American Horror Story: Hotel Chapter 1 “Checking In” Review

AMERICAN HORROR STORY: HOTEL — Pictured: Lady Gaga as The Countess. CR: Frank Ockenfels/FX

 Alex Yarde looked through the peephole at American Horror Story: Hotel debut episode arring October 7th on FX! 

“Just call Housekeeping.” – The Countess

Warning some episode spoilers ahead:

From the opening shot of a pair of tragically hip and hopelessly starsturck Swedish tourist gal pals checking in, complaining about the lack of Wi-Fi (the hotel is a dead zone) and their Yelp reviews of the by gone area opulence of the dark and Deco Hotel Cortez, to the on the nose rendition of the Eagles seminal hit Hotel Califorina ramping up as the screen fades to black, American Horror Story: Hotel season premier “Checking In” coils it’s horror anthology muscles like a hungry predator, grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go! The co-creative and writing team of Ryan Murphy & Brad Falchuk take no time to get back to the basics of what makes AHS such a guilty pleasure.

AMERICAN HORROR STORY: HOTEL — Pictured: Wes Bentley as John Lowe. CR: Frank Ockenfels/FX

Our protagonist, a young L.A. Detective and family man John Lowe (Wes Bentley) burdened with a family tragedy, his marriage to  nervous Beverly Hills Doctor Alex (a terrifically underplayed Chloe Svengy) is on the rocks. The couples only joy is their precocious young daughter Scarlett (a plucky Shree Grace Crooks) who Det. Lowe facetimes with nightly reading Little Women before she goes to bed from his nearly empty downtown precinct. Det. Lowe is investigating a chain of grisly murders that he’s obsessed with solving and an anonymous tip points him to the enigmatic and decadent Hotel Cortez. It’s a common thread of American Horror Story, ordinary family drawn into a crucible of extraordinary circumstances. But there isn’t a slow burn here. One of the first gruesome victims our Detective encounters, credited only as “Man Nailed to Headboard” survives the removal of both eyes and his tongue. And as events spiral out of control and the body count

AMERICAN HORROR STORY: HOTEL — Pictured: Shree Crooks as Scarlett Lowe. CR: Frank Ockenfels/FX

quickly begins to rise, that’s not even in the top five horrible things that happen in this episode! The American Horror Story anthology series has always been a bloody business and never been a show for the faint of heart but a trigger warning over a graphic sexual assault may be in order.

It must be said that production designer Mark Worthington and his team gives Writer and Director Ryan Murphy lots to work with as Hotel Cortez is quite an achievement. The impressive continuity and sense of place gives license to pan unbroken shots lovingly showing off the magnificent Art Deco lobby, rich carpets, sweeping up and down the confusing labernyth of hallways, staircases and ornate doors. The Cortez Hotel is a living thing, an evil thing, and we are made voyeuristic co-conspirators of the debauchery and mayhem that transpires between its walls and behind closed doors through the oppressive sense of constant surveillance and the fish eye lens perspective, we the viewers are often given.

This instalment seems to answer the question of “What would happen if The Shining and The Hunger sent their illegitimate creepy albino love children to a strict Swiss boarding school?” There are the touchstones of loss, addiction, polymorphous sex, illicit drugs and tons of sado masochistic overtones that the series always loves to dally with, a smattering of Judeo Christian and occult overtones and the ocular metaphors abound. Series staple Kathy Bates particularly surly front desk clerk named “Iris” the first crime scene featuring Det.Lowes’ unfortunate “Head board man” is adorned with candles & family photos with the eyes blackened out. The Hotels’ small staff are all appropriately bizzare. Hotel Maid Miss Evers (an unhinged Mare Winningham) taking pride in the various bodily fluids she can scrub out of carpets and sheets. Bellhop Liz Taylor (a bald Denis O Hare) drag homage to Cleopatra with his heavy eyeliner hint that employees are pulled from faded Old Hollywood and trapped in amber.

AMERICAN HORROR STORY: HOTEL — Pictured: Denis O’Hare as Liz Taylor. CR: Frank Ockenfels/Fx

Many of the cast regulars have yet to appear like Angela Basset, Finn Whittrock & Even Peters but Sarah Paulson as a strung out heroin addict with a bad perm Sally (think Daryl Hannah’s “Priss” from Blade Runner) manages to be both utterly menacing and

AMERICAN HORROR STORY: HOTEL — Pictured: Sarah Paulson as Sally. CR: Frank Ockenfels/FX

somehow sympathetic at the same time. I always enjoy how the ensemble cast is utilized and the veterans and newcomers alike have a wonderful playground to explore with the Cortez this time around. I found myself both disturbed and compelled to watch as the mystery of why these things are happening at The Cortez and who the players truly are. It really feels like my favorite, the Season One AHS: Murder House where you had to guess which characters were dead or alive or some kind of weird manifestation of the Hotels years of sin. The series standard time jumping narrative shedding light on characters motivations, borrowing the device from season one AHS:Murder House is one I always enjoyed and was used to great effect here.

The stand outs so far being the Penthouse dwelling Donovan

(Matt Bomber) and “The Countess” (an impressive acting debut for Lady Gaga) they strut their stuff in Haute Couture and Gaga

AMERICAN HORROR STORY: HOTEL — Pictured: Matt Bomer as Donovan. CR: Frank Ockenfels/FX

effectively chews the scenery whenever she’s on camera. She does a fair job of stepping in to Jessica Lang’s stilettos. The power couple live a life of opulent leisure as they share a fabulous entrance more than half way through the episode. They bathe and dress for an outdoor showing of Nosfeatu (in a graveyard naturally) backed all the while by an awesome N.Y. Rock band track and pick up another attractive couple for… you can guess.  Afterwards, in one of the best exchanges of the episode the nude Countess stretches, embraces Donovan and purrs through her Cheshire Cat grin “And you didn’t want to go out tonight.” to whit Donovan lazily replies “It’s not the getting ready, it’s the clean up afterwards…“ She chimes “Just call Housekeeping”.

After digesting AHS: Hotel Chapter 1 “Checking In” I’ll continue to peek through the peephole and see where the series goes.

Just call housekeeping indeed.

The first episode of 13 episode fifth installment of the Emmy & Golden Globe Winning franchise, American Horror Story: Hotel premiers on FX on October 7th. 

all art~FX Network