American Horror Story: 10 Reasons Why Murder House Was The Series’ Best Season

It is widely known across fans of American Horror Story, and even those who aren’t fans, that the first season of the series, Murder House, was the best of the nine so far. There are many reasons why this season is so good, between it being the first of its kind and the horror aspect being richly terrifying. 

The first season brought so many new fans in, that it has managed to keep the hype going for nine more seasons while still occasionally going back to the first season in small references, and quite literally, to the house in season eight, Apocalypse. 

10 The First

As mentioned, Murder House is the first season of AHS and is also the first of its kind. While there have been a number of other horror shows on TV, many of them were crime or supernatural based and lost a lot of the “horror” within the drama. But because this story was delivered in just one season, fans got to see a family experience a haunted house while struggling to stay afloat emotionally. The amount of horror and darkness in this first season caught many off guard, which just ended up pulling them in more and more until viewers became utterly hooked. 

9 Violet & Tate

Violet and Tate are an iconic pairing in American Horror Story, which is what made the actors’ reunion in Coven and the characters in Apocalypse so rewarding. They were definitely messed up and a pretty unhealthy pair for the most part but they were dark and weird and a lot of fans enjoyed watching their on-screen romance. It definitely added to the season, especially when it is discovered that Tate isn’t just the misunderstood neighbor boy, but a ghost that is stuck within the house. This pairing also adds a lot of drama to the season, but in a good way as fans continue to be interested to see what will happen between them. 

8 The Ghosts

The ghosts in this season add to the overall horror of the show but also provide another emotion that many fans probably weren’t expecting, sorrow. Many of them don’t even realize that they’re dead until some point later in the show. Some think they’re in their own timelines and that the living are actually the ghosts, while others feel like everything is just a big blur and they keep waking up in this Murder House. 

The ghosts feel a lot of guilt and sorrow about a number of different issues and because of the entrapment at the house, they are constantly forced to face their guilt. A couple more seasons of AHS does this, where the ghosts become trapped where they died, notably Hotel and 1984, but Murder House was the first to set that concept in motion. 

7 The Horror

The horror elements within the first season were actually terrifying and made for an excellent horror show that was sure to keep its viewers up at night. Between the creepy figures stalking around the house, the ghosts, the crazed surgeon in the basement, and the rubber man, this is by far the scariest season of the series. There is just so much going on at all times, with each of the main characters experiencing different horrors within their individual stories. While many later seasons of AHS are still scary, none seem to do it as well as the first. 

6 The Housekeeper

The duality of the housekeeper character definitely added a lot to the original season of the series. Moira O’Hara had sex with Constance Langdon’s husband and was killed in a rampage by the scorned wife. She was then stuck in Murder House where she went back and forth between appearing young and old, depending on who was looking at her. To men, she was a young and beautiful woman with a “femme fatal” look, in a small maid outfit. To women and gay men, she appeared as an older woman with only one working eye. Vivien saw the older version of the housekeeper, Frances Conroy, and was constantly confused by her husband’s comments suggesting that Moira was gorgeous and promiscuous. He saw the younger maid, Alexandra Breckenridge. The back and forth made for some complex scenes, especially when young Moira would kiss or be intimate with Ben, and then it would show viewers the older version. 

5 The Cast

The cast of the first season was utterly amazing with some heavy-hitting performances from everyone, notably Jessica Lang, Connie Britton, and Dylan McDermott. Something about the cast of the first season set the rhythm for the rest of the seasons in motion as they all seemed to bounce off of each other so well. The growing disconnect between Vivien and Ben was super apparent the more they stayed at the house and their growing connections to the ghosts that reside within prove to be one of the best cast ensembles from the series. 

4 The Twists

There are a number of twists throughout this season that lead to big revelations. Each reveal is one step closer to the grand finale. Two of the biggest twists in the season are the fact that Tate and a few of the other ghosts in the house, like Moira, are actually dead. The ghosts don’t even really know it until they relive their dying moments and their own history. The official realization that the main family has been living in a house filled with ghosts all along sets the tempo of the story into high gear. Another big twist in this season was the big mystery of the Rubber Man. The mysteries within this season are another reason why it is so great, but the reveal of who the Rubber Man was, was huge and impacted nearly all of the characters. 

3 The Shock-Factor

Because this was the very first season, no one really knew quite what to expect from this series. The shock-factor was still fresh and so when dark things would happen, like the twisted mass shooting scene that Tate does at his school, it was absolutely shocking. The show does a lot of things that would normally raise a few eyebrows. But it ignores that and manages to constantly shock its audiences. 

The first season was the most shocking as by now many fans are numb to the shocking revelations. In fact, they’re often expected. 

2 The Mystery

There was a lot of mystery surrounding the first season as it only gave viewers little bits of details within each episode. It made fans want more and more, coming back each week to try to find out what was actually going on at the haunted house, who was dead, and who each of the characters were. The Rubber Man mystery was one of the biggest ones through the season, and many fans didn’t expect it to be who it had turned out to be. Seeing Constance so involved in the house and all of its ghosts also raised more questions as fans needed to figure out why she was always there. 

1 The Simplicity 

Saying the first season is simple isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it’s one of the reasons that it is the best season. Many of the later seasons of the series get overly complicated. Because of the complications, it seemed like they often lost their way halfway through. This happened time and time again, especially in seasons three through five. The simplicity of the first season, and the fact that it’s just about a haunted house that traps everyone who dies there makes for a great season that everyone can keep up with. The ending isn’t necessarily rewarding or fulfilling, but it at least nicely fits with the tone of the rest of the season. 

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