Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s pulpy, campy horror anthology series “American Horror Story” isn’t for everyone, but fans of the show are fortunate in that there is now a lot of it to love. Since each season tackles a different subgenre within horror, everyone is bound to have favorites based on what kind of horror they prefer. Slasher fans might prefer season 9, “American Horror Story: 1984,” which is set at a summer camp and riffs on classic 1970s and 1980s slashers, while fans of spooky, sexy, silly vampire stories might prefer season 5, “American Horror Story: Hotel.” It’s hard to objectively pick one best season because of the bias of subgenre preference (although we did try to rank the scariest seasons), but one way to see what’s most beloved overall is to look at the user ratings over on IMDb.
If you tally up the overall average user ranking for each episode, it’s possible to determine the most popular season of “American Horror Story,” and the ranking might surprise some fans. We’ve already introduced folks to the best order to watch the series in based on clarity, but maybe people can start doing the “IMDb Order” too, watching in order of most to least popular … then again, only the biggest die-hards will stick around for the whole experiment. After all, no one really wants to watch “American Horror Story: Delicate” again, right?
American Horror Story’s second season, Asylum, won out
The season of “American Horror Story” with the highest overall episode ranking average is the second, “American Horror Story: Asylum.” While the first season, “Murder House,” had a somewhat limited scope because it was both introducing “American Horror Story” to the world and it was set in a single haunted home, “Asylum” was able to get bigger and weirder, with subplots about evil Nazi scientists, demon possession and exorcism, a serial killer called Bloody Face, and more. “Asylum” is one of the more hopelessly bleak entries in the series, but it does feature some truly incredible episodes, like the amazing and bonkers “The Name Game.” In fact, “The Name Game” is the second-most popular “American Horror Story” episode of all time (according to IMDb), following only the even more bonkers “Return to Murder House” from “American Horror Story: Apocalypse.” Given the fact that “Return to Murder House” is basically the closest thing to fan service the show has ever done and it was done immaculately, that’s pretty high praise. (Seriously, “Return to Murder House” is the most perfect episode of “American Horror Story” and encapsulates everything about it that works and even doesn’t work, but in a very fun manner.)
Though “Asylum” is incredibly grim, centering around the fictional mental institution Briarcliff Manor and showing the lives of the people who live and work there through multiple time periods, “The Name Game” is a surreal break from things that reminds audiences how much fun “American Horror Story” can really be. The second season is truly scary, shocking, dramatic, and yes, fun, highlighting the best of the show, and that’s probably why it’s the most popular overall.
Fans also love Murder House, Coven, and Apocalypse
It’s also undeniable that “Asylum” features some truly unforgettable characters, like Pepper (Naomi Grossman) and Sister Jude (Jessica Lange), and great characters tend to be what connects all of the highest-ranked seasons of “American Horror Story.” Season 1’s “Murder House” is in second place, with season 8’s “Apocalypse” in third. It’s funny because “Apocalypse” continues the events of season 1 and season 3, “American Horror Story: Coven,” which comes in fourth. “Asylum” mostly stands on its own other than some small crossovers (like the character of Pepper also appearing in season 4, “American Horror Story: Freak Show”), but the other three top contenders are all interconnected.
The most recent seasons, “Double Feature,” “NYC,” and “Delicate,” came in the final three places, which isn’t really a surprise since many of the repeat cast members that make the show so fun have since moved on. Maybe the magic is gone and it’s time to invite everyone back to have one last hurrah and then let “American Horror Story” go to one of the scariest places of all: The TV series graveyard.
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