Season 7 American Horror Story: Cult

[Gerald]

Okay, I remember that Kai donated sperm and it was at a clinic that Ally and Ivy used. But was that the main reason he targeted their family?

 

[Gerald]

I never have seen Asylum. I have the DVD but the treatment of people in asylums disturbs me so much, I've never had the courage to watch it.

Asylum felt much darker to me than other seasons and I quite liked it, although an asylum as a setting for horror isn't attractive to me very much - at least not when it's running, more so when it's abandoned. It was the added element of the UFO abduction that initially kept me interested, otherwise I might not even have watched it, but by the end I quite liked it all.

And if the treatment of patients disturbs you this will disturb you very much: especially towards the end I felt they depicted the treatment and neglect of patients as so bad, that it almost felt that they wanted to make some kind of comment on that.

A big change between the earlier seasons and the later seasons is there aren't so many subplots from Roanoke on. There often are so many subplots in the earlier seasons that it quite often feels they're moving on to something new when a previous plot was hardly resolved. Roanoke and Cult tell much more one main story.

 

[Gerald]

My comments about the overall series still stand. The creators don't really seem to have a genuine appreciation for the horror genre. Rather, they're more caught up in the sexiness of it: the imagery and tropes. This will go down in television history as probably the only series where the opening credits were better than the show itself. If Apocalypse is the final season, I really won't miss this show.

I don't know if they don't have a genuine appreciation for it, but they're not aiming to make straight horror. It's more a satire of the genre. While it's gory, it's seldom scary (Roanoke was the most scary).
With Scream Queens it's more clear that it's a satire, but AHS is like a hysterical, over-the-top pastiche of the horrorgenre. And sex has always been a big part of the horrorgenre so they serve that up in spades too.

 

[Gerald]

Okay, I remember that Kai donated sperm and it was at a clinic that Ally and Ivy used. But was that the main reason he targeted their family?

Sorry for taking over this thread, but this explains it more:

American Horror Story Cult spoilers: Kai Anderson wants to make Ally Mayfair-Richards his 'queen', reveals actor Evan Peters

She intrigues him because of her specific fears, but I missed how he found out about her, and when he first saw her and grew attracted to her.

I suppose Kai is not such an interesting character because he is a bit one-dimensional. He never shows his doubts or his own fears, which could have made him more interesting.

 

[Tilly]

I found Hotel and Roanoke going on too long compared to the earlier seasons (only haven't seen the very first yet), they went on a few episodes too many for me after I felt a climax had already been reached.
But Cult seemed to go on forever (it wasn't even one of the longest seasons). I don't dislike stories about cults at all (I love The Following with Kevin Bacon), but it just wasn't very interesting. It felt highly repetitive - Kai constantly mistrusts one of his followers, confronts them and kills them. It seemed less funny also than earlier seasons.
I surprisingly liked Sarah Paulson's character though - I found her extremely annoying in Roanoke - and she looked more beautiful somehow than in earlier seasons (maybe something about her hair). And she formed a nice couple with Alison Pill. But I didn't like the Kai character where I liked Evan Peters much more in earlier seasons.

Also, I feel like I missed an entire chunk of the point/plot and found it confusing. Why was Kai targetting Ally (Paulson) specifically and infiltrating in her family? Was it only because he thought he was the father of her son? I feel that was never explained anywhere. In the last episode it's cleared up that Oz ISN'T his son, but why was he thinking it in the first place?

You really, really need to watch the first one. You will see how they righted some things, a lot of things. It took my daughter and husband and I to remember all of what happened in previous seasons to make Apocalypse make sense. I didn't think they could wrap it up in that last episode, but did a good job.

 

[Gerald]

You really, really need to watch the first one. You will see how they righted some things, a lot of things. It took my daughter and husband and I to remember all of what happened in previous seasons to make Apocalypse make sense. I didn't think they could wrap it up in that last episode, but did a good job.

I'm gonna watch the first season on blu-ray before starting Apocalypse. It's fortunate I have the blu-ray because they're taking all seasons off Netflix here, I bought it in one of those two-for-a-cheaper-price deals, my main buy being Fargo season 1.

 

[Steffen]

I don't know if they don't have a genuine appreciation for it, but they're not aiming to make straight horror. It's more a satire of the genre. While it's gory, it's seldom scary (Roanoke was the most scary).
With Scream Queens it's more clear that it's a satire, but AHS is like a hysterical, over-the-top pastiche of the horrorgenre. And sex has always been a big part of the horrorgenre so they serve that up in spades too.

You're right: they're definitely not making straight horror. No way they're taking it seriously enough for that. But I think describing it as a pastiche is being overly generous.

 

[Gerald]

You're right: they're definitely not making straight horror. No way they're taking it seriously enough for that. But I think describing it as a pastiche is being overly generous.

I find it hard to find the EXACT meaning of the word 'pastiche' -it's just one of those words that sounds cool.
In any case it's at least clear it's partly comedy, so not pure horror. The makers come from a comedy background I believe, although I've only seen AHS and Scream Queens.