While anthology series were quite popular back in the sixties by the time that they got to the nineties the formular was all but dead and buried. That was until American Horror Story came along and shook things up by not having a different story every episode but by having a different story every single series which does make it a great series for people who only want to dip in and out of the series as they can just pick a series that they want to watch and just watch that particualr series of the show and so then join me as I review that sees the series start to tackle witchcraft with the episode in question being called simply just "B****craft" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is a young girl discovers that she's a witch and is sent to a boarding school to help to control her powers. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then n all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad but that's also the problem as the plot of this episode wasn't all that good either with the plot of the episode not really setting up what the main plot of this series was even going to be and as a result of that is the fact that the main plot of the episode really does come across as being really a bit on the weak with the plot itself really just coming and going as and when it chooses and not really doing anything to help to keep your attention with the plot of the episode not really being really rather entertaining and nor was it really rather engaging either in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Sarah Paulson as Cordelia Goode , Taissa Farmiga as Zoe Benson and Frances Conroy as Myrtle Snow. Also starring in this episode is Evan Peters as Kyle Spencer , Lily Rabe as Misty Day , Denis O'Hare as Spalding , Kathy Bates as Madame Delphine LaLaurie , Jessica Lange as Fiona Goode Emma Roberts as Madison Montgomery , Angela Bassett as Marie Laveau , Gabourey Sidibe as Queenie , Jamie Brewer as Nan , Grey Damon as Archie , Ian Anthony Dale as Dr. David Zhong , Ameer Baraka as Bastien , Raeden Greer as Pauline LaLaurie , Arabella Field as Nora Benson , Scott Michael Jefferson as Louis LaLaurie , Kurt Krause as Charles Taylor , Ashlynn Ross as Marie Louise Jeanne LaLaurie and Jennifer Lynn Warren as Borquita Lopez.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With all of the episodes casts members turning in some really good performances even Emma Roberts who is basically playing the exact same type of character that she always played around this time period turns in a really good performance with a special shout out going to Kathy Bates who to put it bluntly is just phenomenal Madame Delphine LaLaurie with the character going from extremely likable and someone that you want to be around to the most vile person on this planet that you can't stand to be around at the drop of a hate with the acting in this episode really being helped by the fact that the script for this episode is just so good that all this episodes cast have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which really does help the overall quality of the acing in this episode.
Doing the CGI for this episode is FuseFX and the legends and the greats that are currently over at Spectrum Effects. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good as it's a case where they had to use CGI as the makers of this show aren't going to really flip a coach infront of two of your main stars just due to the amount of things that could go wrong and as a result of that is the fact that they had to use CGI in that with the effect itself looking really good with it being helped by the fact that alot of the scene is in the dark and as a result of that s the fact that the issues with the effect can't be seen that clearly with the effect itself having aged wonderfully well over ten years later.
This episode does a good job with getting it's historical scenes right as people both act and look like they would do when those flashback scenes are being set. With the Kathy Bates character being this rich snobbish type of person who is willing to do anything to get her unmarried daughters married of to wealthy men which is something that someone like her character would do and yet when one of her daughters goes against that it ends up badly for them which again is true to life only in this episode it's taken to the extreme as this is a horror show and as a result of that is the fact that makers of this show can take those measures to the extreme with the episode even doing the same thing with it's more racist elements of the Kathy Bates character as we see just how badly that she treats any of the colored people that she doesn't like go against her even in a small way and it's something that really does work in this episode as it feels very true not only to her character but also to the world that this show is being sit in as well.
One of the things that this episode doesn't do all that well is the fact that it doesn't really develop alot of it's characters. Which does make alot of sense as this is only first episode however this episode really doesn't give the characters alot of flaws either with the best example of this being the Zoe Benson who in this episode is presented as someone who is perfect person who gets very little to anything wrong and that only leaves her with one place to go and that's down while that shouldn't be the case as the episode does give her a solid starting point by having her mother force her to go to this school that she doesn't want to go to and yet the episode does nothing with the idea as it doesn't inform who the character is and is there just to give us a small bit of drama that doesn't even get mentioned after it happens at the start of the episode while there are other characters who do start of with flaws but then given dimension as the episode goes on like with Emma Roberts character who starts of as the stereotypical mean girl but then as the episode goes on alot more of her gets revealed and then she goes through something very dramatic at the end of the episode which makes us the audience feel really sorry for her and yet with Zoe Benson we don't feel anything for her character come the end of the episode.
To give this episode alot of credit it does try to experiment with it's camera angles by making use of fish eye type of camera angle that looks really good. This kind of off putting angle does work in this show for the most part as this is a horror TV show and as a result of that is the fact that the show should be very off putting due to it's genre however while the episode does get praise for using this angle it doesn't get praise for not using it during there episodes more creepier which would have made those scenes alot more effective then what they already as alot of the scenes that use this fish eye angle aren't scenes where anything creepy is going on as alot of the time there just scenes with people walking in the school and that's really it which adds nothing to the scene as alot of those scenes should be filmed like a typical show with no fancy new camera angles as that would give the audience a sense of safety and yet they should only use the fish eye angle when something creepy is either happening or is about to happen as it does create a subtle sense of unease something which would work really well in what is quite literally a horror TV show.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly forty eight minuets and thirty three seconds. Which is pretty much the bogstanderd running tie for this show to have and to this episodes credit it really does take full advantage of that running as the episode has more then enough there interms of plot to really cover that large amount of running time and to this episodes credit it does take it's time setting things up as that does allow the episode to start to set up it's characters and to set up things that might pay off later on in the show but at the same time tho the episode could have used some of it's running time to start to flesh out it's characters just a little bit more as apart from the Emma Roberts character alot of the characters in this episode aren't as fully fleshed out which does make sense in some respects but at the same time tho it does leave us with alot of very one dimensional characters but I will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this a horror show that means that I have to actually talk about the actual scares that are actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual scares that are actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. Which is due to the fact that the episode really does take alot of time to create a sense of unease thanks to the fish eye lens camera angle but it also due to the fact that alot of the scares are really well acted which makes them feel alot more believable then what they would have been otherwise but at the same time tho the episode really doesn't go all the way with it's witches theme as it only has the witches use there powers in a deadly twice near the end of the episode and while that does make it clear who the good guys are and who the bad guys are it doesn't really work for a horror show as nothing all that scary happens when they do eventually use there powers in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall this was a really solid episode but at the same time tho it's an episode that does have alot of faults and it's one that could have been alot better then what it actually was as the episode as it is is watchable and is a good episode but it's one that could've been better to hook more people in and get them to watch episode two of this show in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6.5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally used in this very review from the official American Horror Story fandom wiki page , Tenor , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images from this episode being Google Images simply because Google Images actually has images from this episode up on Google Images and plus pretty much much all of the images that I personally found on Google Images were all really very fairly high quality and as well as being as really very fairly high definition as well and so then horror fans we end this review as we always do with really our one and true goddess Elvira wishing us all some really very unpleasant dreams.
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