I am an avid American Horror Story fan. I love everything about it- the horror, the gore, the acting, etc. Every season is different and that's what I love most. You can literally become a fan at any point and be okay because each season has a different premise, despite using the same actors over and over again. Here are, in my opinion, the appropriate rankings for AHS seasons, from worst to best.
WORST: Season 4: Freak Show
Now, before anybody goes and gets mad at me, all American Horror Story seasons are good. Some are just better than others. A prime example is the worst season on my list: Freak Show.
Freak Show was the Season 4 premise and it was pretty good- at first. It takes place in the 1950's in Orlando and is centered around a freak show. It goes into most of the character's backstories about how they came to be part of the freak show, but that's not the part I didn't like.
I didn't like how (spoiler alert!!!) 95% of the cast is dead by the end. It just didn't make sense. It was Grey's Anatomy level cruelty in terms of killing off great characters.
Also, if you're gonna have your characters be musical, don't pick songs for them to sing that are after the time period given. Nirvana and Lana Del Rey are not 50's icons- let me tell you.
Other than that, not a terrible season. I loved everything surrounding Twisty the clown, NPH made a lovely and terrifying guest cameo (along with his boo thing David Burtka for a brief spell), and it had all my favorite cast members in it (with the exception of the best season of all which I will get to later).
NEXT: Season 6: Roanoke
Now this is hard because I'm only 5 episodes in. This season is actually shaping up to be quite good, and probably one of the best. However, because I don't have much to go on in terms of content, there isn't much I can say about whether or not it's good.
First- the whole "story within a story"- the first 5 episodes are told like some sort of crime documentary type storyline- like you'd see on Investigation Discover (see my AHS6 Review article for more info). I really like that aspect- but it's not ideal. Leave that style to the actual channels who do that type of television for a living, give us true American Horror, please.
I do, however, really like the idea of the Lost Colony. AHS creators kept their lips shut tight up until the reveal on what the them was (though we did find out it was indeed leaked).
I'm really hoping by the time it's finished airing it will move further up my list, but we'll just have to wait and see.
NEXT: Season 3: Coven
Now, this was a hard decision. It was deciding between having Coven or Asylum here, and based on a real good horror genre, I had to put Coven here.
Coven was great- it had a great storyline, a fantastic cast, and a really interesting overall aura of spookiness. However- other than Evan Peters' character basically being a zombie, there wasn't much horror to it that I can recall. It's American Horror Story, I think there needed to be more.
NEXT: Season 5: Hotel
I loved almost everything about Hotel: I thought Gaga was pure magic, the whole Hotel being full of ghosts and alluding to Murder House, Evan Peters' parallel to H.H. Holmes, etc. I loved Wes Bentley being added to the crazy cast, Matt Bomer is beautiful and sexy as hell, and it really was a solid season.
However, as they all do, it had its flaws.
First- the "virus"- which is basically just vampirism. Now, don't get me wrong, I love a good vampire subplot or even overall plot (Twilight was once my favorite book/movie franchise and I've loved The Vampire Diaries since it premiered when I was 14), but I jus thought it was unnecessary. Granted, if it wasn't in there it would've compared too much to Murder House, but I would've been okay with that.
Really, that wasn't even a major issue. It drove the plot along and made things interesting- but what I really loved was the Ten Commandments killer. Then, when you find out that James March (spoiler) wants Wes Bentley's character to finish the job? It's just perfection. It gave me a very strong Se7en vibe, which is one of my all-time favorite horror movies.
I also think this is one of Evan Peter's best characters overall. The boy does some great characters, but this was fab. He was so evil and cunning and maniacal, and Evan played him perfectly.
NEXT: Season 2: Asylum
Asylum was everything good about AHS: It was scary as hell, a pretty darn good story line, and it was overall a very entertaining season. I love the idea of a mental institution. I loved Jessica Lange as a corrupt nun, and the allusion to the doctor and the Nazis. I thought it really was the start of good things for Sarah Paulson, though she really wouldn't become a breakout in the AHS world until Coven. This season had my favorite Jessica Lange character, although her Coven character is a very, very close second.
It was weird and creepy and really makes you think about what mental asylums back in the day were really like. However, it also had issues.
The aliens. Good lord these were weird as hell. Evan Peter's wife or whatever gets abducted by them, and then has his baby? It's all very confusing and very bizarre. In my opinion, they should've just stuck to the overall plot of the asylum and Bloody Face and left the aliens out of it. They could've made a whole separate season out of the alien subplot and it probably would be pretty good.
BEST: Season 1: Murder House
Now, I'm a firm believer in first seasons of TV shows. In most of my favorite shows, the first season is always my favorite. Lots of people would argue differently because shows need to find their tone, they don't always get picked up so of course, the first season is good, etc. I disagree. Most first seasons are pretty great and that's why shows continue for years. AHS Murder House is absolutely no exception to my theory.
It has everything- a haunted house, the best Evan Peters character I've ever seen in all 6 seasons, Connie freaking Britton, and ghosts. Each ghost is not only cool and interesting, but all of their stories eventually get told as to how they ended up in the Murder House, which I really like. I also (again) LOVE TATE. Evan Peter's character Tate is fantastic and no one can play him better than Evan. I also love his character's relationship with Taissa Farmiga's character throughout the season.
This first season is the season I always go back to, and the season I will always love the most. It started off strong, and it continues to scare the heck out of everybody year after year.
I hope American Horror Story continues scaring for a very long time.