The second installation of “American Horror Story”, known as “Asylum”, is just as wicked, devilish and addicting as the first entry. For season one veterans, this is an excellent, twisted send-up from last year’s tale. Newcomers will no doubt be shocked at what they witness as nothing done on this show has ever been attempted before.
This time around we are taken to Briarcliff Manor, an insane asylum located in what seems to be western Massachusetts. Don’t expect any over-the-top accents to acknowledge the location. That is one thing the show doesn’t harp on at all really. Besides for a license plate which bears the state’s name, the show makes no attempt to designate the asylum on the map. This is actually a unique perspective in show producing, as most series’ want to take advantage of a certain setting.
The viewer is presented to a modern couple whose honeymoon consists of fornicating in the top twelve most haunted places in America, an interracial couple from the sixties who apparently were victims of an alien abduction, and a mental institution run by a woman so malevolent it will make your head spin. Just the tip of the iceberg this is; can’t forget the aliens can we?
To say this show isn’t expertly written would be a sin. The fact that a show could contain so much subject matter in a mere forty-three minutes is shocking in and of its self. Another confession that’ll have you strapped to the asylum’s examining table would be saying the acting is weak. While a few of the guest actors (including Adam Levine of Maroon 5 fame) are lacking in certain aspects, the leads will make you forget all about them with their performances.
In any horror story, it is important for an actor to not just be able to yell and scream (here’s looking at you Paranormal Activity), but to be able to strike fear, anguish and convey an overall sense of tension and strain in the audience. “Asylum” does this to the nth degree and won’t make you forget it. While watching one can’t help but lose track of time during the running of the show and be forced to come back to reality when the commercials appear. The fact that this review hasn’t gone on for paragraphs about the ramifications behind what an alien story in a horror story actually means, just proves to show that “American Horror Story: Asylum” is so far ahead of the curve it’s scary.