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American Horror Story – Hotel, Episode 1 Checking In

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American Horror Story – Hotel, Episode 1

Checking In

Aired Oct 7, 2015

Horror

Drama

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

79%

Tomatometer

14 Reviews

Detective and family man John Lowe investigates a chain of gruesome murders in Los Angeles; a mysterious tip points John to the enigmatic Hotel Cortez.

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Critics Consensus

American Horror Story: Hotel opens spectacularly with "Checking In," though its shocking moments and stylistic flourishes outweigh a compelling narrative.

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Kathy Bates

Iris

Sarah Paulson

Hypodermic Sally

Evan Peters

James March

Wes Bentley

Detective John Lowe

Matt Bomer

Donovan

Chloë Sevigny

Dr. Alex Lowe

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E. A. Hanks

New York Times

10/15/2015

If Hotel will have a problem, "mediocre ambition" is not likely to be it.

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Michael Calia

Wall Street Journal

10/15/2015

Perhaps it's a bit on the nose, but Murphy and crew had to do it: The Eagles' "Hotel California" plays as Lowe leaves... "You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave," indeed.

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Leyla Hamedi

PopMatters

10/15/2015

5/5

The end result is a confusing mishmash of somewhat familiar stories, desperately trying to work as a cohesive unit but still not hitting the right resonance with one another.

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Angela L. Harmon

The NitPic

12/11/2019

Concluding the episode as "Hotel California" plays was a bit groan-enducing and totally on the nose, but really, so is American Horror Story. Yet somehow, the song and the show, still work.

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Lacy Baugher

Baltimore Sun

11/23/2015

The overall feel of Hotel is fairly similar to Murder House, which also featured time jumps, unexplained creepy dudes in rubber suits, ghosts, demon children and an obsession of fish-eye lens camera shots.

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Sam Ashurst

Digital Spy

11/18/2015

Overall, this is an excellent hour of television - stuffed with jaw-dropping moments, tense set-pieces and Lady Gaga at her grandest. Now we've checked into American Horror Story's Hotel, we're not sure we're ever going to want to leave.

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Synopsis

Detective and family man John Lowe investigates a chain of gruesome murders in Los Angeles; a mysterious tip points John to the enigmatic Hotel Cortez.

Executive Producer: Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, Tim Minear, Bradley Buecker, Jennifer Salt, James Wong, Alexis Martin Woodall
Network: FX
Rating: TV-MA
Genre: Horror, Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date: Oct 7, 2015