Horror comes in time for Halloween

New season of American Horror Story brings witchcraft to the television

Zoe Kedrowski

After an eight month hiatus, American Horror Story: Coven returns with witchcraft and voodooism, as well as strong female characters that strongly use their emotions in the story.

Coven, which premiered Oct. 9, follows the creation of a school in New Orleans made specifically for witches that still exist after the Salem witch trials.

The main protagonist, Zoe Benson, played by Taissa Farmiga, is shipped away to this school after it is revealed to her that she has genetic roots from her great grandmother, a witch that lived during the trials. There she meets three other witches and the leader of the school, Cordelia Foxx (Sarah Paulson).

She quickly learns of the powers of the other witches, such as voodooism and telekinesis.  Zoe also learns the school aims to protect the remaining witches, who are strongly feared by others because of their powers.

American Horror Story: Coven brings several strong female characters. Taissa Farmiga and Julia Roberts, who portrays witch Madison Montgomery, provide the audience with strong acting and well-used emotions. Additionally, it is one of the few shows on television where most of the main characters are female.

The plot seems to follow a format similar to other horror and mystery series. The storyline is set up quite nicely, but it may be too intense for some viewers.

Some of the material is very inappropriate and could be viewed as offensive to audience members. The season immediately opens up with a very gory scene that lasts approximately five minutes, which could leave some viewers with a bad impression of this season.  Not only does it include an over-the-top amount of gore, but also shows nudity and/or implies sexual activity, and shows illegal drug use frequently.

The show is rated MA for mature audiences, but with this being shown on Wednesday nights at 10/9c, many teenagers are still awake and may stumble across it. Although this show is popular among high school students, others could be offended by some of its content, and some may think that it could be too inappropriate for television.

Overall, Coven has the potential to be a good season and surpass the previous two seasons of American Horror Story. The acting that the female actresses portray is very good and draws the audience in.  However, some of the content may cause some viewers to turn their heads.This show could have a wider audience if the inappropriate content was slightly toned down.