American Horror Story: A definitive guide to all the Halloween episodes
By Mads Lennon
Halloween is fast approaching and while you might not have enough time to do a full rewatch of American Horror Story, you can rewatch the holiday episodes.
American Horror Story has been a Halloween staple for almost a decade now. When the show first premiered in 2012, it was a pretty big deal. We weren’t yet as acclimated to seeing such audacious content on television, especially given how much the horror and sexuality of the series overlapped.
Since then, American Horror Story has inspired many other anthology series and horror shows that have followed in the FX series’ footsteps. Every year around this time, I know I get the itch to rewatch the series, as do many other fans.
The beauty of an anthology is that you don’t even have to rewatch every season to get the story. You can simply watch the seasons that interest you most or, as this guide recommends, just watch the Halloween episodes to really get you in the spooky spirit!
More from American Horror Story
- What’s up with season 12 of American Horror Story?
- The other AHS season 12 teaser big reveal (besides Kim Kardashian)
- Where can I watch American Horror Story, and what is it about?
- American Horror Story alumni Evan Peters and Ryan Murphy win Golden Globe awards
- AHS: NYC showcases a very real kind of horror story
* You’ll notice Cult and Roanoke are missing from this list. Those seasons didn’t have a Halloween episode or anything similar to one, unfortunately.
Murder House: Halloween Parts 1 & 2
It’s Halloween night at the Harmon house and all is not well. History is repeating itself. The Harmons want to sell the house and they need assistance. Marcy recruits two “fluffers,” which turn out to be the ghosts of a gay couple that formerly lived in the home.
With the help of Chad and Patrick, they get the Murder House looking warm and spooky for the trick-or-treaters. Unfortunately, all of it turns out to be for nothing as the Hayden x Ben x Vivien drama comes to a head, ultimately causing Viven to kick Ben out of the house.
Elsewhere, Tate and Violet finally get to go on a date outside the house. It’s Halloween night and that means ghosts are free to walk amongst the living anywhere they want, even off the house property. The literal ghosts of Tate’s past appear in the form of five mutilated teenagers. Violet is forced to confront the fact her boyfriend may be a killer.
Consensus: While perhaps not the scariest Halloween episode in the bunch, it was still a great start for the series and packs a couple of surprising twists into the double-hour.