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91[Ryan Murphy's] sharp take on a woman's role is both funny and mordantly serious.
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90In the context of other television, American Horror Story is perverse and refreshing, proof that a great show doesn’t have to be self-serious to be smart.
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88Although the premiere is hampered by unnecessary narration and over-exposition, it's still a bewitching brew of whimsy, psychological scares, horrific atrocities and the wonderfully relentless feeling that something wicked this way comes.
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80There's still blood and gore all over the floor, mind you. Not to mention rape, gruesome torture and evil run riot, and that's just the first episode. But there's also a lightness of touch and tone, a backlight of sly humor and, more important, a clearly delineated narrative.
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80There are a LOT of characters and one hopes that Murphy & Falchuk don’t allow the program to get weighed down in subplots. Even if the show does get scattered, great performances by Lange, Bates, Bassett, Roberts, and Farmiga should keep viewers from wanting to leave this Coven.
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80We’ve come to expect an eclectic mix from the American Horror Story anthology, and the formula works particularly well in this installment, thanks to uninhibited work by the big-name cast.
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Oct 9, 201375American Horror Story has always been a series that loves its characters and still isn't afraid to put them through hell, and it seems like there are more layers down there than expected.
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75There may be fewer jump scares, but this could turn out to be the best Horror Story.
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75American Horror Story: Coven ramps the silliness up an enjoyable notch with a story set in a New Orleans school for young witches.
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75Filmed in New Orleans, Coven wants to soak up some atmosphere, bowdlerize some local history and otherwise creep out viewers. At least on these three points, this season should easily score.
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75The storyline is more tightly focused than last year’s see-what-sticks approach. But it also feels like it’s pandering a bit to a younger CW crowd.
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75[Lange and Bates] are the only reason to watch.
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75Sometimes you just have to go with American Horror Story, even if it hurts your soul to be entertained by such heedless provocation.
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70If the season-three premiere is any indication, although AHS has lost its novelty, it still has that seventies and eighties grindhouse/drive-in/midnight movie feeling.
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70There are aspects of Coven that are stylish and clever, and others that are just "Carrie" on steroids. The cast, of course, is tremendous.
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70Every AHS series has now featured at least one [rape scene]. Isn't it time to move on? At least he and his collaborators, as usual, do their best to soften the blows with healthy doses of camp and humor.
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70I’m less sure what the season will do with the potentially volatile racial themes the premiere hints at. But AHS seasons have always thrived on the philosophy of risk and excess. So far, the first episode of Coven is a stylish introduction (complete with black hats).
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70Fish-eye lenses and rotating cameras don't feel at home here as in other installments, and things aren't creepy so much as grotesque. Still, there are a number of decent effects and a healthy dose of humor that keep things moving along in an entertaining way. Eventually, the many stories find their way together, which helps propel the premiere to its promising finish.
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70It’s always hard to tell how any series will go, especially one as reliably twisty and turny as American Horror Story, but in its first hour at least, Coven offers a clear, entertaining set-up for a potentially strong season.
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60Coven is the first time American Horror Story gets started with the unmistakable feeling of timecards being punched, as an ensemble of big-name stars dutifully carry forward the show’s trademark fixation on style over substance.
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42American Horror Story is a glorious mess.
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40Unfortunately, too much of the focus is on novice witch Zoe, played by Taissa Farmiga with the same one-note boringly sulky attitude she exhibited as the brat you couldn't wait to see die in the first season.
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30As with all three incarnations of AHS, there are some beautiful images (courtesy of director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon and cinematographer Michael Goi), and Murphy and Falchuk’s script exhibits a knowing familiarity with the genre. Still, there’s always something unsavory about using the supernatural as a shield to indulge in sex-laced sadism, which has become a common and frankly rather tired aspect of the whole latex-clad-gimp streak running through the series.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 11 out of 13
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Mixed: 2 out of 13
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Negative: 0 out of 13
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Oct 9, 201310
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Oct 9, 201310
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Oct 11, 20139