The artwork designs for the hit show American Horror Story are famous for being surreal, provocative, horribly beautiful and frightening. They give viewers a tantalising taste of what they can expect – namely, deeply unsettling visuals, a bucketload of frights, and, of course, nightmares after watching. With each subsequent season, the artwork became progressively more bizarre and extraordinary, as the series plunged the viewers into dark and disturbing waters.
Season 1 – Murder House
The first artwork for the series is the now iconic – and horribly unforgettable – image of a ghoulish gimp in black latex, hovering over a heavily pregnant woman in a blood-red room. If this promotional pic was anything to go by, things didn’t bode well for the season’s central characters, the Harmons, moving into a mansion house to make a new start after a family tragedy.
Season 2 – Asylum
A shrouded woman – possibly a nun – painted entirely white, crying black tears from black eyes – this wouldn’t look out of place on a Billie Ellish album cover. This season is set in an institution set up to treat the criminally insane – run by a very stern Sister. As the artwork suggests, being religious doesn’t necessarily mean everything’s fine…
Season 3 – Coven
The most startling artwork is possibly Coven, the season about the descendants of witches from Salem. It’s brilliantly conceived photograph of a three women, intertwined by a snake in their mouths. If the artwork doesn’t give you gooseflesh, the series itself, featuring Voodoo, murder and torture, will.
Season 4 – Freak Show
Season 4’s artwork appears to be channelling Edward Munch’s famous painting The Scream, showing a distressed person shrieking in anxiety. After watching Freak Show, arguably the most twisted and disturbing season of the show up until that point, you might feel the same way.
Season 5 – Hotel
This beautifully ornate design, showing a luxurious hotel lobby, does what the American Horror Story artwork does best – hides the horror away in the corners, and the shadows, under a facade of sensuousness and lavish decoration. Little wonder that the Hotel Cortez in Los Angeles, the setting for this season, hides some very dark secrets – the place was originally built as a torture chamber. You can bet the TripAdvisor reviews for the hotel won’t be a rave.
Season 6 – Roanoke
At first glance this artwork looks harmless enough – a woman in an ornate lace-embroidered gown, clutching her rosary. On closer inspection she has talon-like fingernails, a bite mark on her hand, and the rosary actually seems to be a chain of human teeth. Hmm – might she be one of the cannibal clan that feature in Roanoke?
Season 7 – Cult
Cult’s artwork, which nods towards the white-faced image of Season 2’s – could be from a glossy cosmetics advert. Except, the stylishly made-up woman has had her skullcap removed – revealing a honeycomb for a brain. This season is about a charismatic leader attempting to gain political power – with the help of his cult, who, of course, he promises sweet treats too.
Season 8 – Apocalypse
This recalls the very first artwork for the series – with a blood-red baby being grasped by a black demonic hand. Perhaps it symbolises humanity being clutched by evil, as society collapses in the near future after the Antichrist starts a nuclear war. Cheery thought.
Season 9 – 1984
Never a show to rest on its laurels, AHS appears to be doing something very different with the forthcoming series 1984, which will pay homage to the era of 1980s slasher films – and the artwork is equally retro, resembling the lurid box cover art from a VHS shocker from that golden age of horror.
AMERICAN HORROR STORY: APOCALYPSE is available now on Blu-ray and DVD. AMERICAN HORROR STORY: 1984 premieres on FOX on 19th September at 10pm.
