AMERICAN HORROR STORY – A NEW TWIST ON GOTHIC HORROR

I had not planned on watching American Horror Story,  the new horror program which premiered on the FX cable network this past Wednesday night at 10 pm. My favorite subgenre of horror is supernatural horror. American Horror Story appeared from the teaser trailers to fall within the horror subgenres of ghost stories, creepy houses and psychological horror, all three of which are my least favorite. Ever since Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel went off the air, I’ve been getting my weekly supernatural horror TV fix from Supernatural on WB/CW.  The new supernatural horror show that I’ve been looking forward the most is Grimm, which NBC has pushed the premier date back to October 28. Still, as a curious and dedicated genre fan I decided to give the first episode of American Horror Story a try.

After watching American Horror Story on FX HD On Demand and I can honestly say it is the most disturbing horror psychological drama that I have ever seen on Television. The lines that the show draws between reality, imagination and the supernatural are so fine that it really leaves you guessing as to which is which. I can't say that I found the show entertaining, but it is so skillfully done - both visually and contextually - that I find myself intrigued enough with the series set-up that I think I’ll be drawn to watching future episodes.

The basic story is about a married couple from Boston, Ben and Vivien Harmon (Dylan McDermott, Connie Britton), who along with their teenage daughter Violet (Taissa Farmiga), move to Los Angeles to get a “fresh start”. It is revealed that Ben cheated on Vivien after she had a miscarriage and was refusing his attentions both emotionally and physically. Ben, a psychiatrist, saw this old mansion for sale on line for a reduced rate and hoped that he could use one of its many rooms as an office to see patients. Even after finding out that the previous owners of the home committed murder/suicide, the Harmon’s buy and move into the remodeled, but still oddly creepy mansion.

All the Harmon family members have deeply disturbing character flaws. Ben Harmon is frustrated by his wife’s lack of sexual attention and her obvious need to take out her anger and grief out on him. Ben’s practice also puts him into emotional turmoil as well, which adds to his dysfunctional behavior towards his family. Vivian Harmon is not only still suffering from the grief of a lost child, but her distrust of her husband still forces her to distance herself from him. Violet Harmon is also troubled, as she feels aliened by both her parents, to the point that she suffers from self-injurious behavior (SIB).

As if their own problems weren’t enough, the Harmon’s home is invaded by a childlike woman who decrees the death of them all. Her mother, Constance (Jessica Lange) arrives to retrieve her daughter Abby (Jamie Brewer), but dispenses disturbing gossip about the gruesome murders committed in their home. Almost as mysteriously, an older woman named Moira (Frances Conroy) shows up at the mansion and declares herself the mansion’s housekeeper. She goes into great detail as to how she was the one to discover the bodies of the previous owners and that she was the one to clean up the mess. For some inexplicable reason, Moira appears to Ben as a very attractive young women and this causes the sexual tension between he and Vivian to increase even further. The first episode concludes with a bizarre sexual encounter between Vivian and someone who she thinks is her husband and a big reveal at the end.

Even for a cable network show, the language and graphic depiction of sexuality are fairly strong. While FX’s American Horror Story still can’t compete with HBO’s True Blood for its explicit nudity or casual use of the “F” word, it still conveys a true adult tone without resorting (thus far) to True Blood’s gruesome gore and blood. The acting is all finely underplayed in the style of Gothic Horror and as there are no stand outs among the cast, it plays nicely as an ensemble piece. I was somewhat displeased with the use of the character Abby, who obviously suffers from Down’s syndrome, and her treatment by her mother Constance, but I’ll give the show some time to elaborate on their relationship before sicking my metal PC police on them. As there are no strong moral characters in the show, it makes it difficult relate to or empathize with any of them. I’m assuming because this is serialized Television and not a one-off film that at least one of the characters will grow from their horrifying experiences as the program progresses. I’ll continue to watch American Horror Story for as long as they continue to exceed my expectations and not overindulge in the disturbing drama, but further explore the supernatural aspects of the show.

TRAILER TUESDAY! DEATH VALLEY: HORROR AND COMEDY MEET ON MTV!

Death Valley is a new half-hour scripted horror-comedy show on MTV. It follows the nightly routine of police officers in California’s San Fernando Valley filmed in the documentary style of "Cops"; only instead of bad boys these cops deal with vampires, zombies and werewolves. Two episodes have aired so far and the violence is as hard-core as any R-rated horror film, so this show is not for the squeamish. Being a fan of Zombieland, Death Valley shares some of that film's satiric elements, if with somewhat less subtly. If you like your horror-comedy loud and low-brow, with lots of gore, then Death Valley is for you and I qualify it as a definite “guilty pleasure”!

Death Valley's characters are:

Captain Frank Dashell is as crazy as he is dim-witted and spouts nonsense passing as instruction to his officers.

Officer Joe Stubeck  is a family man who tries to keep his younger partner Billy in line and often tries too hard to do the right thing.

Officer Billy Pierce is  a tough young cop who enjoys killing zombies a little too much and is as likely to have his mind on food and sex as he is the job at hand.

Officer Kirsten Landry is the rookie of the staff and is a little leery of the Captain who has taken her under his wing. She is tough and capable and seems slightly out of place among the rest of the somewhat crazy officers.

Officer Carla Rinaldi is a streetwise beat cop, who takes her job protecting the innocent from monsters as seriously as she would from ordinary criminals.

Officer John "John-John" Johnson is the young-tuff of the crew and has is partner Rinaldi's back.

Here is the press release for the show from MTV:

                                                                                                             

Viewers will be taken to a place they’ve never been before, with MTV’s new horror-comedy “Death Valley.” The scripted series follows the ‘Undead Task Force’ (UTF), a newly formed division of the LAPD, documentary-style, as they capture the monsters that roam the streets of California’s San Fernando Valley. In a world where vampires, werewolves and zombies live freely, “Death Valley” is a fun, comedic non-stop thrill ride featuring chases, hardcore kills and bizarre encounters.

“Death Valley” stars Tania Raymonde (“Lost”), Bryan Callen (“The Hangover”), Caity Lotz (“Mad Men”), Bryce Johnson (‘Sleeping Dogs Lie”), Texas Battle (“Final Destination 3”, “Dragonball,” “Coach Carter”) and Charlie Sanders (Funny or Die’s “The Big Dog”). “Death Valley” is executive produced by Eric Weinberg, Austin Reading, Julie Kellman Reading and Tim Healy. Spider One is co-executive producer of the series. Tony DiBari is Executive Producer, MTV and Matthew Parillo is MTV executive in charge of production.

Take a look at the trailer for Death Valley!

ALPHAS – SUPER ABILITIES, NOT SUPERPOWERS, ON SYFY

After the recent failed attempts of the superhero shows The Cape and No Ordinary Family, I had very low expectations for SYFY’s new TV program Alphas [Mondays @ 10pm]. The only mistake SYFY has made thus far is labeling Alphas a superhero show in the first place. One of the creators of Alphas, Zak Penn, whose resume includes writing the superhero screenplays for The Incredible Hulk, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Elektra, has made a very conscious effort to make the abilities of each of the Alphas as scientifically believable as possible. As each of the Alphas is introduced, their abilities – not superpowers – are explained and demonstrated, using visual effects to help make the explanation even clearer. Each of the Alphas abilities even has a drawback or weakness, which I think helps add to the realism as well.

Unlike traditional superheroes, the Alphas do belong to a loose knit group, yet they don’t wear any sort of costume or uniform. I also like the fact that although they work in cooperation with the Defense Criminal Investigation Service of the U.S. Department of Defense, they are not officially affiliated with the government. This is reflected in the main character Dr. Lee Rosen, who seems to be a free-spirit scientist, whose hobbies include collecting classic rock on vinyl. Rosen, the tactical and spiritual leader of the Alphas, is not above using the abilities of his Alphas for good, but he is still very protective of them. As a neurologist and psychiatrist, Dr. Rosen is able to not only help the Alphas understand and use their abilities more affectively, but also treat their sometimes fragile emotions and mental states as well.

I like all of the five Alpha characters. Bill Harkin is the least likable of the five, but part of that is because as a former FBI agent, he still needs to be in control and seems to have trouble working with a group of untrained civilians. Gary Bell is the most likable and sympathetic character, but his ability and perceived handicap will restrict this character's physical involvement in future cases. Nina Theroux is the "babe" of the group, but what makes her interesting is her ability makes her able to control every aspect of her life and yet her cool detached exterior appears to be a cover for a deeper unhappiness. Cameron Hicks is interesting because of his complex past, which includes being a former army sniper and minor league baseball pitcher. Unfortunately, the writers have stuck him with the dramatic cliché of being a divorced Dad with an estranged son. Rachel Pirzad's abilities are the least believable but the most useful to the group. Fortunately, her abilities also make her the most vulnerable when she uses them; making her the most dependent on the group for protection.

Surprisingly, I really liked Alphas! I suspect the reason is that I have always liked SF that dealt with human beings that are able to use their minds to extraordinary ends. For me, this has always been the most realistic of science fictional rational for people with "superpowers" and that gives me hope that Alphas could be one “superhero” show that has the ability to last more than one season.

FALLING SKIES - THE SKY'S THE LIMIT?

FALLING SKIES - SCI-FI TV - TNT/SUNDAY/10PM

Falling Skies, the new science fiction alien invasion drama, which premiered on TNT last Sunday night, is the latest in a number of alien invasion movies and TV programs to be released in the past year. Because of this, undoubtedly comparisons will be made to them, but I think Falling Skies thus far manages to put a slightly different spin on the sub-genre.

Alien invasion movies and TV shows have been done extensively since the early 50’s, so I don’t think there is any way to make it completely fresh or original. Going back to H. G. Wells’ original War of the Worlds, on which most modern alien invasion movies and TV shows are still modeled on, Wells used the Martians’ invasion of England as a metaphor for the U.K’s increasing anxiety towards the Europeans and the political tensions that eventually led to the First World War. Just as most of the alien invasion films and TV programs of the 1950s and 1960’s were metaphors for our fear of communism and the cold war in general. Without the fear of either a conventional world war or a worldwide nuclear war, I have to wonder why we are suddenly being inundated by both film and television stories of alien invasion? I believe that since the world wide terrorist attacks on major urban centers, which culminated on the destruction of the Twin Tower buildings in New York City and the loss of over two thousand lives in 2001, there has been an overall fear of sudden invasive attacks on our personal homes. Once again, science fiction affords itself to addressing these anxieties as metaphor; substituting the terrorists for aliens.

Falling Skies immediately separates itself from most alien invasion entertainments, by starting the series six months after the initial invasion. From a practical TV budget standpoint, it makes perfect sense, because you avoid the high cost of producing the large scale special effects to demonstrate the world wide invasion. From a story telling perspective, it lends itself to more intimate character studies and smaller scale physical confrontations – something TV does best – as well as create continuing storylines for multiple characters – something that TV series are tailor made for.

The first two hour pilot episode of Falling Skies tells the story of the result of an alien invasion that first neutralized the world's power grid and then destroyed the combined militaries of the world by focusing its superior technological weaponry on the major cities and population centers. It is inferred that over 90% of the human population is killed within a few days. The program centers on a group of survivors in Boston, who band together just to survive the indentured alien forces. The group calls itself The Second Massachusetts and is a militia lead by the remnants of military men and women who survived the initial invasion.

The main character of Falling Skies is Tom Mason, who being a former university professor of history, is more educated than most heroes. However, he is stuck with the cliché of being a widower looking after his sons alone and also trying to deal with the difficulty of being second in command of his militia unit, as well as looking for one of his sons who has been captured by the aliens. Ann Glass, a pediatrician and strong – but not male-like – female character, seems to be more than just friends with Tom, and may become more of a permanent part of his extended family. In typical modern fiction, the most interesting character thus far is John Pope (which is a terrible name) who is a former gang-leader and natural anarchist and now appears to have been coerced into joining the militia. Each one of these characters represents an archetype: the military leader, the civilian philanthropist and the rebellious outsider.

I’m not too pleased with the start of the first episode as it begins with the group retreating away from Boston for the safer environs of the suburbs. But from the preview of the second episode, it looks like that may be changing for the better. I like the fact that we see at least two examples of the aliens: The Walkers (two-legged robots) and Skitters (multi-limbed insect-like creatures). We’ve also seen that the robots are not of a similar design as the alien skitters and can speculate that the aliens in the motherships may be of a different design altogether. The children are seen being taken as slaves by the aliens and fitted with mind-controlling bio-tech harnesses for reasons unknown, but which seems to indicate a pattern to the aliens’ invasion methods.

The sci-fi tech and world building on Falling Skies is thus far fairly impressive and the promise of more background information being revealed soon will keep me interested for some time. However, like all television series, the success of Falling Skies will ultimately fall on whether we like and empathize with the various characters. So far, I’m finding myself pulling for most of them and I’ll be tuning in again next Sunday night to find out what happens next.