Robert Zuckerman/FX We're sorry, readers. We lied to you. We once told you Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk's new show American Horror Story "might just" be the scariest show ever in the history of television.
Well, after attending a screening of the FX series' second episode, we can, without a shadow of a doubt, say that it is the scariest show. Ever. In the history of television. Period. Boom.
After pulses leveled and hearts stopped racing, Murphy and Falchuk chatted with members of the press after the screening about what horrors they have planned for Ben (Dylan McDermott), Vivien (Connie Britton), their daughter Violet (Taissa Farmiga), and what they think makes the show truly scary...
Expect Some Blasts From the Past: Each episode will begin with a flashback to a previous happening at the house, which will relate to what the Harmon family is going through. For example, a chilling murder that took in place in 1968 kicks off the second episode and will haunt Vivien and Violet in a surprising (terrifying) way. The third episode will actually go all the way back to 1924, with Lily Rabe playing the house's original owner.
Glee-Free Environment: Sorry, Gleeks! Don't expect to see any of your favorites dance their way over to their bosses' new project. "On Nip/Tuck, I had a couple Popular people come in but I think it's really cool to create a world that is very identifiable and hopefully recognizable as that," Murphy explained. "I think [Glee guest stars] would take you out of it."
Powers of Persuasion: The most obvious question viewers will ask while watching the show is fairly easy to pinpoint: Why don't they just freakin' move?! Though Vivien says the family is planning to move at the end of the second episode, it's not going to be that simple. For starters, it will not be easy for the couple to pull off financially. But let's just say the house might just get Vivien to change her mind.
"The house is a seducer, particularly for Connie and Taissa's characters," Murphy teased. "The house has certain powers that make leaving both physically and psychologically undesirable."
Is AHS the Anti-Lost? A ton of questions (around 10) are raised in the pilot, and even more come up in episode two. Fret not! You will be getting answers pretty early on. "We have plotted it out very carefully," Murphy explained. "I would say that every episode pretty much for the run of the show has a huge reveal."
Falchuk added, "We have a clear mythology of what the house is about and why these people are here and who's who and why they're 'who' and the impact they have on each other."
Double the Scares! The scariest show on TV is doing a Halloween two-parter, y'all! "We really rushed and worked on it to make that window, and I'm really glad that we did because it feels like a fall show," Murphy said. "We're on Wednesday (Oct. 26) night, so Halloween part one is the Wednesday before Halloween and Monday (Oct. 31) we're going to air the second part, out of pattern."
Not Just Blood and Gore: While there is definitely some good ol'-fashioned horror for all you gore lovers (which, by the way, ew!), Murphy and Falchuk hope the show's scares come from a more emotional place. "We're really not interested in making a slasher sort of series," Murphy said. "We're really trying to talk about and write about fears in society and things people are really afraid of."
For Falchuk, one of the second episode's scariest moments didn't involve knives or ghosts, but the consequences Ben is facing after his affair with Hayden (Kate Mara), his former student. "This is a guy who has brought this horror into his home. Any haunted house movie, it's not just a haunted house, but it's about the loss of your home. It's about not feeling safe in the most safe place," he explained. "She's completely unbalanced and he's in real trouble."
Of the show's graphic material, Falchuk simply said, "If you're gonna do genre, you have to do genre. There is a certain amount of graphic violence in horror."
American Horror Story, one of the top five new shows for fall in our humble (and totally awesome) opinion, premieres Wednesday, Oct. 5 on FX.