American Horror Story first hit our TV screens in 2011 opening to us the door of the ‘Murder House’. For 13 episodes we followed the story of the Harmons, a modern day family adjusting to their new Los Angeles home, a house that just so happened to be haunted by the deceased previous occupants. Despite the involvement of Connie Britton and Dylan McDermott (of Friday Night Lights andThe Practice fame) American Horror Story, or AHS for short, debuted to a small audience, but over time it gained ground and now amidst its third season, it is continually growing in both popularity and critical acclaim.

Each annual edition of AHS focuses on a new and original story with its own unique characters and a plot with its own beginning, middle and end. Season Two; AHS: Asylum set in 1964, takes us back almost half a century with the stories of the occupants of an institute for the criminally insane. The third and current season American Horror Story: Coven is, what could be described as an amalgamation of both previous seasons in that it transports us back and forth from various settings in 1800s and present day to tell the story of a coven of and the battle they ensue with an assembly of voodoo practitioners.

An anthology show with a repertory cast, American Horror Story, as a collective, is a horror movie fan’s TV dream with each episode a 40 minute insight into the gore, thrills and often supernatural goings on of each carefully chosen and perfectly thematic location. The reoccurring group consists of Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Lily Rabe and Taissa Farmiga all of whom are shuffled from role to role each season, but still remain as captivating to watch in each. A fairly unknown cast as a whole, the stars of American Horror Story have not only, in my opinion, outperformed those in rival primetime drama series’, but have also drawn in the interest and subsequent casting of several Hollywood actresses this season. Kathy Bates, Gabourey Sidibe and Emma Roberts have all signed up to the third installment making this the most talented cast, or coven, to date.

Despite the storyline twist of each season there is still a familial sense to the show as a whole, however this is in no way strong enough to prevent a first-time viewer from beginning their AHS experience with either of the latter two seasons. For the 20 something’s among you, AHS resembles a sort of circa

1990 ‘Are You Afraid of the Dark’ format, with each season reflective of a different campfire story (unfortunately without the addition of any magical midnight dust), and so allows for fresh eyes each Fall.

Is it scary? I hear you ask. Well, my personal answer to that would be no, but then again, I’m the person who, whilst you’re hiding behind your popcorn bucket, laughs at the chainsaw beheading of the petrified victim or the unexpected appearance of a mutilated demon. Unlike the majority of modern day horror movies, one thing American Horror Story doesn’t rely on is the rhythm of a quiet scene followed by a ‘boo’ like moment. Instead, with it’s grainy images, distorted sound effects and visual poetry, AHS is more akin to that of 19th Horror as it taps into your senses and makes you physically squirm with its dormant scare.

It’s good to mention also that there is a heavy sexual undertone  to the entire show, with sex playing a massive part in a majority of the stories and character development. This ranges from expected (Emma Roberts’ character Madison likes it often) to plain horrific (a mother taking advantage of her own son) to, well, even more horrific (Gabourey Sidibe’s character being violated by a matador). American Horror Story certainly stays true to its name in the visual respect, but it’s definitely not without its tongue and cheek quips for which Jessica Lange takes 90% of the credit (my personal favorite being a subtle childhood throwback in ‘Don’t make me drop a house on you’). As well as providing us with some light to dark humor, AHS often pulls at the heart-strings, with this week’s episode (Episode 5: Burn, Witch. Burn!) tapping into a maternal theme, which results in one horrifyingly sweet mother-baby scene.

Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk did here what they quite clearly couldn’t do with the last few seasons of Glee in that they took a genre not normally subjected to a TV show format and through clever plot development, excellent casting and compelling character creation were able to not only stay true to the genre itself, but also address impulses surrounding issues such as Sex, Gender and Power. American Horror Story: Coven like that of its sister seasons flicks between horrifying and tense whilst allowing you to fall into love or hate with its characters. Whilst other witch-laden shows such as Charmed take a feather light view, American Horror Story is probably as hard-hitting as it gets.

It may be weird and it may well be visually disgusting, but as horrifying as it might be to watch, American Horror Story: Coven, as far as TV shows go, is certainly not horrific. American Horror Story: Coven airs Wednesday nights 10pm on FX.