Reviews
“AHS: Delicate” Review – Episode 2 Strengthens Its Treatment and Increases Its Scare Dosage
‘AHS: Delicate’ tells a terrifying tale of doubt and distortions as Anna’s IVF treatment takes several turns for the worse.
“Would I ever do anything to hurt you?”
American Horror Story, as a postmodern horror anthology show, is reflexive and self-aware by design. It’s all about holding a mirror up to not only society, but also the horror staples that audiences have taken for granted. American Horror Story has always had a lot to say on the public versus the private and the compelling dissonance between the two. AHS: Delicate, which is explicitly set in the artificial world of the film and entertainment industry, is especially interested in this territory as an actress struggles to prepare for her biggest role yet–being a mother. “Rockabye,” which successfully evolves the season premiere’s themes, digs even deeper into how identities can blur together as the public erases the private.
“Rockabye” is an American Horror Story episode that’s obsessed with awards recognition, social media clout, and how a stalker is the ultimate form of celebrity status. AHS: Delicate examines the toxic feedback loop that’s produced through social media–or a gaslighting cult–that’s even easier to believe when someone gets lost in their head. “Rockabye” argues that it doesn’t make a difference if this paranoia is because of a vicious algorithm or because an actual conspiracy is afoot. Just give in and give birth to a spider baby.
Halley Feiffer is quickly proving that she knows how to properly develop a story and “Rockabye” is an even stronger follow-up to last week’s season premiere. AHS: Delicate features some genuinely unnerving visuals in “Rockabye,” but it’s also far sillier than the previous episode. “Rockabye” proudly operates as a big satire of Hollywood’s glitz and glamor while it simultaneously fetishizes and mocks the same material. The audience gets a bit of a deeper look into Anna’s career, which exists in a world where The Auteur and Daddy, Do You Love Me? are the year’s top cinematic triumphs. There’s an abhorrent encounter between Anna and a fan that “Rockabye” plays like a monster attack. It’s almost a full minute before AHS: Delicate even lets this overzealous fan fully come into focus, as if they’re too ghoulish to be seen unaltered. It’s a blunt segment that lacks any nuance, but feels intentionally so in its presentation of Hollywood’s artifice where the public is at war with the private until it’s impossible to tell which is which anymore. Lipstick-covered hands look a lot like blood, after all.
Now that the audience and Anna know that somebody is after her, American Horror Story: Delicate has fun with the revolving door of suspects that might be preying upon this hopeful mother. AHS: Delicate continues to dangle Dex around like a plausible suspect and he certainly seems complicit in something sinister, even if it’s just passive listening. Siobhan’s B12 shots also look like pretty obvious red flags even if Mrs. Preacher, the anti-IVF social justice warrior, is Anna’s biggest suspect. The list of possible predators grows nearly twice as long by the end of the episode and since this is American Horror Story it’s likely that they’re all complicit in some fashion.
Anna’s dreams of motherhood begin to accelerate right when her acting aspirations start to finally be taken seriously. Anna the Mother versus Anna the Actress has been a clear theme since the season’s start and it’s hardly a revelatory concept. Nor is Anna’s apparent jealousy over the hot new name in the industry who’s the voice of the next generation and all-too ready to replace her. These overdone ideas are simply stressors that are meant to exacerbate Anna’s “delicate condition.” “Rockabye” presents many of these concerns as Anna’s personalized insecurities, but there’s plenty of broader discussion on the media’s rampant male gaze and the objectification of women, especially on the cusp of big physical changes like pregnancy and motherhood.
It feels very natural when Anna and Dex’s next move is to temporarily leave the city as an escape from the media’s news cycle and public perception. It’s the perfect opportunity to de-stress and detox. The focused pacing of AHS: Delicate means that Anna and Dex don’t even spend an entire episode upstate, but it’s still a helpful exercise early on in this season. The two of them find a fun dynamic as the series strips away the excess and distills this story to its barest bones for a large piece of the episode.
Jennifer Lynch has been one of American Horror Story’s best directors since her debut work in Roanoke, but in “Rockabye” she gets to channel some of the same energy as her 2008 psychological horror film, Surveillance. “Rockabye” allows Lynch to play to her strengths as she repeatedly explores untrustworthy technology and the fluidity of events and records where something like time, that’s supposed to be infallible, becomes unreliable. Even constants that we perpetually trust, like our face, can begin to peel away and reveal itself as a false veneer. “Rockabye” occasionally takes the rhythmic sound of Anna’s sonogram and mimics it in the episode’s musical score so this welcoming sign becomes a dooming tone.
Perception and paranoia are crucial ingredients in “Rockabye” and some of the episode’s most effective moments are the more muted sequences where Anna loses sight of herself rather than the blatant face stabs or mirror shatters that are also present. Anna’s growing stress rash, Dr. Hill’s shifty behavior when he turns up on the phone, or the fact that entire weeks disappear from Anna’s memory all stand out the most in an episode that’s full of tangible terrors. Less is more in AHS: Delicate and “Rockabye” really sells this. The tiny kicks from a baby can leave an even greater impression than the water breaking.
AHS: Delicate and Jennifer Lynch also show that they have a sense of humor about all of this and that it’s okay to not take every minute of this horror show so seriously. There’s a Cara Delevingne fakeout scare with a baby that actually gave me a good laugh and finds the perfect tone. The season premiere wasn’t lacking in camp, but “Rockabye” is much sillier than the previous episode, whether it’s through these trope subversions or playful dialogue. On that note, Kim Kardashian gets to have a lot more fun in this episode. She does her best Ari Gold impression as she spits out insults about cat’s assholes and blackmail blowjobs.
There’s also plenty of on-the-nose moments in “Rockabye”, such as when Kardashian’s Siobhan shames Jamie Lee Curtis’ “nepo baby” status. “Rockabye” knows how to transform these scenes at a moment’s notice so that they jump from one extreme to another. Anna’s acceptance speech at the Gotham Awards is a great example of this where her worst fears reach almost comedic complications only for the grotesque blood vomit and Anna’s growing helplessness in the moment to really sell the horror of this sequence. Lynch creates plenty of intense visuals throughout “Rockabye,” but this is an episode of American Horror Story where the hospital and healthcare system are the worst horrors of all. This may seem like a glib generalization, but the scenes where Anna learns that she’s the victim of gross malpractice are delivered with clinical precision that’s worse than any spider monster.
“Rockabye” is a strong second episode in American Horror Story: Delicate that’s bolder and bigger than its predecessor, but still true to the premiere’s foundation. “Rockabye” moves at an impressive pace that gets a lot done narratively while it bombards the audience with disturbing imagery. Emma Roberts continues to be the weakest element to the season, which is unfortunate in a year that’s so heavily focused on her character, but “Rockabye” expands Anna’s range. She’s left in a far more interesting place at the end of “Rockabye” than she is in the season premiere and it will be interesting to see if Anna fights back or surrenders. Anna is at her highest and lowest points over the course of “Rockabye,” but AHS: Delicate seems to only be getting started with her.
Death Down the Aisle begins with the tantalizing image of a bride, Malorie (Jess Brown), dressed in a wedding dress splattered with blood.
This is a brief (unnecessary) in media res opening before writer Audrey C. Marie jumps the action back to earlier in the day. It’s the day of the wedding, Malorie is preparing to wed Jon (David Alexander) and there’s a whirlwind introduction of wedding guests, many of whom are either family, work associates from Jon’s legal firm, or both.
Most of these relationships aren’t clear until after Jon’s death (this isn’t a spoiler; his death is heavily telegraphed by director Roxanne Boisvert). Only after the murder does it become clear that Death Down The Aisle is primarily interested in exploring red herrings, gossipy busy bodies, and characters making A LOT of phone calls.
Let’s rewind: Malorie is marrying Jon, an older man with an adult daughter, Bridget (Anna Kopacek), who looks nearly the same age as her. Jon works at Stone Legal Services with his brother Zach (Scott Gibson), as well as Malorie’s mother, Pamela (Jayne Heitmeyer) and Zach’s younger girlfriend, Amy (Gracie Callahan).
Each of these characters hand Jon a drink before the wedding begins – Zach – a Scotch, Amy – a coffee, and Pamela – an energy drink. There’s also a mysterious glass of champagne delivered to Malorie’s room that Jon drinks and Boisvert ensures that the audience keeps track of each of them by zooming in each time. This is why it’s no surprise when Jon keels over mid-ceremony, coughs up blood on Malorie’s dress, and immediately croaks.
Naturally it turns out that nearly everyone had a motive to see him dead. Pamela recently quit the firm because Jon wouldn’t confirm her salary; Zach was pushing for a merger with rival Miles (Colin Price) that Jon was unsure about, and the dead man fretted that Amy was a gold digger, so Jon wouldn’t support her promotion, either.
Adding to the too plentiful number of suspects is Malorie’s ex-husband Ryan (Frank Fiola), a recovering addict. Even Jon’s own daughter ends up on the list when it’s revealed that they were fighting in the weeks leading up to his death.
The only one who doesn’t have a motive to kill Jon is Malorie’s best friend Francesca (JaNae Armogan), who works at the wedding venue and thinks she saw something fishy. Naturally she’s killed off before the end of the first act.
What follows is a lot of conversation between characters about the firm, the merger, Malorie and Jon’s relationship, and how everyone is lying to everyone else. The problem is that 90% of these conversations happen via phone or text and few of them are interesting. Marie’s script fails to develop the characters beyond their motive, which means that the majority of the plot developments aren’t particularly engaging because the characters are so shallow.
With so many people and interweaving relationships involved, it’s hard to zero in and identify with anyone. Malorie is clearly meant to be the protagonist because, like most Lifetime films, she assumes the role of investigator, despite the presence of Detective Levine (Christian Paul) on the periphery.
But even she is kept at a distance from the audience. Because we only see a few moments of her relationship with Jon, secrets that the pair were keeping from friends and family don’t carry any emotional resonance when they come to light later in the film. One in particular seems to come out of left field and seemingly only exists to introduce another red herring in order to prolong the mystery for another 20 minutes.
Alas none of the characters get much to do, so none of the performances pop. Kopacek and Callahan look too similar and are styled identically, which sometimes makes it hard to distinguish one from the other. Further issues with casting is that the age disparity between Malorie & Jon and Zach & Amy is never mentioned (neither is Jon’s paternity of Bridget). This may be an ageist observation, but even the fact that Pamela never comments that her daughter was marrying her (Pamela’s) boss seems unusual, especially when Death Down the Aisle regularly suggests that one or more character is a gold digger.
Arguably the film’s biggest issue is that everything circles around the business dealings of the firm, none of which is engaging or interesting (hilariously it’s never even made clear what kind of law they practice!) Without more distinct characters, there’s very little to hang the narrative on.
Unfortunately after a solid opening, Death Down the Aisle gets stuck spinning its wheels, endlessly recycling its red herrings and interminable phone calls between characters. The suspect list is long, but the film’s energy lags through the saggy middle section and the climax can’t bring Death Down the Aisle back to life.
This one could have easily been called “Business Phone Calls”…and that’s not great.
Death Down the Aisle premiered on Lifetime Thursday, June 13.
4 New Horror Movies Released This Week Including ‘I Saw the TV Glow’ at Home
‘Saw XI’ Will Be an “Angry” Film with “Something New to Say”
‘Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey II’ Available at Home This Month
‘I Saw the TV Glow’ is Now Available to Watch At Home
‘Practical Magic 2’ – Warner Bros. Announces Sequel to the 1998 Movie
You must be logged in to post a comment.