September 26th

American Horror Story 1.03: "Murder House" (2011) directed by Bradley Buecker
Now ghosts are just waltzing into the house without a thought.  Nora, one of the original owners, stops by and is mistaken for an interested home buyer.  Other than weird reactions to modern appliances -- has she never haunted anyone else in the house before? -- one wouldn't be able to tell she's no longer alive.  Hayden also shows up and begins to go all psycho-girlfriend on poor Ben, telling him she didn't go through with the abortion and she is going to tell Vivien everything.  I was quite surprised when Burned Guy killed her with a shovel.  Nice performance from Dylan McDermott freaking out order the murder.  Dig the reveal of the maid's skeleton and her sadness when cement is poured over the grave.  It seems getting your remains off the house's property is the only way to be free of it.


American Horror Story 1.04: "Halloween, Part 1" (2011) directed by David Semel
And now the ghosts of the just-prior owners of the house stop by to decorate the place for Halloween.  If the entire Earth had the same power as this one little house, we'd be wadding knee-deep in spirits all day.  Walking to the store would be like trudging through deep snow, except more ectoplasmy.  I was again quite surprised when poor Addie is creamed by a car.  Her mother's insistence that she die on the house's lawn means she'll be eternally bothering the home owners, but it's also interesting to learn that the ghost process of the house has some sort of boundary and rules.  Hopefully, they'll explain in the future why Constance knows so much about the rules of the place without, apparently, being a ghost herself.


American Horror Story 1.05: "Halloween, Part 2" (2011) directed by David Semel
The show's getting to that point where the characters' lack of understanding of their situation is getting annoying.  Hayden coughing up body bits and leaving a huge pool of blood in the tub is shrugged off by Ben and Vivien.  A ghost with way-too-real gore on his face coughs up blood and is ignored by Violet, someone who has actually seen ghosts in the basement.  All of the ghosts all but announce that they're dead by the way they talk about themselves, but this goes unnoticed.  If the intention is to get the audience frustrated with the density of the characters, they are well on their way.