Critic Reviews
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65
Metascore
Generally Favorable
positive
102(59%)
mixed
60(35%)
negative
10(6%)
Showing 172 Critic Reviews
Oct 7, 2014
100
Freak Show looks like a beauty, with a wealth of fascinating characters and a little smattering of heart helping to balance out the grisly appointed rounds of a so far unidentified clown with a hellish half-mask.
Oct 5, 2011
91
I loved the pilot, mostly because I could never predict where the story was going, a rarity in prime-time TV.
Oct 9, 2013
91
[Ryan Murphy's] sharp take on a woman's role is both funny and mordantly serious.
Oct 5, 2011
90
Repellent and fascinating, a stygian nightmare awash in sick lusts, it seems certain to attract large audiences and huge controversy.
Oct 9, 2013
90
In the context of other television, American Horror Story is perverse and refreshing, proof that a great show doesn’t have to be self-serious to be smart.
Sep 30, 2011
88
It's funny and moves blindingly fast, barely giving you time to blink or gulp--Dark Shadows for the PlayStation age. [10 Oct 2011, p.39]
Sep 30, 2011
88
Most TV shows, after all, quickly fade from memory. This one will haunt your dreams.
Oct 8, 2013
88
Although the premiere is hampered by unnecessary narration and over-exposition, it's still a bewitching brew of whimsy, psychological scares, horrific atrocities and the wonderfully relentless feeling that something wicked this way comes.
Oct 24, 2013
88
Despite its cheap shock effects, the show is indulgently ridiculous. [[28 Oct 2013, p.41]
Sep 21, 2011
83
Overdoing things is one of Murphy's trademark flaws, but this show has a captivating style and giddy gross-outs.
