American Horror Story: Roanoke (2016)

SEASON:

Roanoke
American Horror Story

Critics Consensus

American Horror Story: Roanoke takes a surprising turn away from prior AHS formats, revisiting the deliberate pace of earlier seasons on a spookier, smaller scale, even if the true-crime format feels overdone.

76%

TOMATOMETER

Critic Ratings: 14

56%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 1323
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Episodes

1
81%
Chapter 1
Air date: Sep 14, 2016
2
64%
Chapter 2
Air date: Sep 21, 2016
3
93%
Chapter 3
Air date: Sep 28, 2016
4
91%
Chapter 4
Air date: Oct 5, 2016
5
88%
Chapter 5
Air date: Oct 12, 2016
6
93%
Chapter 6
Air date: Oct 19, 2016
7
100%
Chapter 7
Air date: Oct 26, 2016
8
63%
Chapter 8
Air date: Nov 1, 2016
9
92%
Chapter 9
Air date: Nov 9, 2016
10
59%
Chapter 10
Air date: Nov 16, 2016

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Critic Reviews for American Horror Story Roanoke

All Critics (14) | Top Critics (8)

This is all very fun, but I'm actually more excited -- at least for now -- by the show's format.

Sep 16, 2016 | Full Review…
J. Bryan Lowder
Top Critic

Indeed, the setting is Roanoke. But where this new season might go from there wasn't clear by the end of the season premiere, a pretty riveting piece of classic horror.

Sep 14, 2016 | Full Review…
Gail Pennington
Top Critic

Here it seems that Murphy and his writers believe they have found a solution to the over-stuffed, gleefully excessive seasons of the past; instead, they've merely found a different approach to heavy-handed storytelling.

Jun 19, 2018 | Full Review…
Britt Hayes

Between the tensions among the trio and the potential resurrection of the documentary presentation, consider us teased and tempted back into the haunted house.

Sep 15, 2016 | Full Review…
Inkoo Kang
MTV

Despite its mockumentary format, this season of American Horror Story feels smaller and spookier than the last, like a campfire story read off a glowing smartphone that still manages to tap into our primitive fear: that of the great ghastly unknown.

Sep 15, 2016 | Rating: 6/10 | Full Review…
Isaac Feldberg

Six years in, it's becoming increasingly unclear why American Horror Story still exists.

Sep 15, 2016 | Full Review…
Kaitlyn Tiffany

After watching last night's episode, I'm still not sure whether this season can accomplish what earlier seasons of American Horror Story and this summer's Stranger Things did: spin all those embedded references into something engrossingly new.

Sep 15, 2016 | Full Review…
Jen Chaney
Top Critic

There's a return here to the slow-burn, old school horror which characterised the earlier seasons, making this episode fairly notable in how little it actually reveals.

Sep 15, 2016 | Full Review…
Clarisse Loughrey
Top Critic

It's a unique and different approach for Murphy.

Sep 15, 2016 | Full Review…
Mike Ayers
Top Critic

It's just another crappy true crime story, but with a few Oscar nominees and a much larger budget.

Sep 15, 2016 | Full Review…
Brian Moylan
Top Critic
View All Critic Reviews (14)

Audience Reviews for American Horror Story: Roanoke

  • Aug 13, 2019
    The AHS format is a shadow of its former glory, with this season focusing on the tired found footage format. Not only has it been done to death, its been done way better. Plot twists that lead to nowhere, Sarah Paulson screaming aimlessly, everything about this season was a miss. The found footage twist was garbage too. So much talent squandered with a pointless season. 1/5
    Erin W
  • Aug 11, 2019
    UnderAtted season everyone hates it but it's definitely in top 5
    Ben H
  • Aug 10, 2019
    I actually liked this season. You have to have an open mind to the not typical acting because they play several roles throughout the season. I really like they go behind the scenes of 'reality' shows. well done.
    Jennifer L
  • Jul 14, 2019
    I feel as if this season was very underrated. I really liked the new approach with the whole "show within a show" idea. It breaks away from the previous seasons. Although I admit some of it was overdone, this season, to me, was terrifying. Each actor portrayed their characters wonderfully, adding much more value to the season.
    Jacob M
  • Jul 02, 2019
    How can you ever talk about AHS without mentioning Roanoke and "CROATOAN". The most different season ever produced with one of the most interesting plots in tv history. The acting by Lili Rabe, Sarah Paulson and Angela Basset made it utterly terrifying. The way in which it was presented was clever and something never done before. A must watch for sure
    Arjun S
  • Jun 29, 2019
    Oh my God I joined just to review this. American Horror Story season 1 was the scariest thing I'd watched since The Ring (all time fave scary movie). The seasons since the first have been tolerable but tried too hard to shock and disturb that they lost sight of the brilliant storytelling techniques that made the original such a success: mystery, suspense, surprise. I thought Roanoke had some promise because the first episode wasn't stuffed full of that shock gore they usually use to try "grabbing" viewers, it seemed a little cheesy with the found footage Blair witch angle and show-within-a-show, but I have them the benefit of the doubt that the writers were intelligent enough to use those to make us underestimate this season and deliver something brilliant once again. No. Nope. It's just...so bad. Am watching the finale now and it was a true struggle to get through. I continued to play each episode waiting for the other shoe to drop and for it to redeem itself, but it just doesn't happen. The only good thing about this season is the cast (who were even hard to watch at times) and the occasional ridiculous humor (the inbreds slurping sounds, "momma likes her filet sliced nice n thin,) which I honestly don't know whether was on purpose or just laughable writing. It's a combination of Blair Witch, Scream 3, Wrong Turn, and a D version of season 1. I'm actually enticed to just watch season 1 now to remember why I bothered with this show in the first place. ACS, try harder. Or not so much. Just get your sh*t together and make the story worth watching again...more subtle screw-with-your-mind scary, not this cheap torture porn shock BS. Please!
    Eli C
  • Mar 07, 2019
    Bad. The set up if the show and we are tortured with lady Gagas horrible accent.
  • Feb 13, 2019
    An absolute piece of garbage. This season was so bad, it actually got unwatchable towards the end. Don't waste your time.
    Oana L
  • Jan 07, 2019
    50/50 to this season. What I love is the new way of storytelling and the reveal on the finale, what missing for me is the complexity of characters and story I used to enjoy. The anthology part feels like it was added as second layer to support the whole TV show drama. Overall S6 wasn't that bad, I personally feel like it was missing something.
    Rosemarie R
  • Jan 05, 2019
    If you have watched the ahs series before Roanoke then the first episode will be confusing and then eventually you’ll realize it’s a show within the actual show. There’s actors. The first half of the season is all story telling through a tv show without it actually happening. Then in the second half the producers made such a profit off the tv show that they decide to make a second season and that’s where all the current events happen and everything goes to hell. Everyone dies and the ending is one of the best endings I have ever seen in my life as it was fulfilling and so theatrical as there are sacrifices made.
    Percy L
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