American Horror Story Repeated The Same Classic Horror Twist 4 Times (But It Only Worked Twice) (2024)

While American Horror Story might be known for its wild twists, the show has surprisingly tried to pull off the same revelation no less than four times in its 12 seasons. Every season of American Horror Story is connected, but this doesn’t stop them from regularly surprising audiences with unpredictable twists. Since the series began in 2011, American Horror Story has been full of outlandish shocks, from Apocalypse killing off most of its main characters after a few episodes to Delicate’s wild ending. Not all of these revelations work, but they can’t be faulted for lacking ambitious weirdness.

At least, the show’s early seasons couldn’t be accused of relying on familiar tropes. As the series continued, American Horror Story started repeating a handful of twists that worked in earlier outings to diminishing returns. Delicate’s finale might be the lowest-rated episode of American Horror Story so far, but the outing at least managed to avoid repeating the same overly familiar twist for a fifth time in the show’s twelve seasons. As surprising as it may seem, seasons 1, 5, 6, and 9 of American Horror Story all attempted the same twist, and only two of them succeeded.

American Horror Story Revealed Major Characters Were Ghosts Four Times

Hotel, Roanoke, Murder House, And 1984 Used The Same Twist

The revelation that the protagonist has been dead all along dates back to Ambrose Bierce’s legendary short story “An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge,” and the twist is still a killer reveal if handled well. Alongside a handful of other less famous movies, The Sixth Sense proves that this twist ending can shock audiences despite its familiarity. However, this doesn’t excuse the anthology series revisiting the plot in a third of its outings. No less than four seasons of American Horror Story revealed some of the season’s characters were actually dead all along and trapped in the season’s main location.

Some recurring tropes in American Horror Story work since each season reinvents them, but this twist has never been as impactful as it was in season 1. Early on, Murder House revealed that the eponymous location was some sort of purgatory for lost souls who perished therein. As the season was nearing its chaotic finale, the show doubled down by revealing that Taissa Farming’s Violet had been dead all along. This twist was genuinely surprising, but Hotel and Roanoke revisiting the same surprise felt tacked on and unoriginal. Both seasons lacked the invention of Murder House but shared its knotty plotting.

This Classic Horror Twist Succeeded In Murder House

American Horror Story’s First Season Was Genuinely Surprising

Farmiga’s character was a compelling heroine, so it was tragic when Murder House revealed Violet had been dead all along. The series treated her plight seriously, making Murder House one of the best seasons of American Horror Story. Her relationship with Tate undeniably slid into melodrama at times, and the entire subplot had an air of campy soap opera about it. However, this overblown emotion fit the twisted Romeo and Juliet retelling that the series was aiming for and, while it was tasteless for the series to romanticize Tate's murderous rage and Violet’s self-destructive impulses, the storyline still worked.

Evan Peters and Farmiga had chemistry to spare and their tragic inability to be together felt like a fitting fate after Tate’s misdeeds. Since this was American Horror Story’s debut season, few viewers were likely to guess the twist early on. Violet discovering her own body was an inspired, unsettling way to reveal she was dead, a visceral shock to the system that ironically breathed new life into a hoary old horror cliché. Crucially, Murder House didn’t end with this revelation, meaning the twist didn’t feel like a cheap attempt to surprise. Instead, Tate and Violet still received a satisfying ending.

Hotel and Roanoke Both Struggled With The Same Problem

Unlikable Characters Made These Middling Outings A Slog

The reason that American Horror Story’s next two iterations of this twist failed was that Hotel and Roanoke tried to do too much with too many characters. Both seasons were overstuffed with uniquely unpleasant characters, which meant that the eventual revelation that many of the villains were already dead was almost meaningless. In theory, this should have been a gut punch. Instead, it barely impacted the plot at all. American Horror Story: Hotel's villains couldn’t operate outside the titular haunted space, but that detail scarcely mattered when most of the season’s events took place within its four walls.

Roanoke’s revelation was a little different since the found footage-centric season revealed that all its characters had died, but didn’t explain when. As a result, this was less of a spin on the classic trope and more of a tease but, again, it was hard to discern its purpose. Roanoke announcing that all but one character would die soon was pointless since viewers already knew the show they were watching. American Horror Story rarely left many survivors behind, so Roanoke announcing that almost everyone was doomed early on only made things more predictable in a middling season with few shocks.

American Horror Story: 1984’s Twist Was A Return To Form

1984 Justified Its Big Twist

In contrast, American Horror Story season 8, 1984, pulled off this twist with aplomb. This slasher story was stuck in the ‘80s in terms of its style and aesthetic, so it was clever and fitting when 1984 revealed the characters were literally stuck in the ‘80s themselves. The story of Camp Redwood was more inventive than Hotel and Roanoke’s plots, despite American Horror Story: 1984’s misguided moments. Furthermore, the fact that the season was indebted to classic summer camp slashers like Friday the 13th, The Burning, and Sleepaway Camp made its campfire story-style twist all the more effective.

1984 Highlighted American Horror Story’s Future Problem

The Show’s Silly Side Is Its Greatest Strength

On the one hand, 1984’s campy, goofy, over-the-top style reinvigorated a tired series after the disastrously grim Apocalypse. On the other hand, the season almost turned the series into Scream Queens by being so silly and outlandish. Later seasons couldn’t replicate this tone without becoming ludicrous, as evidenced by Double Feature and the finale of American Horror Story: Delicate. That ending tried to bring 1984’s level of silliness into a slower, more self-serious story and ended up earning the ire of critics and fans alike online. Thus, American Horror Story is now unsure of its ideal tone going forward.

American Horror Story

Horror

Anthology

Thriller

Sci-Fi

Fantasy

Mystery

Where to Watch

*Availability in US

• stream
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Not available

Cast

Denis O'Hare , Emma Roberts , Dylan McDermott , Joseph Fiennes , Gabourey Sidibe , Taissa Farmiga , James Cromwell , Angela Bassett , Zachary Quinto , Sarah Paulson , Jamie Brewer , Evan Peters , Lizzie Brochere , Kathy Bates , Jessica Lange , Michael Chiklis , Connie Britton , Lily Rabe , Franches Conroy

Release Date

October 17, 2012

Seasons

12

Network

FX

Streaming Service(s)

Hulu , Disney+ , Netflix

Franchise(s)

American Horror Story

Writers

Brad Falchuk , Ryan Murphy