“Pilot” American Horror Story: Murder House (Season 1) Episode 1

American Horror Story’s original debut sets up the tale of a dysfunctional family trying to start over by moving to a new house and asks the question: what are you afraid of?

**CONTENT WARNING: Mentions of cutting, suicide, murder, and a miscarriage**

AHS Series Review

The plan is to go through all of AHS and review the individual episodes, followed by the storyline as a whole at the end of each season. As I go, I’ll rank the seasons. I’ve previously seen half of season 1 and all of seasons 2 and 3, but it’s been many years so my memory is spotty. There will be spoilers in general, but for these first few seasons that I know some later details about, I might post future-episode spoilers in an indicated spot.

Synopsis

The story begins with a scene in the 1970s. Young redheaded twins approach a dilapidated house with the intention of vandalizing it, but are warned by a girl with Down syndrome named Adelaide (“Addy”) that they will die in there. Brushing off her warning, they go through the house, smashing everything until they find some sort of unsettling lab with preserved jars of animals and body parts in the basement. Spooked, they go to leave, but are attacked and murdered, fulfilling Addy’s prophecy.

In the present day, we meet the Harmon family. The wife, Vivien (Connie Britton), has recently had a tragic miscarriage, and in the wake of recovering catches her husband, Ben (Dylon McDermott), having an affair with one of his college students. Instead of breaking up, they decide to start over fresh in Los Angeles with their teenage daughter Violet (Taissa Farmiga), a classic Lydia from Beetlejuice type. They buy what seems to be a lovely, expansive house for a heavily reduced price due to the murder-suicide of the prior owners. Ben plans to open a psychiatric office in the home.

Vivien is startled by an adult Addy showing up inside the house uninvited (and giggling at the reappearance of the redheaded twins, unseen by Vivien) before getting shooed away by Addy’s mother, Constance (Jessica Lange). Constance explains they’re the neighbors and that Addy always comes to this house. Constance shows a severe neglect for boundaries, setting Vivien on edge, but eventually leaves.

Ben sees a new patient, Tate (Evan Peters), who disturbs Ben with tales of fantasies about murdering people at his school. Tate bonds with Violet over stories of self-harm before Ben kicks him out and forbids her to talk to him, which of course just makes her want Tate even more. When Tate finds out she’s being bullied at school, he helps her scare the lead bully in a prank that goes a little too far, freaking Violet out in the process.

Ben starts sleepwalking and seems drawn to fire during these times. A man with burn scars (Denis O’Hare) warns him that he used to live there and was influenced by voices in the house to set the house on fire, killing his wife and two daughters.

Vivien meets a woman named Moira, who to her and Violet, appears like a matronly old woman with a blind eye (Francis Conroy) but to Ben appears as a sexy young woman (Alexandra Breckenridge). Moira convinces Vivien to hire her as a housekeeper, but in private she continuously tries to seduce Ben. At one point, Moira runs into Constance and an icy exchange passes between them, ending with Constance telling her “Don’t make me kill you again.”

Ben and Vivien have a big argument about how they haven’t had sex in a year and why, followed by angry sex. Later that evening, a man appears in the bedroom doorway wearing a full body latex gimp suit that was found in the house earlier and thought to be thrown out. Vivien assumes it’s Ben and agrees to have sex again, although we see that Ben is elsewhere at the time. Sometime later, Vivien learns she is pregnant, which begs the unspoken question, who was the man in the suit, and is he or Ben the father?

The House and Its Ghosts

It’s clear from the beginning that this house is haunted. We know that the twins are ghosts, as well as Moira, and some vague, creepy figure was spotted during the prank on Violet’s bully. There’s also the man in the latex suit, and whoever killed the twins in the past. So far no one has deliberately tried to harm any of the main characters, but Moira obviously has some agenda for how aggressively she tries to seduce Ben, and the latex suit man wasn’t exactly forthright with Vivien before tricking her into consent (at least, at first, though she seemed to be aware that something was wrong by the end). The burned man also mentioned his wife and two daughters died in the house, so maybe they’ll show up at some point. Minor spoiler, but I recall from my previous watch that the last set of owners definitely show up later.

The Family

Things are not going great with this family. The parents are barely holding their relationship together, and neither seem to notice that their daughter is cutting herself—even though her dad is literally a psychiatrist! At least they’re trying to put in the work to get back on track with each other, but I doubt it’s going to go well now that they’re living in a haunted house and Ben has been specifically warned that he’ll be corrupted the longer he stays here until he’ll inevitably be convinced to murder his family.

The Neighbors

Addy seems to have some sort of connection to the house. I don’t think she’s a ghost, though I see now where the way some things were phrased may have seemed like she is (specifically how she always finds a way into the house), so now I’m second guessing that assumption. However, she at least has aged since the scene in the seventies, so if she is a ghost, it was probably something that happened recently. Jessica Lange is the best casting of the show, arriving on the scene with outstanding presence. She managed to say super derogatory things but in a way where you were captivated by her, even though you don’t like or trust her. She clearly knows a lot about the house that she isn’t bothering to share with the family, and she has a history with Moira that I’m sure will be explored more over time. 

The Bullies

Violet’s school bullies might become a bigger problem now that one, Leah, was attacked in Violet’s basement, resulting in her face getting scratched. Leah was absurdly confrontational about a new student making an innocent mistake. Maybe she should make an appointment with Ben because she clearly needs therapy, especially now.

The Theme

Often throughout the episode, the concept of fear is brought up. Ben mentions the theory that myths/religious beliefs are developed as a way to handle fear. Violet is said to not be afraid of anything, until she becomes scared during the prank, much to Tate’s disappointment. Vivien confides in Violet that she’s scared of everything now because of all the bad things that have happened over time. Of course, this is a show literally called American Horror Story, so it’s interesting to see them focus so heavily at the start on the family’s views on fears and personal fears they hold on to.

Spoilers 

I don’t remember everything about the rest of the season, especially since I didn’t finish it, but based on a few things I do recall, I noticed some interesting details. Tate comes right out of the gate talking about his fantasies of murdering fellow students and teachers. This is heavy foreshadowing—not of something that will happen, but something he has already done. Also, the first thing Tate says to Violet is to “correct” her on how to cut herself if she plans to actually kill herself. I remember Violet will have a suicide attempt at some point, so it’s interesting to see her already learning the “right way” this early.

Conclusion

I didn’t finish this season the first time because I didn’t really like it at the time, but watching it again now I found it to be very well designed. I see hints of things that will play out later, and the filmmaking is deliberately choppy to put you at unease. It isn’t afraid to get mature with sex and violence, which I think was too dark for me in my younger days, but now I’m watching with the understanding that this is how this season is meant to be, and it’s better than I gave it credit for so far. I’m curious to see where this goes and to fill in the gaps that I can’t remember or never watched far enough to see for myself. 

Score: 7/10

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