Like the previous reviewer, I'd basically given up on American Horror Story. I did not keep up with Roanoke when it was airing, nor am I keeping up with Cult. It's a series that, despite all of its glowing qualities, regularly gets my hopes up only to disappoint me. When the sixth season came to Netflix, I clicked on the first episode more out of boredom than genuine interest; just something mildly October-esque to watch as I ate dinner.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was not agitated by the first episode or the season's documentary/found footage/reality television schtick. I was intrigued, actually. Still, I continued on with caution. This show always does a pretty damn good job of wrapping you up in the new story, characters and setting with its first few episodes, only to pathetically fumble the ball for the rest of the season until the "story" just sort of ends wherever.
It's still got some big flaws, but Roanoke is really one of AHS's better seasons; it's on equal footing with Asylum and Murder House. They actually correct some of the mistakes that have ruined previous seasons. For one thing, the story feels like an actual story. Aside from a tacked-on ending standard to this series (which, even that still fits with the rest of the story), Roanoke is tight and intense and doesn't get as excessively campy as some previous seasons. In fact, here the campiness isn't just for cheap, trashy laughs, but it's all fairly in-character and lightens the mood when needed desperately. I'm also pleased that they tried writing characters this season, and not just vapid, garish, walking cliches who all inevitably become inhuman murderers with no consistent sense of morality. While occasionally over the top, most of these characters at least feel like actual humans. The show also doesn't try to constantly bash you over the head with its messages and symbolism; it saves that for the second half of the season, where such blatant stuff actually adds to this particular story.
This is definitely the most unique use of the AHS cast. Some of them have at least two to three roles, since they are playing characters who are actors playing other characters. The main and secondary characters switch places in the second half of the season. Lady Gaga, Alexandra Daddario and Finn Wittrock — after playing vampire sex gods last season — are all damn-near unrecognizable here as hideous backwoods freaks.
At the very least, this whole season is better than the majority of found footage movies "based on true events" that have come out in the last 10 or 15 years. They do an even better job at capitalizing on that particular gimmick than even last season with it's horror hotel themes.
Although AHS still upholds style over substance, I found Roanoke to be a solid piece of TV. It isn't perfect, but it's far superior to the creative disasters that were last the two or three seasons.
Oh, sweet, bloody effort
Like the previous reviewer, I'd basically given up on American Horror Story. I did not keep up with Roanoke when it was airing, nor am I keeping up with Cult. It's a series that, despite all of its glowing qualities, regularly gets my hopes up only to disappoint me. When the sixth season came to Netflix, I clicked on the first episode more out of boredom than genuine interest; just something mildly October-esque to watch as I ate dinner.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was not agitated by the first episode or the season's documentary/found footage/reality television schtick. I was intrigued, actually. Still, I continued on with caution. This show always does a pretty damn good job of wrapping you up in the new story, characters and setting with its first few episodes, only to pathetically fumble the ball for the rest of the season until the "story" just sort of ends wherever.
It's still got some big flaws, but Roanoke is really one of AHS's better seasons; it's on equal footing with Asylum and Murder House. They actually correct some of the mistakes that have ruined previous seasons. For one thing, the story feels like an actual story. Aside from a tacked-on ending standard to this series (which, even that still fits with the rest of the story), Roanoke is tight and intense and doesn't get as excessively campy as some previous seasons. In fact, here the campiness isn't just for cheap, trashy laughs, but it's all fairly in-character and lightens the mood when needed desperately. I'm also pleased that they tried writing characters this season, and not just vapid, garish, walking cliches who all inevitably become inhuman murderers with no consistent sense of morality. While occasionally over the top, most of these characters at least feel like actual humans. The show also doesn't try to constantly bash you over the head with its messages and symbolism; it saves that for the second half of the season, where such blatant stuff actually adds to this particular story.
This is definitely the most unique use of the AHS cast. Some of them have at least two to three roles, since they are playing characters who are actors playing other characters. The main and secondary characters switch places in the second half of the season. Lady Gaga, Alexandra Daddario and Finn Wittrock — after playing vampire sex gods last season — are all damn-near unrecognizable here as hideous backwoods freaks.
At the very least, this whole season is better than the majority of found footage movies "based on true events" that have come out in the last 10 or 15 years. They do an even better job at capitalizing on that particular gimmick than even last season with it's horror hotel themes.
Although AHS still upholds style over substance, I found Roanoke to be a solid piece of TV. It isn't perfect, but it's far superior to the creative disasters that were last the two or three seasons.