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Witchcraft Wednesdays: Tracing the Evolution of Witchcraft in Film

It may be more true in horror than in any other genre that certain subgenres ebb and flow in popularity over time. Vampires were hot in the mid-’90s when you had Interview with the Vampire, From Dusk Till Dawn, Blade and the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Then, vampires sat out of popular discourse for the next ten years or so, until the double whammy of Twilight and True Blood hitting in 2008, causing a tidal wave of vampiric fiction from the arty (Only Lovers Left Alive, Byzantium) to the schlocky (Dracula Untold, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter) that hasn’t slowed down since.

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American Horror Story, Ep. 3.13: “The Seven Wonders” ends the season on a witching high

It wasn’t a big surprise that Stevie Nicks would kick off the final episode of American Horror Story: Coven, since Ryan Murphy had reported that the White Witch would appear in two episodes this season. The images of Nicks spinning through Miss Robichaux’s Academy while lip-syncing to her Fleetwood Mac hit “Seven Wonders”, left me realizing something important: Coven may be the weakest of American Horror Story’s first three seasons, but this season boasts the best cast – and I’m actually going to miss most of Coven’s characters. With Douglas Petrie helming the script and Alfonso Gomez-Rejon directing, tonight’s episode, appropriately titled “The Seven Wonders”, is a strong finish to an uneven but always entertaining season. The reveal of the next Supreme comes not without a price, as some witches die this time around, and never to return.

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American Horror Story, Ep. 3.12: “Go To Hell” – Bloody Entertaining!

American Horror Story, Season 3, Episode 11: “Go To Hell” Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon Written by Jessica Sharzer Airs Wednesdays at 10:00 PM on FX “Go to Hell,” the penultimate episode of Coven, ramps up the action, piles on the blood, closes off a few story-lines, and says goodbye to a few characters in a manner …

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American Horror Story, Ep. 3.11: “Protect the Coven”

American Horror Story, Season 3, Episode 11: “Protect The Coven” Directed by Bradley Buecker Written by Jennifer Salt Airs Wednesdays at 10:00 PM on FX With only two episodes left in American Horror Story season three, I fear it is little too late, to elevate Coven past the quality of the Asylum and Murder House. …

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American Horror Story, Ep.3.10: “The Magical Delights of Stevie Nicks”

  American Horror Story, Season 3, Episode 10: “The Magical Delights of Stevie Nicks” Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon Written by James Wong Airs Wednesdays at 10:00 PM on FX American Horror Story: Coven makes a solid return for the second half of their season, featuring not one, but two guest stars. After nine instalments of …

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25 Best TV Shows of 2013 (Part Two)

17. American Horror Story (FX- tie) With the climactic final four episodes of Asylum and the entertaining first nine of Coven, American Horror Story has had a diverse year, to say the least. Asylum wrapped up its exploration of health care, religion, and power and Coven dove in head-first with looks at gender roles, aging, …

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American Horror Story, Ep.3.07: “The Dead” stumbles over vexing questions of race and gender politics

It only took seven episodes, but American Horror Story: Coven finally injects a bit of three-way necrophilia. New alliances are formed and bonds are broken, as opposing forces and clashing personalities collide. “The Dead” movies the plot forward with some interesting twists, but in the end, it leaves us with a few troubling questions.

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American Horror Story, Ep.3.06: “The Axeman Cometh” one step forward, one step back

Danny Huston guest stars on the sixth episode of American Horror Story: Coven, as an axe-wielding killer whose spirit is released from the dead by Zoe after communicating with him using a Ouija board. Much like Asylum, Coven is cramming in as much as they can in terms of plotting.

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American Horror Story, Ep.3.05: “Burn, Witch, Burn!”

“Burn, Witch, Burn! deals with the fallout of last weeks climax which saw Cordelia blinded, when assaulted at a nightclub by a hooded assailant who threw sulphuric acid in her face. Meanwhile, Marie Leveau’s army of dead storm Miss Robichaux’s Academy. The fifth installment of Coven is immersed in the guilt of cruel mothers. LaLaurie is forced to come to terms with the pain and suffering she inflicted on her own daughters who rise from their graves, and Fiona feels responsible for Delia’s attack. On top of all this, two witches display new unexpected powers as Zoe manages to break Laveau’s spell and defeat her zombie army with only a few words, and Delia receives a startling clairvoyant vision of her husband’s murderous and cheating ways.

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American Horror Story, Ep.3.04: “Fearful Pranks Ensue” doesn’t quite deliver the Halloween goods

If there’s one week in which a series entitled American Horror Story simply has to deliver the goods, it’s the one containing All Hallow’s Eve. In that respect, “Fearful Pranks Ensue” falls a little short, particularly if one expected it to step up the freakiness and/or gore quotient. Actually, as it turns out, it belongs to a entirely different sort of tradition: the time-honored transitional episode. Only in its closing moments does it threaten to take its genre elements to the next level of nutty.

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American Horror Story, Ep.3.03: “The Replacements” a delightfully sexually depraved instalment

The best decision show-runners Ryan Muprhy and Brad Falchuk ever made, was to write each season of American Horror Story as a self-contained miniseries. In following a different set of characters and settings, and a storyline with its own beginning, middle, and end, American Horror Story continues to reinvent itself each and every year. Unlike AMC’s hit series The Walking Dead, which is still chasing its own tail, Coven’s revival of classic horror tropes mixed with campy erotic-horror excess seems fresh, even when familiar.

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