Ep 3. Murder House
- TVMA
- October 19, 2011
- 42 min
-
8.0 (6,847)
In the third episode of American Horror Story's first season, entitled "Murder House," viewers are taken on a twist-filled, gruesome journey through the haunted halls of the titular home.
As the episode begins, new residents Vivien and Ben Harmon are still grappling with the realization that their house has a history of violence and death. But their worries are momentarily overshadowed by the arrival of persistent real estate agent Marcy, who brings her clients to tour the house despite the Harmons' protests. The couple's tension is only compounded by the fact that Ben is struggling to focus on work due to his newly-rekindled affair with former student Hayden, who shows up unannounced at the house seeking his attention.
Meanwhile, their daughter, Violet, is trying to adjust to her new school and connect with her classmates. She goes on a date with a brooding, enigmatic teenager named Tate and begins developing a confusing, intense infatuation with him.
As night falls on the Murder House, strange occurrences begin to intensify. Moira, the house's seductive, age-shifting maid, makes a move on Ben while Vivien is out of the house, prompting him to violently rebuff her advances. And when Vivien returns home, she finds herself visited by the ghost of a woman who was murdered in the house years before. The woman, who appears to be a kind stranger at first, eventually shows her true colors and reveals herself to be a hauntingly malevolent presence.
But the real horror comes in the form of a home invasion that occurs later that night. A group of masked intruders break into the house, targeting the Harmons and terrorizing them in a chilling sequence that culminates in a violent confrontation.
As the episode draws to a close, the characters are left reeling from their various traumas and attempting to understand the dark forces at work within the Murder House. It becomes increasingly apparent that the Harmons are not the only ones trapped within its walls, and that the house itself may have a deadly agenda of its own.
