Murder House. Asylum. Coven. Freakshow. Hotel. As a fan of horror, one may recognize these titles as they scroll through their Netflix, eventually clicking on American Horror Story and seeing what all the fuss is about. Watching season after season, back to back, in less than two weeks, the show is addicting, as most Netflix shows are. But it’s the kind of addicting that the show is so good, one can’t stay away.

In Murder House, a family moves into one of the most famous haunted houses in Los Angeles. The husband, Ben, wife, Vivian, and daughter, Violet, had no idea what they were getting into. The season shows what can happen when one moves in with a house full of ghosts (those who had previously died in the home). The family then deals with many encounters with these ghosts, the most famous including Violet dating Tate, a serial killer who had died years before in that home and the maid who seems young to men but elderly to women, causing several arguments between Ben and Vivian.

In Asylum, journalist Lana Walters goes to Massachusetts to try to create a story on Briarcliff, a mysterious asylum where strange stories had been told of many going in but never coming back out. Lana, though, is thrown into the asylum where she meets Kit and Grace. Eventually in the season, they escape the asylum and try to go about their new lives.

Zoe finds out in the beginning of Coven that she is a witch and is moved by her family to New Orleans to attend Miss Robichaux’s Academy, a secret school for witches. The four girls there are able to learn about their powers and figure out who the next supreme witch would be. They find out that Cordelia, the woman running the academy, would become the next supreme and instead of hiding the school for any longer, she decides to make a public announcement encouraging girls around the United States to come if they believe they are of witch descent.

Elsa Mars is beginning to realize her famous freak show was no longer of interest to people in 1952. She moves them to Jupiter, Florida, where she finds Bette and Dot, the conjoined twins in the hospital. Taking them, she hopes to attract an audience. She does, however, get a mom and her son to come, where the son falls in love with the twins. Elsa later sells the twins off to them because of her jealousy of them. The son, Dandy, however, is insane, finding joy in killing and freaks, terrorizing the town with his mom protecting him until he killed her as well. In the end of the season, however, the freaks get their happy ending.

The last season on Netflix, Hotel, goes back to a similar idea of Murder House: those inside the hotel had died there. Many guests go in but never come out. Mr. March, the original builder, built the hotel with traps and secret hallways to accommodate his love for killing, and he eventually adopts Detective John Lowe to finish his job with the “10 Commandment Killings.” While this is going on, John and his wife are originally going through a divorce because he had gone missing on John’s watch. But only later the two find him living in the hotel under the Countess, who has turned him immortal because of her obsession with wanting children. In the end of the season, however, the ghosts of the hotel decide it would be best to stop killing and begin trying to improve the hotel and get business booming.

Each season grabs the viewer’s attention with a new plot, but keeps the same beloved actors, including Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, Jessica Lange, Emma Roberts, and Taissa Farmiga. Each of these actors plays a different character every season, which keeps the show so exciting to watch because one is able to see a new side of the actors as each season rolls around rather than watching some 13-seasoned television show where everything is the same over and over again.

If one is interested in ghost stories, especially those of the many haunted home in Savannah, Georgia, the salem witch trials, crazy circuses, or haunted hotels, they should take the time to sit down and watch this show because they will enjoy it, and they will become addicted. If one has seen either Bates Motel or Scream and loved it, then American Horror Story would be a great show to add to the list.

The show is addicting, different, and interesting. It will grab the viewer’s attention and before one knew it, they would have finished the five seasons. If one wanted more than just a two hour horror movie in theaters, this show is a great path to go in. This show deserves a 5/5 for its creative and different seasons and it’s amazing cast who were able to put on a different mask and own their roles every time. But remember, this show is for mature audiences only!