Borrowing from the classic horror tropes that precede it, AHS is comparable to Shirley Jackson's classic supernatural thriller the Haunting of Hill House.

But this superb chiller honored the delicacy of the original in its subtle shading of childhood horrors and its wintry evocation of Los Alamos, while delivering two or three terrific set-pieces.

New interpretations of frame and montage become apparent, as you play cards with the body parts that are shots of a horror scene, and see this scene itself pulled apart from its temporal order.