Lady Gaga kills it, literally, In American Horror Story: Hotel

Last week, the fifth season of popular FX tv show American Horror Story arrived. This season’s theme is AHS: Hotel, which revolves around the mysterious Hotel Cortez. The main new addition this year is pop-star Lady Gaga, playing hotel-resident “The Countess” Elizabeth, alongside Wes Bentley as John Lowe, Matt Bomer as Donovan, and Kathy Bates as Iris.

The episode starts out with two foreign sisters checking into the Hotel Cortez and immediately discovering what else is in their room’s mattress other than a terrifying, naked monster. The new opening credits that play right after are as gruesome and perfect as the last few seasons’.

Unsurprisingly, based on this season’s first episode, Hotel looks as if it’s going to be the most shocking, horrifying, fantastic season yet.

The premiere continues by introducing the seemingly main protagonist Detective John Lowe, a family man with a beautiful wife and daughter, as well as an especially dark past. The season will likely revolve around Lowe’s investigations into various murders, all connecting to the Hotel Cortez. His plotline, and the episode in general, seems somewhat reminiscent of Stephen King’s The Shining, with dressed-up children wandering the halls and a twist with certain Jack-Torrence-like ramifications.

Meanwhile, Lady Gaga’s character was introduced along with Matt Bomer’s Donovan in a long music-video-esque scene set to She Wants Revenge’s “Tear You Apart”. Gaga is stunning as Elizabeth and literally slays in every scene she’s in.

On the bad side, there are definitely a few scene-skipping type moments. One three minute long rape scene was so detailed and appalling, it had audiences turning away from the screen. The morbid scene appeared to have little to no purpose other than pure shock-value, and was certainly a bit of a turn-off.

Other than that incident, Ryan Murphy’s horror anthology returned to televisions as well-received as ever, scoring a high 8.6 by reviewers on IMDb. The only thing missing from the premiere was Evan Peters, who will likely make his appearance as Mr. James March next week.

With Lady Gaga and Wes Bentley leading the first episode, American Horror Story: Hotel looks sure to satisfy, and terrify, its fans this season. Hotel continues with second episode “Chutes and Ladders” on Wednesday, October 14 at 10pm on FX. Be sure to be watching... or who knows what could come for you.