haunted. The house also ‘comes with’ Moira O’Hara (Frances Conroy/Alexandra Breckenridge), a housekeeper who, to men, appears as young and seductive, but, to women, old and matronly. Ben and Vivien try to rekindle their relationship as Violet, suffering from depression, finds comfort with Tate Langdon (Evan Peters), one of Ben’s new patients. Constance (Jessica Lange) and Larry Harvey (Denis O’Hare) routinely and frequently affect the Harmons’ lives.

AHS is like watching the old 1970’s haunted house films, a house of secrets and sinister intensions like that of Amityville. A house of old and daunting architecture making it seem sort of out of touch with its own time period setting to further alienate the family living within from the world outside. The house has so much character that it itself is a character on its own and it’s fighting for dominance. There’s a mythology in japan that when someone dies it’s not just their ghost that can stay behind to haunt but also the ghost of the emotions born from their death. In other words if someone dies in a brutal and horrific way full of pain, regret and anger its these feelings that are left behind to haunt a place rather than the ghost of a person. This is what this house is like all the brutality and horror that it has seen has been absorbed as part of its own will giving it a conscience of itself a conscience that wants to cause more harm and continue the violent cycle within it feeding the darkness and misery within. The house only knows negative feelings and it lives for these dark desires and brutal endings, all it knows is what it’s feed off and that’s the darkness within humanity and negative emotion. Thus in order to keep living to grow and involve past its inanimate bonds it preys on the darkness within people promoting madness and violence so it can continue to feed and grow. In other words it’s a force born of evil, which only knows evil, wishes for evil and consumes evil only to create a cycle of evil for anyone who steps through its doors.

Every person who has stepped into this house has had their insecurities, pain and suffering exposed forcing them to face their fears and ultimately be driven made by those fears until a tragic and violent conclusion unfolds. This house has more ghosts than you could ever imagine and each has a tragic story to tell. As the episodes unravel you find out more about the various ghosts who they died and why they do what they do in death. Each character has their burden to bear and there is not a soul in this house that is without misfortune and sorrow. For example there is the tragic tale of Chad Warwick (Zachary Quinto) he put his heart and soul into the house making it a place to live in with his boyfriend, they were planning on adopting a baby and living a happy life. But the more he obsessed with the house and its decorating the more he alienated his boyfriend who began to stray and instead work on his relationship seek the attention he craved with another man. Before the two men ever had a chance to work out what was happening between them the house and its ghost saw they were drifting apart and saw fit to have them killed. Chad was murdered by one of the ghosts and his boyfriend brutally assaulted and killed made to look like a murder suicide. As ghosts they are trapped in a domed relationship, Chad wants to look after the house and dreams of children but has to face the reality that his boyfriend was about to leave him and he is stuck in a nightmare with a man that doesn’t love him only to watch his love go after any man but him in his need to escape chad’s obsession with a perfect life that neither can ever have.

There are so many ghosts in the house and half the brilliance of this show is trying to work out who is a ghost and who isn’t, which ghosts are in alliances, what are their own agendas and goals and how they came to be trapped in this possessive house. Some of the more terrifying ghosts are that of a gimp suited rapist, a pair of creepy ginger twins, some kind of deformed offspring lurking in the basement. What was brilliant about this show was that it gets under your skin and began to frighten even me. Now I’m a horror connoisseur I raised myself on a diet of Asian horror films like Ringu and Ju-on with dark thrillers like Silence of the Lambs. I’m no wuss, not easily scared and don’t shy away from violence and controversial viewing material. But AHS tested even me it has the unique ability to get under your skin to find the things that creep you out and wear down your defences until you are left feeling paranoid and unsettled. It’s a powerful drama it knows how to tackle the darkness inside us and at the same time make you feel very uncomfortable. It began to give me nightmares and I had to stop watching it at night. Once I started to settle with it and it finally started to explain its plot I was able to continue evening viewing but god did this show creep me out. Even the opening sequence with is surreal and disturbing images with the most unsettle score ever totally got under my skin. I had never seen an opening scene where they uses such harsh and disconcerting sounds to distress you mixed with images so unnatural you can’t help but feel scared and freaked out.

The filming is also beautiful such sensual sights, beautiful dreams and grand aesthetics make for a mix of pure pleasure and horror. Moira is a great example, she appears to men as a beautiful and seductive temptress, a gorgeous red head who can make men’s fantasies come to life and is a walking vision of sexual desire but to women she is a scorned old women who wants to mother and nurture them, protect them from the predatory and infidelity nature of men and expose men’s bestial needs. She drips lust and seduction and at the same time warns just what men are like when exposed to the desire inside them and their weakness towards such a woman. While the show looks out of place in this timeline because of the house and its imposing manner that clings to its own history it does delve into all the modern concern of our reality. It has modern issues such as a gay couple, having children once you’re in your 40’s and loss of innocence of childhood as younger girls are exposed to the expectations of the modern day. It also has a brilliant concept on the pressure on youth and how their insecurities created by the modern world can drive them mad, a madness that seems to have no explanation but can create a child that is a beautiful monster, for all their tender loving nature they are missing a part of their own humanity and can do unspeakable evil with no regret simple because they can and nothing can redeem them not even love. It’s this lack of sentimentality that I love, love doesn’t save the day you do evil and there isn’t redemption but the knowledge that even your most beautiful and heart felt acts cant wash your soul clean and once your born a monster without the same morals of socially functioning humans you stay a monster.

What else can I say about this brilliant series, it looks good, it sounds good, it unsettles and terrifies, it delights and seduces, it exposes darkness and it exploits darkness and it enthrals and captures you. It is a must see who and I for one can’t wait for another season.

Remember to follow me on twitter @lonedreameryaoi of the Let Zoe Spoil You facebook group!!

Koshonin is an absolutely brilliant drama that is quite different from what I normally watch. I was drawn to it because I knew the very attractive and wonderful Shirota Yu was in it but I didn’t expect to enjoy this series so much. I’m not really into police dramas and I shy away from female lead drama’s because I never feel I can relate to the female characters or that they are too stereotyped for me. But Koshonin is different our female lead played wonderfully by Yonekura Ryoko as the female negotiator Usagi Reiko. Usagi is cold and determined not asking to be treated as a woman she wants to be treated equally and seen for how good an officer she is rather than her gender. The team don’t treat her with respect, she’s left out of decisions and missions, made a scapegoat and ignored and yet she soldiers on proving she has both the intelligence and durability for the job. Usagi also carry’s a secret past, her father (who was also a police officer) was killed and while the killer was jailed there are some facts that don’t math up and Usagi is determined to find the truth behind that fateful day. The killer himself was only 19 when the crime was committed and was part of a violent gang that went too far, called a child monster he was labelled a serial killer and placed in jail. Our killer is called Mariya Kyosuke and is played wonderfully by Shirota Yu. This shows us just how great an actor Shirota Yu is, his character is obviously suffering for some amount of mental instability, he is intelligent and calculating but at the same time unable to comprehend what he has done. Usagi visits him regularly trying to find what his motive for killing her father was but also they seem to have a bizarre relationship occurring. He offers insight into the mind of the criminals Usagi is trying to catch, he threatens to kill himself if she doesn’t visit and she says suicide would be too kind for him but at the same time seems to care about his safety. By the end of the series we learn so much about these two characters and their strange relationship, Mariya is a far more tragic character, he respects Usagi and Usagi understand this even sympathising with him.

Usagi herself is an excellent negotiator, she was top of her class and aced all the tests and challenges placed in front of her to get to this position and she proves herself in the field. She uses her words and confidence to negotiate and understand the hidden tragedy behind why the criminals kidnap or hold hostages. She begins to cement herself better with the team as they begin to understand that she is as good on paper as well as in real life, she knows how to talk to criminals and she has a clever and calculating mind. In fact she understands the criminals more than she does her workmates and seems to have a much better relationship with a deranged imprisoned murderer than any other human. She doesn’t form bonds as easily and she too has to learn how to relate and get along with regular people. This makes for an interesting drama, she may be female but she lacks feminine charms, she is beautiful but in a stern and imposing way. She doesn’t connect emotionally, she is driven with the desire to understand and to reveal the truth and overcome her personal demons.

The show has some great set pieces, kidnapping, hostage situations and bombs, it also has its conspiracies and the fact there is something wrong going on in this police system. Something isn’t right; there is corruption, the police like to make an example out of Usagi rather than allow for their underhanded tactics to be exposed. Episodes end on cliff hangers making you desperate to know what’s going to happen next. You respect Usagi’s determination and fear for her and the situations she places herself in. You want to fully understand the relationship between her and Mariya, the connection and understanding that runs between them. The music is also very good building the tension of the scenes and the genuine sense of dread. It is not a flashy series again like many of the things I love it’s about the characters their drama and struggles amplified by the danger of their jobs. Most of the characters are not in complete control of their own lives, they have their own issues and problems unable to help them selves and yet some how being responsible for the lives of others. It seems easier to save a strangers life than it does to face your own life. Many characters are excellent at their jobs but their personal lives are far messier. I like the dualities in this drama, having a strong empowered women being the central character while you have other characters like the emotional and less empowered new male recruit. This drama plays not only with gender roles but roles within society and also who is more dangerous the criminal or the people that forced him into his crime. Do we trust a corrupted police system or a mad and abused boy? I love this series and am very much looking forward to seeing the second series and watching the mysteries, dualities and conspiracies play out.