Static Thoughts - American Horror Story: Hotel Premiere

So, American Horror Story started its fifth season this past week.  The new series, subtitled ‘Hotel,’ is a major change up for the show as it’s the first season that won’t feature the return of series regular Jessica Lange.  Since the show started in 2011 they’ve kept a very tight knit core group of actors from season to season in what’s been called a modern update of the classical concept of an actor’s company.  They’ve added to the group certainly, like Kathy Bates who joined the show in its 3^rd season Coven, but by enlarge the core group from season 1 hasn’t changed up to this season.  In an attempt to fill the hole Lange left in the production American Horror Story has brought in Lady Gaga to basically serve as their overacting and deadly series matriarch. 

Personally I’ve always had a complicated relationship with American Horror Story that I’ll get more into later in this review but Gaga’s involvement was entirely what brought me back for the fifth season.  I’ve always maintained that Lady Gaga has a unique and commanding screen presence and her history of elaborate and evocative music videos is right in American Horror Story’s wheelhouse.  If anyone could propel American Horror Story into the realms of compelling quality it would be her…it’s just too bad she didn’t do that.

Nosferatu Remake Finds Director

Something that’s become abundantly clear in recent years is that remakes, reboots, reimaginings, and all other sundry manner of “RE” terms for bringing back old recognizable franchises, aren’t just a passing trend but a full on cultural force.  For the most part it’s not a surprising shift as the Internet age has helped a lot of older media franchises persist in public memory without really exposing newer generations to the originals, allowing for cheap retreads of classics to seem fresh and new while also milking lucrative nostalgia dollars from completionists fans.  It’s a viscous cycle to be sure but sometimes the system works as with the sequel/reboot Mad Max: Fury Road, the rebooted Hannibal show on NBC, or the highly underrated remake of The Crazies.  My point is that revisitation seems to work best for works of horror which is why I’m kind of on board with the recently announced remake/reboot of Nosferatu.