Each season of American Horror Story has its fair share of bone-chilling moments, but there are seven across the 11-season franchise that stand out above the rest.
Created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, the anthology series reinvents itself each year with a new horrifying setting and sinister characters in grisly situations, many of which are actually based on or inspired by real people and tragedies.
From vampires to witches and killer clowns galore, AHS truly is the stuff of nightmares.
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UNILAD has put together a list of the most unsettling moments from the franchise, ranked from downright horrific to 'the most disturbing of them all'...
7. Cult - 'Holes'
Murphy and Falchuk seemingly decided to base the 2017 instalment around the 2016 US presidential election, which marked Donald Trump’s rise to power in the political world, an American horror story in itself.
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Cult is unique in that it doesn't feature any of the supernatural elements that have become standard in AHS, but what it does have is a tyrannical internet troll called Kai Anderson - the type who’d probably have a podcast calling for straight men’s rights and about his hatred for ‘woke’ things like the Barbie movie. He becomes a prolific political media personality and leads a cult as a councilman and preys on the weakness of others, including newsreader Beverly Hope (Adina Porter).
The pair team up as part of Kai’s Manson-style cult Fear Is Truth (FIT) along with a dozen others. The Manson-inspired cult would wear clown costumes and go on killing sprees to spread a wave of political chaos.
Cult shows us that the real world is just as scary as the supernatural, especially some people’s attitudes to the news and the willingness to put rage-filled men on a pedestal.
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But there’s the moment in the episode 'Holes' - which is a brutal watch for anyone with trypophobia - where we find out what Kai did to his parents, and it turns out he’s been keeping their corpses in their room after pouring lye over their bodies and leaving them in bed to decompose in an makeshift mausoleum. DISGUSTING.
6. Freak Show - 'Massacres and Matinees'
The fourth instalment is set in 1952 Jupiter, Florida, and tells the story of one of the last remaining freak shows in the US.
The season is remembered mostly for Sarah Paulson’s spectacular performance as conjoined twins Bette and Dot Tattler and the terrifying Twisty the Clown costume worn by John Carroll Lynch.
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Although the moment Twisty takes off his mask could top this list - or any of his numerous vicious, knife murder scenes - Freak Show wouldn’t be the same without Finn Wittrock’s stint as Dandy Mott. The spoiled and immature brat becomes Twisty’s protégé before deciding to become a serial killer himself and kills his own mother, Gloria Mott, played by AHS legend Frances Conroy.
Dandy and Twisty come face-to-face in 'Massacres and Matinees' after Gloria hires the severely disgraced children’s entertainer to amuse her adult son, who is in a huff because he wants to join Elsa Mars (Jessica Lange) and her troupe because he had no physical differences that would make him considered a ‘freak’.
After seeing Twisty ruthlessly stab people to death, chop off heads and cut throats, Gloria brings him home to be her son’s ‘new friend’, which ultimately becomes a match made in hell.
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Twisty appears to be based on one of the world’s most frightening killers, John Wayne Gacy, who was otherwise known as the 'Killer Clown'.
Seeing Dandy and Twisty together alone in the gargantuan room in the Mott makes you wonder who we should be scared of the most and knowing how the season turns out, it may not be the killer clown…
5. Murder House - 'Halloween (Part 2)'
The inaugural season of the AHS franchise completely reinvented the haunted house trope, with breathtaking performances by future series regulars including Jessica Lange, Taissa Farmiga, Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters.
Murder House, which aired in 2011, was named after a Los Angeles dwelling which got its nickname because of its sinister history.
In the show, the house is also haunted by the ghosts of former residents and their victims. If the Rubber Man, who stalks its hallways and rooms wearing shiny black latex wasn’t enough to keep you up at the night, the episode where we learn the truth about one of the house’s ghosts, Tate Langdon (Peters) is utterly shocking and disturbing, because of its connection to yet another real-life tragedy.
Tate, a 17-year-old former high school student, falls in love with the Harmon family’s teen daughter, Violet (Farmiga). Although he seems sweet and their post Twilight human-meets-supernatural-creature romance is oddly cute at times, we learn that Tate has a dark side which is so dark that he’ll eventually father the antichrist.
Violet is left confused when a group of blood-soaked teens keep harassing Tate on Halloween night, when the ghosts in the Murder House are free to leave. The teens have a very good reason to hold a grudge against him, since we learn in 'Halloween (Part 2)' that is set in 1994, five years before a similar case would shock the world, Tate committed a mass shooting at Westfield High school, taking the lives of 15 students. The teens are revealed to be the ghosts of his victims who were all from different cliques, including jocks and cheerleaders, which is a very clear reference to the 1999 Columbine Massacre. And in true Ryan Murphy fashion, we see Tate shoot each student in the school’s library. It cannot be a coincidence that 10 of the 12 students killed at Columbine High School on 20 April, 1999, were also murdered in their school’s library.
4. Coven - 'The Replacements'
Real-life monstrosities are referenced throughout AHS and Coven is no exception. The third season is mostly set in 2013 New Orleans but also features flashbacks to slavery.
This sassy and savage coven of witches led by The Supreme, Fiona Goode (Jessica Lange) and her daughter, Cordelia (Sarah Paulson) and their feud with the local voodoo witches, led by Marie Laveau (Angela Bassett) is the focus.
Slave owner and serial killer Madame Delphine LaLaurie (Kathy Bates), who was buried alive many decades before, is dug up in 'Bitchcraft'.
It's in this episode where we see flashbacks to when LaLaurie - who is based on a real woman of the same name - tortured slaves to preserve her youth by smearing their blood on her face. She sends one of her slaves, Bastien (Ameer Baraka), to her torture and places a hollowed out bull heard on top of his head because she wants her own Minotaur, a Greek mythological character.
There are also several horrific instances of sexual assault in Coven, including the rape of Madison (Emma Roberts) at a frat party. The rapists are pursued by Kyle (Evan Peters), who is one of the few ‘goodies’ he plays. Kyle is killed in the chase but is revived and slowly tries to get his old life back, while being in a zombie-like state, including being reunited with his mother.
But we soon learn that this good samaritan would be better off with the coven as he is a victim of incestuous sexual abuse by her in the episode 'The Replacements', which is by far one of the most sickening scenes in AHS.
3. NYC - 'Requiem 1981/1987 Part Two'
As we was for Kim Kardashian’s AHS debut in Delicate next month, let’s take a look back at the most recent season, NYC. The eleventh instalment is set in the Big Apple and focuses on a number of grotesque killings involving gay men amid the emergence of a new virus, which we come to find out is HIV.
Unfortunately, this season doesn't seem to have garnered the same level of attention compared to previous ones - and the fact it aired one month after Ryan Murphy’s chilling series about Jeffrey Dahmer became a massive phenomenon could explain why. Perhaps people had seen enough of people dying on screen and NYC has its fair share of bloody mutilated bodies courtesy of Mr. Whitely (Jeff Hiller).
Led by Russell Tovey and Joe Mantello as an NYPD detective and a reporter respectively, the pair investigate the strange happenings in the City.
Season finales in AHS are usually not very good, however, NYC is gut-wrenching and tragic, as it follows the deaths of several characters due to AIDS and the funerals for all the gay men who have died.
During a cascade of death scenes, one moment in 'Requiem 1981/1987 Part Two' shows a lineup of men dressed in black suits falling into a grave one-by-one dug by Big Daddy (Matthew William Bishop). Many people turned a blind eye about HIV/AIDS because of the group it affected the most, and thousands died as a result.
2. Hotel - 'Checking In'
Hotel marked the franchise debut of Lady Gaga as the deliciously wicked vampire, the Countess. Set at Hotel Cortez - which is said to be inspired by the Cecil Hotel - it wouldn’t be a complete list of disturbing AHS moments without mentioning that scene in the season’s first episode which has left us giving all drills the side-eye ever since...
Here we have yet another twisted and terrific performance by Evan Peters, this time as James Patrick March, the hotel’s architect and resident serial killer, who even hosts a dinner party with real-life and well-known murderers in one episode. We’re even treated to seeing the mania after children at school become vampires and start biting and slicing each other and their teachers.
Although all AHS incarnations start with a bang, that is an understatement when it comes to Hotel. Not only do we see the Countess and Donovan (Matt Bomer) engage in a foursome before killing and savouring the blood of their guests, in 'Checking In', we see the rape of heroin addict Gabriel (Max Greenfield) by the Addiction Demon, a grotesque pale white and greasy figure with a strap-on drill-bit dildo that it uses to assault its victims. It’s one of the most disturbing and horrific scenes in the franchise and left us all screaming: "WTF is that thing doing to Schmidt from New Girl?!"
The Addiction Demon, unfortunately, makes numerous appearances throughout the season as it feeds on victims after being brought to existence by Sally (Sarah Paulson) and at the other drug addicts at the hotel.
1. Asylum - 'Nor’easter'
Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk struck gold with this season, which is by far the most bonkers, thrilling, and disturbing of them all - with all the darkly funny moments fans have come to expect from AHS.
Almost every horror trope is explored in Asylum, but with a unique twist. Taking place in 1964 at the fictional mental institution Briarcliff Manor which is run by sadistic nuns, there’s a serial killer on the loose, gas lighting, demonic possession, exorcisms, aliens, Nazis and a jolly musical number that not even Glee could pull off.
The third episode, 'Nor’easter' takes place during a storm that hits the asylum leading to chaos. One inmate, Shelley (Chloë Sevigny) who dreams of running away to Paris where she can be free but as she and the other patients plan their escape, she's stopped by Dr. Arthur Arden (James Cromwell), the head physician at Briarcliff and a Nazi formerly known as Hans Grüper who conducted violent, anaesthesia-free mutilations on his victims at concentration camps.
The most blood-chilling moment in the entire series happens when Shelley, who has been ‘diagnosed’ with nymphomania, becomes one of Dr. Arden’s victims. He despises promiscuous women and when he stops her from escaping the institution, he brings Shelley to his office and tries to rape her. When she laughs at his unexpected small penis, he knocks her unconscious and drags her to a secluded part of the asylum to experiment on her.
The true extent of Dr. Arden’s brutal nature is revealed in the next episode, 'I Am Anne Frank: Part One', not only do we learn Dr. Arden’s true identity, we see that he has amputated Shelley’s legs, injected her with a substance and left her face covered in boils, burns and scars. She’s in so much pain she begs a woman claiming to be Anne Frank (hence the episode’s title) to kill her. It’s an outstanding performance by Sevigny and one that will stay with fans forever.
Topics: Film and TV, American Horror Story, Ryan Murphy
Gregory Robinson