For you fellow "American Horror Story" fanatics, you may have noticed the return of the twisted and amazing show. The fifth season premiered with the first episode called “Hotel.” While the episode was just as messed up as previous seasons, I saw quite a few flaws in it as well. Here’s my honest (and probably brutal) review of the premier of "AHS: Hotel."
When the episode first begins, we see two Swedish girls who just want a chill place to stay. When they walk in, they don’t think anything of the completely empty hotel. They are then met by the hotel receptionist, played by Kathy Bates. The two Swedish girls go to their room and still don’t realize how incredibly sketchy the hotel is. While one goes to get ice, the other discovers a terrible smell in their room. One of the girls then decides cutting open the mattress is a good idea (very bad idea), and they find a vampire/zombie like body.
They’re then moved to the infamous room 64, where it seems like they’re drugged, and one of the Swedish girls wakes up to find a little kid biting the other Swedish girl. While all this is happening, a detective (played by Wes Bentley) gets a call about this room, so he heads to Hotel Sketchville. While he stays in the hotel, it seems he was drugged, and he’s running around following a little boy who looks like his lost son.
In one scene, Lady Gaga and Matt Bomer’s characters are seen going to a movie, and they seduce another couple into coming back to the hotel with them. After things get interesting, Gaga and Bomer’s characters slice the couple’s throats open and drink their blood in a vampire type way. This scene was pretty interesting to see them just go to their vampire sense in a second.
Through out the episode, the detective leaves his family due to a killer threatening them. The Swedish girls were brought back and were being prepped for vampire Lady Gaga when Sally lets one of them go. She doesn’t get very far and is caught by Gaga herself. We’re shown a flashback from the detective of his son getting kidnaped, and then we realize that he is one of the children in the hidden room at the hotel. Then, a potential new owner and his son come tour the hotel where we see the infamous ball being thrown at the ball straight from "The Shining."
While this season seems extremely messed up, I was quite disappointed to see some ideas taken from "The Shining." The little kids and the twins running around the hallways, the hidden room for the kids and the owner’s son throwing the ball against the wall.
This episode reminded me a lot of the first season in the whole “dying on the scene and haunting it forever.” I thought Sally was a ghost, because who would dress like that in today’s time? When they showed the scene of her being pushed out of the window, I was proven right.
While this episode was not terrible and Gaga killed it, it’s pretty disappointing to see things straight out of a movie. Hopefully, the next episode will have Evan Peters shirtless, and it will all be OK.
