Note: Minor spoilers.

Are you all caught up after the American Horror Story Halloween marathon
last night? That’s right. FX replayed all four episodes back-to-back
including the latest “Halloween: Part 1,” allowing all to relive the
horror before the newest episode airing tomorrow. What happened to the
snarky teenage daughter Violet? Will Moira’s ghost ever be set free? Is
Zachary Quinto going to throw another gaytastic shit-fit?

AHS (yes, it has an acronym now), seems to have found a formula for success. Let’s break it down:

Step 1: Hire some crazy good TV actors. Get them naked and/or disfigured.

This show certainly knows how to pack a punch in talent. Emmy nominated Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights) plays cheated-on housewife Vivien to Dylan McDermott’s (The Practice)
Dr. Ben Harmon. Jessica Lange (holy crap really?!) is their weirdo
neighbor Constance, and who could forget Golden Globe winner Frances
Conroy (Six Feet Under) and Denis O’Hare (psycho vampire king Russell from True Blood).

Can these people act? Fo’ sho. But Horror Story’s specialty
seems to be putting its characters in f’d up situations that involves
them being either super nekkid or super ugly. When co-creator Brad
Falchuk was asked about McDermott’s lack of clothes throughout 89% of
the pilot episode, he sort of just shrugged and said, “The dude’s got a
rockin’ bod. Love me some McDermott.”

Speaking of rockin’ bods, the men in AHS see their housekeeper
Moira as a seductive maid-version of Christina Hendricks, while the
women get a wrinkly-eyed old woman with an awful red wig. Denis O’Hare
also gets the ugly treatment as a character who set fire to his house
and family, charring up about half his body in the process. Oh, the
horror.

Step 2: Put naked and/or disfigured actors in fear inducing situations.

It
turns out, unsurprisingly, that the good doctor Ben Harmon and his
family moved into the scariest house ever, appropriately deemed the
“Murder House” on a city tour of L.A.’s creepiest real estate. Each
episode of AHS features
the members of the Harmon family breathing heavily in dark basements,
anxiously reaching for their cell phones in emergencies, and of course
every horror character’s favorite pastime ““ running away. The Harmons
better get used to lots
of it as the show has already been picked up for season 2. So far
they’ve run from crazy historic murder reenactors, leather-suit rapists,
infant demons, burnt-face man, and more. Oh, and McDermott takes
multiple sweaty runs outside just to show off his rockin’ bod.

Step 3: Throw on some Ryan Murphy glitter!

Brad Falchuk’s partner-in-crime Ryan Murphy (of Glee fame) certainly brings his personality to their new project as AHS just screams sassy. We were lucky enough to catch up with Murphy about his idea for the show: “I had a Glee
dream that Finn showed up at McKinley High in a leather body suit and
impregnated Rachel with demon spawn,” he told us. “But we find out later
that the guy in the body suit was actually Mr. Shue, who was
sleep-walking. They all sang songs from Phantom of the Opera that didn’t really go along with the story. Lea nailed “Think of Me”… it was fantastic. I wanted to see that on television.”

Murphy went on to say that FOX wouldn’t air such an episode of Glee, and thus the idea was pitched to the darker, more adult FX network and became what AHS is today. That said, a musical episode of AHS is in store for later in the season. Lea Michele is slated to guest star and sing every number from Phantom of the Opera.

If you’ve been pleasantly horrified by American Horror Story, be
sure to tune in 10pm Wednesdays on FX. If not, tune in every once in
awhile to catch some bare chested McDermott running away from stuff.

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